The Latin American path towards digitization

Purpose Digitization is defined as the social transformation triggered by the massive adoption of digital technologies to generate, process, share and transact information. This paper seeks to present a methodology followed to calculate the Digitization Index, a concept originally developed by Booz & Company, the global management consulting firm, with the support of the authors.

This index consists of six elements capturing Ubiquity, Affordability, Reliability, Speed, Usability and Skill and 24 sub-indicators measuring tangible parameters of perceived digitization metrics.

The index indicates that countries are clustered as Digitally Constrained, Emerging, Transitional or Advanced, with varying degrees of contribution of digitization to economic growth. The Index is used to assess the situation of Latin American countries in terms of their progression to digitally advanced societies. In this context, the areas to focus on in the formulation of Latin America digital agenda are outlined. Until now, most indices that measure progress towards this new era have focused primarily on metrics such as wireless telephony penetration, access to the internet and broadband adoption. The paper argues that these indices, even those that are more comprehensive in scope. (Network Readiness Index by the World Economic Forum, or the Digital Opportunity Index by the International Telecommunication Union) capture only a portion of the ongoing transformations.