# The Transformation of Business, Work, and the Digital Economy
The way people do business and earn a living has changed dramatically. E-commerce allows stores to stay open at all times without requiring a physical attendant, while shoppers can compare products from all over before making a choice—making competition both more open and more intense. Jobs that once had to be done in an office during set hours can now often be performed from anywhere with a network connection—working from home, collaborating with colleagues in different countries, and accepting orders from clients around the world. New types of jobs have emerged that were unknown a dozen years ago: social media managers, software developers, data analysts, content creators, and more—while, on the other hand, some repetitive and simple jobs are gradually being replaced by machines that operate according to programmed instructions.
Money, too, has changed form: from sheets of paper and metal coins into numbers transferred from one account to another—payments are made by scanning a QR code or simply bringing a device close. Faster transactions and broader reach have encouraged the growth of even small businesses, but they also demand new skills from business owners: understanding customer behavior through data, promoting their businesses appropriately in the public online space, and protecting them from scams that are also evolving digitally.