*4.2.3.2 Socio-economic impacts*

The socio-economic impacts of digitalization can be defined in four main aspects that affect workers, business owners, and the community. Regarding labor, digital innovation can replace repetitive and seasonal labor, favor novel job opportunities associated with the usage of new technologies, and the possibility of exploiting the network to gain access to a skilled workforce and decentralizing the work structure. From the management standpoint, the large business owners are the primary beneficiaries since they can achieve better control at a larger scale, optimize their resources and processes, and deal with production irregularity thanks to the improved measurability granted by the sensing and monitoring technologies as well as the farm management platforms. The availability of online booking services and the birth of novel energy-related services, for example, renewable sources can also create better market conditions. Despite this roundup of positive effects, negative implications can happen too. For example, there is the possibility of unemployment and the need to cope with the change in work profiles. Regarding management aspects, rural communities have to face up with the need to deal with changes in production models and terms involved with stakeholders. Moreover, the development of online booking services and the birth of novel energy-related services can be particularly harmful to small business owners, with the closing of local businesses that cannot compete in the global market. The increased performance inequality concerning prominent players who can profit from technology, and the creation of monopolies, as a tendency towards these types of centralized market models, characterizes the digital world.
