So we are not talking about a reduced role of globalisation, but a new kind or form of globalisation, on the back of the digital revolution (or the 4th industrial revolution), the emergence of blockchain in banking and financial markets and the predominance of information and communication technology, or ICT, with a significant impact of big data on trade and capital flows around the world.
It is obvious from Figure 2 below, an enormous surge in big data flows, which increased seven-fold, outpaced the flows of trade and finance, which dropped since the last global financial crisis. 2  Figure 2 Global flows of data have outpaced traditional trade and financial flows  Source: McKinsey Quarterly - April 2017, p. 4. 2.