Cars need roads, trains need tracks, and the connected economy relies on an invisible layer of technology that lets systems securely communicate and make new connected experiences possible.
As part of PYMNTS’ new Connected Economy 100™ (CE100™) Index initiative tracking the performance of companies across 10 central pillars — bank, be well, communicate, eat, have fun, live, move, pay, shop and work — we also track six “enablers” that help the 10 pillars work.
What enables a connected economy?
Data and data technologies tell us what’s transpiring. Payments companies power modern lifestyles. Artificial intelligence (AI) provides the digital brains to free up human decision makers. Software platforms are trusted by small- to medium-sized businesses (SMBs) and enterprises as their control panels and business dashboards. Third-party innovators are passionate about solving specific challenges, and 5G cellular serves as the “rails” over which these trillions of signals and transactions travel.
While the 10 pillars are where all of this combines into vaunted digital consumer experience — the fun — it all runs and rides on the work of chip makers and cybersecurity firms.
See also: PYMNTS Launches the CE100™ Index — a New Equity Index That Tracks the Digital Transformation
Behind the scenes, companies like chip maker NVIDIA are rapidly emerging as central players in the connected economy, after perfecting the high-end graphics processing units (GPUs) that today deliver immersive gaming experiences, and tomorrow, the metaverse.
“Enablers” in the CE100™ Index are those players that make it work and keep it safe.
Among the dozens of stocks PYMNTS is tracking, the inaugural CE100™ Index report calls out five that outperformed others between January 2020 and January 2022. Three of the five breakout stocks belong to the “enablers” grouping, proving foundational roles in forging and securing the interoperability the connected economy depends on to deliver instant experience.
Starting with a look at chip maker NVIDIA, the company’s microprocessors are legendary in the gaming world, and the company’s Omniverse creator platform is connecting creators with collaborators and partners that are monetizing virtual experience in virtual worlds.
NVIDIA is currently the second-highest performing stock in the CE100™ Index since January 2020.
Read also: NVIDIA Makes Its Omniverse Free to Creators
On the list of five top performers, No. 3 is cloud-based cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike.
With ransomware and related data hacks rising more than 80% during the pandemic, those who create the connected economy and invest in it know that trust drives commerce.
Rapid digital transformation and COVID-19-era remote workarounds are placing financial institutions (FIs) and retailers in the crosshairs of increasingly sophisticated fraudsters. A record of securing digital endpoints and protecting against data breaches places CrowdStrike among top performers in the early going of the CE100™ Index.
See also: Ransomware Reaches Beyond Money With More Sinister Goals
It can be difficult finding the proper analogy for data in the connected economy. Suffice to say that the interconnected world drastically accelerated by the pandemic doesn’t work without oceans of data that show intent, uncover opportunity and contain the essentials of digital identity.
Fifth of the top-performing companies called out in new CE100™ Index report is MongoDB.
As mushrooming growth in digital interactions generates more data every second of every day, the ability to manage and analyze those inputs in real time to scale a product/service or modernize payments architecture is indispensable. MongoDB is a quiet giant of the space.
Read also: 50% of Financial Firms Unsure About Data Security
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