Historians estimate that money first made its appearance 7,000 years ago when metal objects were exchanged as currency. It took another 4,300 years or so for the first electrum (a natural mix of gold and silver) coins to be produced by the Lydians. Another 1,660 years would pass before the Chinese would introduce the concept of paper money, marking the shift from commodity money - where the currency itself was valuable - to representative money - where the currency represented value but was not necessarily fashioned out of valuable materials. 1,000 years later, a banker in Brooklyn introduced Charg-it, the world's first bank-issued card.

And now, a scant 60-70 years later, we're in the midst of another major evolution in the form of Digital Money.

In simple terms, Digital Money is a means of payment in electronic form, which enables users to access a variety of funding sources, from bank accounts to debit cards, over channels like the Internet, mobile, IVR, ATM and kiosk. The benefits to consumers are many - while convenience, ubiquitous access and control are the most obvious, digital commerce (transactions using digital money) can do other things, like speed up the checkout process or add immense value with a Personal Financial Management tool component and other mobile apps. Best in class digital commerce solutions available today enable not just e-commerce but also peer to peer payments, transactions at physical merchant locations, utility bill payments, and so on. What's more, these solutions are able to ride on mobile penetration to provide financial access in remote and unbanked areas.

The potential of digital commerce has sparked excitement in many sectors, such as banking, retailing and telecom. Financial institutions and telcos see an opportunity to grow revenues, reach more customers and improve loyalty; retailers see an opportunity to deliver products and promotional offers, while gathering consumer insight at the same time.

I see it only getting better from here.  The Internet and mobile are so entrenched in day-to-day life, that it is only a matter of time before they become the principal mode of financial transaction. Some day in the not too distant future, "digital" will be the default mode of global commerce.