CATCH-UP GAME WITH ‘THE DISRUPTORS’
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Apple, Google, Netflix, Facebook and Amazon could be dubbed as the disruptors of the 21st century. While Netflix took almost three years to disrupt the streaming video market, Facebook in a span of four years touched 100 million users base and disrupted the online advertising space.
What Apple’s iPhone, Netflix, Facebook and Amazon have done to their old as well as existing business competitors is very well etched in our memories. And still, these players are continuing with their disruptive nature by keeping the innovation cycle alive.
For instance, recently Amazon made announcements to enter the offline retail industry (with the purchase of Whole Food) after disrupting the online segment for years. In addition, it is looking at corporate lending, thus making an entry into banking services too.
Emerging business models powered by digital and social platforms with highly innovative and capable payment systems are creating seismic changes in consumer behaviors and forming very compelling disruptive engagement models for businesses.
With digital being the mantra today, every traditional business across the world is waking up to disruption and grappling in order to counter and survive every single day.
It’s also very interesting to see that the number of years for triggering any disruption is also falling and the new ones are taking lesser time.
The companies today are eyeing a maximum pie from a client’s wallet and hence, bringing everything under one roof to make a client’s journey smoother.
The above instance of Amazon is one such example. In addition, Amazon has recently acquired right to stream 10 Thursday NFL games and if the live sport goes well who knows, it may also eye European football league.
The deal has sent the likes of Sky Sports into a tizzy as the fear lingers of losing business with Amazon coming into the picture.
Who knows –if Amazon buys Uber or another cab aggregator one day to extend its value building with its customers’ need.
But unfortunately, most of the incumbents overlook these disruptions and are late to protect their foothold in grabbing new businesses and customer preferences.
So, it’s important to be watchful and take requisite measures, instead of being overly cautious and rip-off a profitable business in the fear of being disrupted.
Many modern schools of thought propagate the principle of “disrupt or be disrupted”. It’s important to be alert to all the changes happening around our business and be ready to respond to those disruptions.
The usual visible suspects who are bringing the disruptions among the incumbents are Google, Amazon, Tesla, Apple and Facebook of the world and then we have niche enterprise category disruptors like Workday, Salesforce, Nutanix and many new players within emerging segments like Fintech, Blockchain, IoT (Internet of Things) and AI (Artificial Intelligence).
The question is –whether we will be able to tide over and find a complimenting play among these disruptors or our organisations may get disrupted faster than we think – leaving us all to introspect and play the catch-up game.
