In the early 90s, the initial days of email it was
fashionable to have a personal tag line at the end of the message over and
above the signature; it used to be a famous quote or a witty one liner that
represented the persona. Unaware of the profoundness of the statement as a
youngster I had the following going for almost 5 years: “My interest is in the future, because I am going to spend the rest of
my life there”. I don’t know the source from where I picked it up as it was
before the advent of the browser, contemplating it now feels awkward !
The future is here and how ! We aren’t done with technology
evolution, we keep anticipating new disruptions and welcome them. Technology
disruption over the last century or more started with electricity and then
continued with transportation and electric appliances which change the way we
live and travel today. Today when we think of technology and its power of
disruption we think about the last two decades and the impact they have had on
us and business with disintermediation and customer engagement.
A famous venture capitalist and Angel investor once wrote
about “Why software is eating the world”
which outlines the technology led disruption to almost every industry. Old and
even new economy companies have been threatened by software evolution and
software led disruptions. The concept of software is applied in a broad sense
with computers and related technologies being clubbed. That does not in any way
reduce the impact technology has created across industries as captured by the
author.
Mobile phones have been around for a while now and so have
smartphones; but the newer devices are stretching the limits of compute in our
hands thus providing enterprises new ways of engaging their customers. Be it
services or products, every company wants to use the primary consumer device to
push all kinds of notifications, track locations, access contacts, store
cookies, at times to the extent of becoming a pain; today almost every service
is available via an app and so is every fathomable product.
Multitude of channels bombard the customer from physical to
digital to mobile assaulting the senses through the day and night. Every visit
to a website, an app opened, store visited, mobile wallet used, credit card
swiped, destination searched on maps, every action leaves indelible bread
crumbs which are picked up. For the customer fatigue starts setting in when
gamification offers freebies in return for action once again creating a short
lived surge of activity while everyone catches up to the game with me too
offerings.
Every person has a trigger point, some short where consumers
don’t tolerate anything that is not aligned to their interests; they research
options to shield themselves from the barrage and shut off all possible
triggers they can and broadcast these to their circle to follow suit; activist
behavior marks this segment of consumers who love to be served at their terms
and are cautious of their privacy. They are opinion leaders and shapers who
people listen to and take action because it feels right and good.
However, the majority tend to maintain status quo while being
subjected to all kinds of incitement, and at times irrelevant messages; the
effort to change appears high and thus inertia keeps them going until an
incident – direct or hearsay – provokes them to take action. This segment is
tolerant to being hounded ignoring small indiscretions thereby once again
landing in the same state from where they started. They play the game with
their brands of choice until they become tormentors and fall off grace only to
be replaced by others.
A minor and growing segment plays the game becoming the
protagonist to beat business at their own game. They know how to exploit the
system, get best of deals, hack into models to find value and distribute to
whosoever may be interested. Predominantly millennials who love the technology
connect and take disruptions in their stride. At times they are the source of
ideas that send shivers down established conventional business entities. They are
inventors wanting to change the world and thus lead change in the rules of
engagement !
It is unimportant to enumerate the list of disruptors and
the disrupted across industries, the most talked about being the hospitality,
transportation, photography, music and music distribution, gaming, media and
advertisement, logistics, education, healthcare, the list goes on. Every new
idea gets copied to death threatening the original and at times succeeding in
uprooting the innovator. Customer expectations continue to change as they love
the adulation of the wooers who compete for the same segment.
Keep innovating, stay hungry, stay connected !
No comments:
Post a Comment