We only need to look back a decade to realise that we are in the midst of the biggest and most rapid business transformation in history. A transformation that will see every company in the world need to adapt radically if they are to survive.
The five most valuable companies in the world are now tech companies and include Apple, Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon and Facebook. Only a decade ago the most valuable companies were Wal-Mart, ExxonMobil, General Motors and Citigroup.
But the retail banking, oil and gas and car manufacturing traditional sector leaders are starting to lose ground to innovative tech-savvy companies.
Once well defined industry borders have been obliterated and companies with developed disruptive technologies and new agile business models are the clear leaders.
To survive every company needs to evolve into a technology company.
The rise in technological agility has shifted the focus from the product to the customer and it’s only through engaging existing customer channels that companies can simultaneously become retailers, banks and car manufacturers.
I like to call this next evolution of the corporate business model, Expanding Innovations.
Expanding Innovation strategies, where company leaders have turned markets on their heads, have been clearly demonstrated by the world’s top five. They’ve shown that through the convergence of multiple technologies, at a low price point, they can realise disruptive innovation.
As mobile, cloud computing and sensing technologies become cheaper, the Internet of Things (IoT) has started to take off and IoT technologies are fuelling new financially valuable business models.
IoT is connecting of the physical world to the internet and it enables all types of innovation. It provides the ability to improve efficiencies and develop new business models, new revenue sources and facilitates rapid expansion to new markets.
Interestingly, from an employment point of view, IoT is both a blessing and a curse.
Efficiencies resulting from monitoring, predictive maintenance and higher rate of automation will lead to substantial loss of jobs, while new business models and market expansion will create new jobs. The immediate challenge is the extensive re-skilling of the workforce to quickly build new capability.
Many traditional corporate leaders will be unnerved to realise that if they don’t evolve quickly their companies may face a rapid extinction.
By: Eitan Bienstock entrepreneur, an active voice in the innovation ecosystem and the founder & CEO of Everything IoT .
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