How Drivers of Disruption Are Impacting Business

How Drivers of Disruption Are Impacting Business

How Drivers of Disruption Are Impacting Business

By Dennis McCafferty

Big Data: Test Current Analytics Against State of the Art

Laborious spreadsheet processes have been supplanted by real-time, algorithmically driven, short-cycle experimentation. And with new data sources and analytic techniques constantly coming on stream, it’s essential to benchmark your capabilities against best practices.

Big Data: Consolidate Throughout the Enterprise

Data sets present value far beyond their respective silos, so always seek to integrate databases across product lines, online/offline channels, business units, etc.

Big Data: Manage Data as a Trustee

Too many organizations treat data as a product to be resold, not an asset that can earn the informed trust of customers.

Deconstruction: Reorganize the Business Along Economic Fault Lines

Define business units by their distinct competitive economics, and manage them for standalone competitive advantage. Amazon, for example, functions at different layers of a complex stack, but each part targets competitiveness individually.

Deconstruction: Look for Opportunities for Lateral Aggression

That’s when a company within one industry moves into a new industry, often aided by data. The automotive industry could threaten insurers, for instance, because cars now compile so much data about driving habits and vehicle safety.

Polarization of Economies of Mass: ‘Up-Source’ Activities to Communities

Through crowdsourcing, IT companies get free tech support and sites such as Yelp receive free reviews. In addition, contests such as GE’s Ecomagination Challenge generate innovation.

Polarization of Economies of Mass: ‘Down Source’ Activities to Shared Infrastructure

In Europe, telecom companies are sharing towers, radio masts and even spectrum in low density service areas, saving costs while still competing against each other.

Holistic, Stacked Architectures: Curate a New Industrial Stack

Business architecture is now a choice. Disruption enables new, layered industry structures or “stacks” in which corporations–collaborating with communities and leveraging shared infrastructure–can redefine the economics and structure of industries.

Holistic, Stacked Architectures: Reshape Regulation

To reap the economic and societal benefits of disruption, both businesses and regulators must think differently–favoring efficiency at the bottom of an industrial stack and open innovation at the top.