Conseil en stratégie de rupture numérique

Digital technology is continuing to advance at a rapid pace, presenting opportunities and threat in equal measure to companies in almost every sector.

From advanced smartphones connecting everyone at every time, to Cloud Computing offering unprecedented processing power and data storage for low prices, there is no denying the power of digital technology. Still, many companies and many executives are in denial, thinking that somehow they are immune to these powerful disruptive forces. Make no mistake; no one is immune. All industries can fall prey to commoditization and obsolescence.  And no one is moving fast enough to outpace threats and take advantage of opportunities. 

La disruption est souvent définie comme « un changement de rentabilité relative d’un modèle économique à un autre ». Même si, récemment, cette tendance a généralement été motivée par la technologie et l’innovation numérique, ce n’est pas toujours le cas.

Perturbation numérique dans la mobilité et les paiements

Prenons l’exemple de l’une des plus grandes réussites en matière de disruption de notre époque : Uber. La technologie derrière Uber n’était pas perturbatrice en soi. Chaque élément technologique permettant leur produit (paiements mobiles, GPS, etc.) existait déjà. Ce qui a été perturbateur chez Uber, c'est la façon dont ils ont exploité cette technologie dans un nouveau modèle commercial qui a tiré parti de la montée de l'économie des petits boulots.

According to Bill Gates, we have a tendency to overestimate the amount of change that is possible on a 2 year time frame, and greatly underestimate the amount of change possible over a 10 year time frame. Successfully navigating disruption requires a balance. It requires a balance of short and long-term thinking, and a balance of reactive and proactive action.

En matière de disruption numérique, le succès engendre davantage de succès.

This success is characterized by Positive Feedback Loops, Zero Marginal Cost or significant Economies of Scale.  Take social media as an example. The more users there are on a platform, the more revenue that platform can generate through advertising. Additionally, the more users there are on a platform, the more likely others are to join.

Plus d'utilisateurs attirent plus d'utilisateurs, ce qui génère plus de revenus.

This positive feedback loop can be seen in several industries, whether its social media networks, PC operating systems, smartphones, ride-sharing applications, and others.  Pour réussir, il faut atteindre une masse critique, un niveau de volume clé.

Parfois, la perturbation signifie supprimer les intermédiaires, mais pas toujours.

In some cases, cutting out the middleman doesn’t work at all. For example, Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) weren’t successful when they tried to cut out the “middlemen” of universities. However, companies like Coursera successfully partnered with the universities to provide a disruptive service in education.

Examples of Digital Disruption are everywhere, in any industry you can think of, and everyone from New York City to Silicon Valley is talking about it. In a business context, the term has become so prolific since Clayton Christensen first introduced it in 1995 that many have complained that is has transformed from a revolutionary concept into an empty buzzword. While the word might have become a bit overused, the idea of disruption—as well as the dual threat and opportunity it provides, is bigger today than ever.

Revenez pour notre prochain article sur les perturbations, « Stratégie et leadership Lean dans la rupture numérique. »