This is the first article in a multi-part series exploring disruptive technologies and the strategies today ’ s businesses must adopt in order to thrive in a digital world .
At the risk of falling prey to the young agile startups or the innovation labs of today ’ s most progressive companies , enterprises must learn to look beyond their immediate bottom line and adapt to the digital revolution at their feet . We rarely see companies die because they moved too quickly . It is the companies that wait until the market demands a reaction that are at the greatest risk of being replaced with younger , more agile organizations already utilizing new technologies .
According to a McKinsey study , the US economy as a whole is realizing only 18 % of its digital potential . Even though the companies that embraced digital innovation early are currently winning the battle for market share , we have only just scratched the surface . With the continued growth of cloud computing , big data analytics , the Internet of Things and more , the lagging sectors still have opportunity for rapid digital growth , which McKinsey estimates could add up to $ 2.2 trillion to the annual GDP by 2025 .
What is Digital Disruption ?
Digital disruption is the change that occurs when new technologies and business models affect the value proposition of existing goods and services . What are the technologies that are driving this disruption ? The Singularity University , a global community whose mission is to educate , inspire , and empower leaders to apply technology to address humanity ’ s grand challenges , uses the term “ exponential technologies ” to describe the technological breakthroughs that are disrupting our world .
In this article we explore the internet-based exponential technologies and how companies are leveraging their power to gain huge competitive advantage .
Internet Technology ’ s 5 Exponential Technologies
1 . Cloud Computing
Cloud computing is driving the greatest systemic change within enterprises today and cloud infrastructure has become the building block for digital disruption everywhere . In order to effectively introduce new digital innovations into the organization , enterprises are overhauling existing systems and adopting public clouds , most often AWS , Google or Microsoft .
2 . Big Data
Big data refers to data sets that are too large or complex for traditional data processing applications to handle . Organizations use big data for the use of predictive , or user behavior analytics , to identify correlative patterns to further their industry and business objectives .
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