What does it mean to innovate and disrupt your market or industry?
As defined by Wikipedia a disruptive innovation creates a new market and eventually disrupts an existing market, displacing established market-leading firms, products, and alliances.
So, to be a disrupter is to create a product, service, or way of doing things which displaces the existing market leaders and eventually replaces them at the head of the sector.
The interesting thing is that you don’t have to create a new product or service. You can just spin an existing product or service on its head, changing the way it’s delivered.
Like what we did with home and small office print technology.
Instead of buying the technology and then paying for consumables and service separately. With us you pay an affordable fixed monthly subscription, and everything’s included, no strings attached.
We’ve also the done the same with internet phone systems and laptops bundled with Microsoft 365. The disruption, is making it easier and cheaper to use the technology, giving people certainty.
Although disruptors are generally thought to be entrepreneurs, outsiders, and idealists, we believe pretty much anyone can be a disruptor with the right ideas.
Disruptors can be found in almost any area of business, but are usually linked to technology, that they then use as the enabler to cause the disruption.
Here’s an interesting fact, disruptive ideas don’t normally storm the market instantly. It takes time to get a foot hold in the market with the early adopters before the rest of the market follow.
Once the disrupter has a foothold with the early adopters, they then seek to penetrate the mass market to increase their market share.
Eventually the disrupter challenges the most dominate part of their industry by offering a new alternative to the established market favourite, driving them out as their sales decline.
Let’s look at some other disruptive innovations…
Music
The music industry has seen many disruptions. First with vinyl moving to CD’s, then tape to MP3’s, and now moving online with iTunes, Spotify, and Amazon.
The music industry is a good example to use for both product and payment disruption. Vinyl to CD is clearly product disruption, but CD’s to subscription streaming is both product & payment disruption.
Books
Whilst taking about Amazon, we best talk about books. With Amazon starting with service disruption, by changing the way people bought them and moving it online.
Since then, there’s been numerous technologies led product disruptions too. Through the launching of eBooks & audio books. With further payment innovation with monthly subscriptions.
TV
And we can’t leave out TV disruption. Which started way back when Netflix started a video postal subscription service, disrupting the market, eventually leading to Blockbusters demise.
Since then, Netflix has taken it to a whole new level with their subscription only programme streaming service, which shook the TV & film industry to its very core.
Others are now fighting back. With Amazon, Apple and Disney launching their own streaming services, forcing the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 & 5 to join forces with their own service BritBox.
Cars
Then their cars. The big disruption has been in recent times with Elon Musk and Tesla, changing the way people think about electric cars, through advanced battery technology.
Although the biggest disruption is still to come with driverless cars. Where big players like Google, Uber, Tesla, and General Motors are making strides forward.
The big question is, will be own our own cars anymore or just rent a ride on the monthly subscription. With armies of driverless cars taking us wherever we want at a moment’s notice.
The future of being a disrupter
Disruptive innovation is here to stay. As modern technology advances (particularly the acceleration of artificial intelligence) the opportunities for disruptive innovation will continue to increase.
…we’ll continue to look for ways to disrupt our industry, maybe it’s time you did too?
