Learn The Ropes-Disruptive Technology

In a well-known story told among Christians, Jews and Muslims, God chose to destroy the Earth but spared one man-Noah and his family. On God’s command, Noah built a huge boat - an ark, and filled it with a pair of every animal. God flooded the Earth, drowning everyone and everything that once roamed the land. Only Noah, his family and the animals on the ark survived and repopulated the planet.

Our understanding of disruptive technology has been very similar to the story of Noah’s ark. We see disruptive technology as anything that has the capacity to shake up the existing market and bring a revolutionary change in the way a process is performed. However, the word tends to be thrown around excessively these days while ignoring certain intricacies. In order to fully unpack the benefits of the “disruptive theory”, it is cardinal to exact its proper meaning.

Ever since the American Business Consultant Clayton Christensen popularized the term, disruptive technologies in his book “THE INNOVATORS DILEMMA”, it has become a buzzword among start-ups seeking to spawn a product with mass appeal.

So, what is disruptive technology?

“A disruptive technology is that which aims at sweeping away existing technology, systems or habits as it has qualities that are recognizably superior”

Disruption also describes the process by which a smaller company with fewer resources is able to challenge the might of established businesses.

KEY FEATURES OF DISRUPTIVE TECHNOLOGY:

1. Aims at eliminating an older process/system

2. Significant superior attributes

3. Start-ups are the dominant source

Disruptive technology has the potential to put start-ups on the industrial map. Disruptive technology initially develops in and caters to low-end or new-markets; the mainstream spenders enter once the quality matches or exceeds existing standards. Most established companies with rigid business models rarely explore this space. They tend to focus on what they already do best while pursuing incremental improvements towards the same. They choose to cater to their largest and most demanding customers simply because they view disruptive technologies as involving too much risk. But in the increasingly disruptive world, only risk-taking companies may have a shot at survival.

The best and current example of disruptive technology is the block chain-the mechanism behind Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. The effectiveness of block chain to relocate transactions from a centralized server to a transparent cryptographic network has removed the need for manual verification of financial transactions. This has also extirpated financial intermediary costs and dramatically expedited transaction time. The reason block chain is considered a disruptive technology comes from the fact that it started from low-end segments, has a discernible superior quality of replacing the extant manual system, and has seen numerous start-ups taking the plunge.

Currently there are eight major disruptive technologies whose convergence is crucial to yield powerful business solutions. These are more potent than the sum of their parts. These 8 happen to be-Artificial Intelligence, Augmented Reality, Block Chain, Drones, Internet of Things, Robotics, Virtual Reality and 3-D Printing. This next wave of tech innovation guarantees to proliferate our skill to work exceptionally and in a more harmonious way with technology.

Despite these benefits, the inherent risk such technology carries is colossal. Many times, disruptive technology took years to adopt or was never adopted. Moreover, investing in companies that create or adopt disruptive technology involves the financial bearing of such risks. For instance, the Segway PT is a two wheeled, self-balancing personal transporter invented by Dean Kamen. Though it was a brand-new idea, it wasn’t revolutionary and much to the chagrin of its investors, the company barely touched the transport industry. When the Segway electric vehicle was launched, it was widely touted as potentially “disruptive”. Only that it wasn’t. However, star entrepreneur Elon Musk has really pushed forward with the idea that the future of transport is electric. So, Segway wasn’t a complete dud. It was a seed towards a greener future. Today we see auto-makers lining up electric builds of their famous models and countries competing to make their traffic fossil-fuel-free.

On the other hand, disruptive technologies have been failures too. Take the super-jet Concorde for example. A joint effort by France and Great Britain, the Concorde is a turbojet powered supersonic passenger airline that had a maximum speed over twice the speed of sound. For Trans-Atlantic passengers, it was a dream come true. However, It failed because no airline wanted a plane that went faster than their profits ever could. The economy has also been inhospitable for the Concorde.  Consequently no Concorde has seen the skies since 2003 and it is unlikely one will any time soon. It simply failed to disrupt the market because the normal planes offered airliners the superior alternative- lower operating costs, cheaper fares, and more connectivity.  Still, it could be considered a disruptive technology because of its utility in military and spaceflight. Radical concepts of the Concorde are prevalent in military aircraft and missiles even today. It just could not “disrupt” the consumer market.

So, when it comes to actual disruptive technologies, understanding and incorporating the elementary principles behind the “disruptive theory” over heralding something as a “disruptor” is a must. Else, the only disruption we’d get is the banker knocking at our doors while we rue about how we did not read this article first.