The Big Players In Digital Disruption

Digital disruption is no longer a buzzword. Digital disruption is real. New technologies create business models that impact the value proposition of consumers as well as the return on investment for companies. Digital disruption is a major industry. These include Amazon, Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp and Netflix. They have revenues in the tens of millions and tend to absorb smaller businesses.

Digital disruption: The major players

Amazon is a giant in the field of distribution and threatens to take over all the shops that sell goods across all sectors. Amazon’s model has been able absorb most of the value propositions of its competitors and has also displaced the business potential of SMEs who market their products remotely.

Advertising management has seen a revolution thanks to the possibility that WhatsApp will introduce it. This is in addition to the existing one on Instagram and Facebook. This phenomenon was already established with Google Adwords. It offered visibility and sales without the need to make large investments like traditional media.

Television channels have seen their share of the advertising market shrink in the area of entertainment consumption. The Netflix-type streaming platform has also managed to diversify television channels’ offerings into different thematic channels. This is the only way to keep up with streaming services that offer on-demand TV.

These three models are characterized by the fact that technology is what has caused disruption. It could be Amazon’s Big Data application, or the well-known algorithms used in social networks. Or streaming on digital platforms.

Google is listening to us.

One characteristic of digital disruption’s new players is their tendency to work online. Digital disruption has ended the era of physical shops and interactions with sellers. The office and sales agent, just like banks, are set to vanish as soon as they cease to exist.

Google Assistant also acknowledged that it had heard 153 conversations without any activation commands being issued. This has added to the debate about whether Google Assistant listens. It is clear that big digital players know us better now than ever. The systems that new companies use to discover consumer preferences (platforms such as Adwords and Facebook Ads), to place orders (Alexa, Google Assistant), and to attend to claims (the input channels for messages to the company via chat or email) are all part of these new companies.

Digital disruption: The small players

There are also smaller capitalization companies like Spotahome, Glovo and CornerJob, along with the great giants. Although their income is often less than $200 million per year, their potential and market value are very high.

Startups are often able to propose a solution to an existing problem using a new technology or approach. Although car sharing can be a cost-saving and environmental solution, it was not something that anyone had thought of until BlablaCar App. Similar to small shipments (Glovo), digital meeting between job seekers and jobseekers (“Corner Job”), or the ability of staying in one location with all the information (Spotahome), same applies to delivery of small packages with the same philosophy (Glovo).

Startups often ignore traditional systems like taxis, traditional courier companies and long-standing real estate agents if the big players threaten to take over the market.

How to live with digital disruption actors

Both cases show that these “new” companies are a disruptive force in the digital world and can revolutionize the situation. These new rules are not something that the average SME can ignore.

The strategy with companies like Amazon, Facebook, and Google is to join them. You cannot compete. You can market your products on Amazon and advertise on Facebook. Google will help you increase your visibility.

If you want to create new business models, it is important to make sure that you are using the most recent technology in your industry.

It is not about being a refractory focal point to digital disruption but rather driving on the new actors. You must stop being a spectator and become an actor. It is impossible for us to compete with these great actors in our field, but we need to be there and share their success.

It is possible to deny its existence, but that would result in more than just probable losses.

Are you an actor, or a witness to digital disruption?