In today’s fast-paced technological world, businesses need to constantly adapt and keep up with the latest advancements in order to stay competitive. However, not every technology that emerges will have a significant impact on the way we conduct business. Therefore, it is important for organizations to have a well-defined strategy in place to identify the emerging and disruptive technologies that will lead to transformation in the industry. In this article, we will explore how to spot these technologies through two key lenses: detecting emerging technology and identifying disruptive technology.
Seeing Through the Noise: Detecting Emerging Tech
New technologies are constantly popping up every day and sifting through the noise can be a challenging task. Fortunately, there are a few systematic ways of detecting emerging technologies. One approach is to follow industry experts and analysts who post their insights and predictions about newly developing technologies in the market. Another way is to attend technology conferences, seminars and exhibitions, where vendors showcase their products that are likely to dominate the market soon.
Crowdsourcing can also be a useful tool for detecting emerging technology. Companies can set up innovation programs and collaborate with ideators and inventors to develop new products and services that address emerging issues. Another approach is to actively monitor technology forums and online communities that discuss new ideas and solutions that could transform the industry.
Social media platforms such as LinkedIn and Twitter can also be helpful in identifying new technology as users often share news and insights about emerging technologies. Finally, analyzing patent activity in a specific field can help you detect which companies and innovators are investing heavily in a particular technology.
Shaking Up the Industry: Identifying Disruptive Technologies
While emerging technologies have the potential to cause significant change, disruptive technologies cause fundamental changes and alter the way businesses operate. Disruptive technologies uproot traditional business models and create new markets, challenging existing industry players. Identifying disruptive technologies requires a more strategic and systematic approach than detecting emerging technologies.
One effective method of identifying disruptive technologies is by exploring ‘adjacent spaces’. Adjacent spaces refer to industries and markets outside of your own, that have the potential to impact your business. By looking at these areas, you may be able to identify technological advancements that could alter the business landscape.
Another way to identify disruptive technology is by performing a SWOT analysis. Identify your organization’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats in comparison to your competitors. By doing this analysis, you can identify what technologies could disrupt your industry or what gaps exist that you could fill with a new product or service.
Finally, actively encouraging disruption within your organization can help you identify potential opportunities. This can be done by creating a culture of innovation and risk-taking, and by investing in research and development teams. By fostering creativity and experimentation, organizations can develop cutting-edge breakthrough products, services and business models.
In conclusion, spotting emerging and disruptive technologies in today’s ever-changing world is a crucial aspect of business strategy. Identifying these technologies and investing in them early on can result in a significant competitive advantage. Utilizing the systematic approaches can help identify trends, gather information and develop a strategy that enables businesses to be proactive in their approach to emerging and disruptive technologies.
