Disruptive Technology

It comes, leaves an impact and changes everyone’s perception, view and thought! The world is all different. That’s disruptive technology.

Human wants for coziness compels the market to get innovative and from out of nowhere a disruptive technology or concept pops up. Disruptive technology is a technology or concept that have features which very few and generally new segment of the customers value. Products built or developed using this technology are usually cheaper, simpler, smaller and better performing. One of the most popular examples that qualify for this is the transistor that totally replaced the well known Vacuum tubes.

We have seen this happen for countless time in various fields. It might be in the automobile sector, music industry, or a simple VCD, DVD renting business.

In the automobile industry, who can even imagine in their hind sight that GM will be filing for bankrupt protection? This is all because of foreign company’s compact vehicles and hybrid engine technologies. GM has lost its monopoly in the US market only because of the disruptive technologies adopted by foreign companies.

More recently in the music industry, Apple left every other competitor way behind by just combining functionality, stylishness and price on their iPod player with an accessible online iTunes music store. Nobody would have dreamt of the combo of all these features at such a price.

Let’s check an example out which will show how a disruptive concept compel one business following the sustaining technology model, completely out of business. We all are very well known to the business house “Blockbuster” who deals in renting DVDs and VCDs. They are really doing very well until there arrives a business of same kind but with different concept called “Netflix”. They just change the life of a Blockbuster visitor by just making the whole process online. That’s called disruptiveness. Blockbuster tried to remain in the business by making their business online, but alas it’s too late dear. There’s an unconfirmed news too that suggest Netflix bought all of the Blockbuster business and provided some respite to their employees! Do not quote me on that.

“Honey, do you want to see a movie tonight? We can have the kids at my mom’s!”

Telephone is considered as a disruptive discovery. Nowadays we are so dependent on this technology that it is difficult to imagine that when it was first introduced in 1877, people had to be convinced that it was useful. Despite its simple design and seemingly obvious value, it took 75 years for the telephone to reach 50 million users, and it wasn’t until the 1960s that users saw a residential phone as a necessity.

A disruptive technology always has at least one advantage over existing technologies that despite its disadvantages the idea allows it to find a niche, and therefore survive. If the technology is able to improve, typically more rapidly than the existing technology, and also starts performing equally with the existing technology, or at least sufficiently for the market needs, but with the added advantages that it had that allowed it to survive then as a result the existing market steps over to the new technology and the old one literally dies.

Disruptive is the word that has a changing and impacting effect on our life. So remain open to it and embrace the technology gleefully to make the life easy and smooth. Get that iPod off your ears as you read and comment on this – that’s the most recent disruptive wonder we have had in popularity!