Disruption: All Industry Segments are Vulnerable — It's a Question of When

Chances are the industry you’re working in is a candidate for disruption.   A recent study by Deloitte found that nearly all industries are eventually subject to disruptions of some kind, with some more susceptible than others.  When looking at the ‘length of the fuse’ before a disruption hits, Deloitte estimates that nearly one third of businesses are likely to experience a major disruption within the next three years, and that over the course of the next five years, disruption will have touched nearly two thirds of companies.  Those industries which are must vulnerable to disruption include finance, retail trade, professional services, and information, media and telecommunications.  Industries with a ‘longer fuse’ include manufacturing and mining.

Forrester points to software and all things digital as being the main contributor to the speedup of disruptions that we’re experiencing.  James McQuivey, Vice President and Principal Analyst at Forrester, identified three big forces that are driving digital disruption:

• Free tools and services
• Easy availability of digital platforms
• Digitally-savvy consumers

Kyle McNabb, VP and practice leader of application development and delivery at Forrester Research, told ComputerWorld that “what is new about digital disruption is that it is something that is fueled by digital capabilities, digital technologies, that make disruption faster, more disruptive and can come from anywhere.  Disruption is faster because all of us within society are empowered with digital capabilities, with smartphones, with social. Ideas can come from anywhere and they are coming in an order of magnitude that far exceeds what we have seen in the past.”

Businesses are trying to fight back, and in some cases, trying to seize the role of disruptor, but it’s hard.   CIO.com reports that many businesses are adopting new digital and software capabilities in the hope that the impact from using the new technology will be both big and positive on their business and especially their bottom line.  But while some of these new initiatives pay off, there are also many cases when the new technology disappoints.  When these projects fail, the investments of time and resources spent on them may need to be simply written off, at considerable expense.  In 2011, for example, only 9 percent of enterprise architects said that they were fully satisfied with new technologies they brought on board while as many as 26 percent said that they were ‘totally’ dissatisfied.