“As recently as a decade ago, the world was largely dominated by “pipeline” businesses with linear value chains.”
Source: Digital Tonto
Insights:
For the last few years, I have been talking about disintermediation during strategy work with clients. B2B (business to business) and B2C (business to consumer) relationships are undergoing a major, I would almost call seismic shift. The disruptive impact of technology is causing these changes. There is no possible force that can stop these changes, and there are no earthquake triggers to provide warnings to decision makers. Connections are being redefined. The frightening part is that this is forcing CEOs to define a new market for products and services that are very hard to define. But this work has to be done.
Implementation:
- What changes are taking place in your end-user market right now? This isn’t just about your customer. It includes your customer’s customer, and their customers. All the way to the ultimate end user of the final product delivered by the value chain.
- Is your business heading towards the location of your future customer, and his customer? What changes are taking place in the needs, location and potential of that future customer?
- Let’s turn the question around: will you find the end customer where you expect them, given the direction your company is heading right now? Who will define that future customer, and who will be influencing their future needs?
- What system do you have in place for making sense of this future landscape? Do you have an in-house system to help make sense of the future?
- How are you prioritizing your business strategy to ensure you are relevant in the future? Will being better at who you are now, be sufficient?
