Signs Your Industry Is Being Disrupted And How Competitive Intelligence Helps
Disruption is a shift in ‘business-as-usual’, and it is a change in money flows and value propositions. It usually spells trouble if you are not ready. This article offers the signs your industry is being disrupted and how competitive intelligence helps.
Article Summary
Disruption in an industry can be identified through four main signs.
Consolidation at the top and highly regulated entry barriers. Ignoring the pull to innovate digitally and arrogance at the leadership level.
Competitive intelligence identifies new competitors, tracking emerging trends to see the disruption early
Stay ahead of the curve, identify potential disruptions and make informed decisions to protect and compete in the future.
Over the recent few years, digital platforms have disrupted competition. Their innovation can be seen across retail, transportation, gaming, hospitality, entertainment, and music. The COVID pandemic’s outbreak boosted digital services’ role in people’s lives. Reshaping customer habits on how they shop & work. Increasing the prevalence of digital platforms in various industries. And now everything is AI, even when it’s not.
Disruption In Your Industry
Companies like SpaceX, Airbnb, and Warby Parker are taking over industries. AI and other technology are disrupting every industry. The accompanying hype makes people want to know more. But every business eventually matures. And it must renew itself; many end up taking the wrong path. Entrepreneurs need to understand which industries are ripe for disruption. And what digital shift will cause a mass change in that particular industry? When forecasting the potential for disruption, four major patterns are typically seen. A few others on top of the big four could indicate an industry is ripe for disruption.
1. Consolidation At The Top
Your success depends on how it progresses through the stages of industry consolidation. Stages include opening, scaling, focusing, balancing, and alliancing. The most successful companies will be the ones who evaluate each strategic and operational move. Then advance through the stages and move up the curve the fastest. Slower firms will likely disappear as they become acquisition targets.
2. Highly Regulated Entry Barriers
Highly regulated industries usually have high:
Entry barriers
Operational costs
Compliance costs
These costs generally accompany these barriers.
Companies in sectors with high regulations often fail to innovate and improve performance. Mainly due to a lack of competition. For example, some megacorps don’t worry about customer experience. Some don’t improve their operations. Of course, they may think they do. And many believe they’ve already dominated and won the customer over in their field.
3. Ignoring The Pull To Innovate Digitally
Technology is changing the way your industry works.
Technology is constantly changing the way businesses operate. If your industry is not keeping up with the latest technological trends, it may be at risk of disruption.
Two decades before, hardly anyone had a smartphone. But nowadays, anywhere you go, you see people using them as a matter of habit. It has become an integral part of everyday life. It seems like building a mobile app is pretty straightforward today. However, when corporate product teams try, they find the back-end system very complicated. This stunts their growth potential. And, in turn, allowing startups to infiltrate with their tech-savvy alternatives. Also, organisations can miss the close connection and contact with their customers due to a lack of digital development.
What’s after AI and digital technologies? That’s the question Apple is asking. Well, we would be surprised if they were not.
4. Arrogance At The Leadership Level
Undeniably, arrogant tendencies affect leadership effectiveness in every organisation. Arrogant individuals introduce significant problems for coworkers and, therefore, organisations. Employee dissatisfaction, disengagement, and turnover are trends due to poor leadership. Arrogance can be responsible for high failure rates in:
Teamwork
Goal achievement
Efficiency
Profitability
Staff retention
Loyalty
5. Customers Are Demanding New Products Or Services
If customers are starting to demand new products or services, it’s a sign that your industry may be ripe for disruption. New competitors often meet these demands more effectively than established companies.
6. Regulations Are Changing
Changes in regulations are also signs that an industry can be disrupted. Regulation changes or total removal can also disrupt an industry. For example, recent changes to US healthcare have created opportunities for startups.
How Competitive Intelligence Can Help
Here are some ways that competitive intelligence can help you see disruption:
Identify New Competitors
Competitive intelligence can help you identify new competitors, even if they are not yet well-known. It’s important because new competitors can often disrupt an industry. And they do this by offering new products or services that are more appealing to customers.
Track Emerging Trends
Competitive intelligence can help you track emerging trends that could disrupt your industry. For example, if you are in the retail sector, you might want to follow the rise of online shopping. By monitoring emerging trends, you can be prepared to adapt your business to meet the changing needs of your customers.
Understand Your Competitors’ Strengths And Weaknesses
Competitive intelligence can help you understand your competitors’ strengths and weaknesses. This information can be used to develop strategies to compete more effectively.
Identify Opportunities For Collaboration
Competitive intelligence helps identify opportunities for collaboration with other companies in your industry. This can be a way to pool resources and expertise to address common challenges. Using competitive intelligence, you can stay ahead of the curve. You can identify potential disruptions to your industry. This will help you make informed decisions about your business and ensure that you are prepared to compete in the future. Some of these signs of disruption may seem obvious and repetitive. But disruption tends to hide and creep up on you when you least expect it.
Signs Your Industry Is Being Disrupted And How Competitive Intelligence Helps
In conclusion, disruption is a real threat to any industry. You can stay ahead of the curve by understanding the signs of disruption. And protect themselves from potential threats. Here are some key takeaways from the article:
Four significant signs indicate that your industry is ripe for disruption. Consolidation at the top and highly regulated entry barriers. Ignoring the pull to innovate digitally and arrogance at the leadership level.
Competitive intelligence helps identify new competitors and track emerging trends. To understand competitors’ strengths and weaknesses and identify opportunities for collaboration.
Using competitive intelligence means you stay ahead of the curve. You can identify potential disruptions to their industry.
Are you concerned about the potential disruption in your industry? We hope this article reminds you to develop a plan to protect your business. And keep an eye out for the expected unexpected. By staying ahead of the curve, you can ensure that your business is prepared to compete in the future.
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