Innovating has become an obligation of any business that wants to grow. Why? In recent years all business sectors have been interrupted by a global event: the digital revolution.
All the technological revolutions have brought great changes. You just have to look at the story to be aware of it. The digital revolution that we are experiencing, the one that takes place under the protection of the Internet and electronic devices such as smartphones, computers, tablets and video game consoles will not be overlooked. Some even consider it the most shocking in history. Above all, because it has produced changes not only in the production chain (as lithic or industrial production had already done), but also in the mechanisms of communication and dissemination of ideas (as the printing press had already done). Therefore, I think we are not exaggerating when we say that the digital revolution is the most important in history. Especially, because we still do not know everything that can come to produce.
Let’s quickly enumerate some of the characteristics of this digital revolution and how, in addition to the world, the consumer has also changed:
- Currently there are more than 18 billion devices connected to the internet (more than double the world population).
- Since December 2015, the number of cell phones in the world exceeded the number of people in the world.
- In less than 8 years there are more than 1 million applications available.
- Interestingly, an average user uses a maximum of 10 applications every day, of which 3 occupy 85% of the time.
- The massification of technology because services have migrated from the computer to the cloud, that is, they operate hosted on the Internet. For example: Spotify is used instead of downloading music; or instead of downloading movies, Netflix is used.
- In the last 20 years the internet has transformed the concept of buying and selling products and services.
- Messaging applications are the order of the day, both for text messages, calls and video conferencing. An application such as WhatsApp daily moves about 49 billion messages. The term “long distance” disappeared from our vocabulary.
- The phenomenon of social networks has transformed the way in which users communicate and interact with brands.
- The appliances and other devices generating information and connecting to the internet to make suggestions in decision making.
When we speak of advanced economies in which it is increasingly difficult to differentiate by quality (production) and efficiency (logistics). Now, the competitive advantage comes from experience. And this is nothing other than the power of the consumer before the current information boom. We provide services, which, leaves the consumer: a taste, you can repeat it, recommend, etc. That is, social networks, trust, loyalty, become critical elements, and therefore we will see more and more importance in the subject.
So … How do they achieve success? They are organizations where the entire company is aligned (Strategy, Processes, Operations) towards the value and the experience of the client.
Thus, the most important element of this digital revolution is the creation of networks of individuals on a scale never seen before. The new platforms in network are based on three complementary technologies, which have never before converged:
- Large volumes of data
- Connectivity
- Search, filtering and localization capabilities
The combination of these three technologies allows exchanges between individuals that had never before occurred. And who are the direct beneficiaries of this technological transformation? The consumers. With a lower transaction cost, a more direct intermediation, it has a lower price and with the possibility of enriching it with a more personalized service. These platforms add the offer, which due to competition, tend to deflate prices in the face of the same demand. With the Internet, transaction costs have gone down in history.
Our generation has made the leap from analogous to digital technology, as shown in the video below:
The leading companies of the digital revolution
Technological innovations make our lives easier. In just a few years there are inventions that completely change our lives.
Spotify
Nowadays, to think about music is to think almost of Spotify, a small millionaire idea that in little more than ten years (born in 2006) has changed the way of listening to music of thousands of users around the world; Spotify has completely stayed with the music market. The application allows you to integrate online music, radio and interact with friends from the same platform easily and simply.
How has he achieved success? It is the official music channel of all singers, everything is legal and has image and distribution rights. In addition, the key to digital level is the ability to listen to streaming music from any platform and work in the background while working with other applications.
In the beginning, it did not generate income due to the suffocation of musical rights, until 2016. Why this change? Last year streaming music exceeded for the first time in profits any other income channel for the industry. The record companies now want to collaborate with Spotify to keep earning money; any singer hangs his discs on the platform. Spotify in addition to creating the innovative idea (streaming music) has remained with the market.
Netflix
If Netflix has changed the world and especially the way of consumption is in the decision power of the user to decide what, when and how to see a content (series, movies, documentaries …). With its streaming service and its platform it broke all the schemes seen to date in terms of audiovisual content platforms. The previous television platforms followed a marked programming of launches of their products and an advertising strategy in which the big companies sent and not the service they offered to the users.
Today, Netflix has managed to empower the user; It launches all the chapters of a series on a specific date and he can choose when to visualize it and from what device to do it. In addition, it has reduced and struggles considerably against piracy; Many users decided that it was a more ethical and comfortable option to pay a small fee and enjoy thousands of products to have to constantly search and download illegal content.
In how many ads, Netflix continues to give priority and value to the user. With Netflix the ads (much more segmented and of value for the companies that want to advertise) do not cut the movies, they reproduce before and after and they do not harm the visualization and above all, they allow the user to enjoy the experience as much as possible.
Twitter, which turned 11 years old in 2017, is another example of a digital company that has changed the world. With its appearance as a microblogging social network in 2006, it revolutionized communication on the Internet; Twitter became the social network of reference to create and share news, information or to create any type of debate or conversation online in real time. It was no longer necessary to go down to the newspaper to get information, everything was in a social network.
It has 320 million active users and more than 500 million messages are published every day. With a simple idea: write short messages and share them through a social platform, they have become one of the most important political platforms of the time and a fundamental marketing channel for companies.
The founder of Twitter, Jack Dorsey, defined his creation in the following way: “Twitter is not a social network, but a communication tool”. A platform that adds to journalism, information instantly both by companies and by citizen journalism; contacts and professional or personal relationships. If you are not counting on Twitter, it’s not happening.
Youtube
YouTube was like many other inventions arises as the idea of three friends who saw a gap in the market. Its three creators met working in the PayPal company and it was one night in February 2005 when they thought that the world needed something like YouTube. The idea arose when after recording a video at a party they could not share their videos with other friends by email because they were too long. Then they thought why not create a platform where you can upload videos easily and share them publicly. And so the idea of YouTube was born, simple as it could not be; That’s how successful ideas are.
Domain quickly grew and users uploaded all kinds of content to place YouTube links on their MySpace pages. In less than a year YouTube had about 50 million visits per day.
The pace of growth of this idea was unstoppable and the idea became millionaire when in October 2006, Google bought YouTube for $ 1,650 million dollars in shares while retaining the workers and the positions of their creators. Today Youtube stores millions of videos with thousands of topics from commercial spots, tutorials, news … we would not conceive our lives in the same way without these videos.
Paypal
Paypal is shown as one of the most consolidated systems in the digital payments sector. PayPal started the online payment revolution and continues to grow strong as it is a fast, safe and easy to use method, improving the user experience and eliminating the doubts that may arise when using money online. The company was born with the aim of changing buying habits – changing the money in cash for digital payments.
In 2017, it reached 200 million active accounts worldwide and earned 1,329 million dollars in 2017. In addition, the forecasts of the e-commerce sector continue to increase with a clear trend towards internationalization. PayPal has been able to adapt to new formats and market changes and continues to improve to remain a leader in the digital economy sector.
Dropbox
If we told our grandparents that we could fit hundreds of photos in the cloud they would believe that we have gone crazy. And what is the cloud? The “place” or the way in which files and data can be stored invisibly on the Internet from any device wherever and whenever you want.
Dropbox was created in 2007 with the guarantee of massively storing files, data and documents and sharing them online. In addition, it offers the possibility of synchronizing different technologies and systems and working together.
In 2013, only 7% of the data was stored in the cloud; in 2017 it exceeded 40%. It is expected that by 2020 the vast majority of data will be stored in the Cloud and that this innovation will generate $ 270,000 million dollars. Companies looking to reduce costs and use cloud computing services are more profitable than implementing their own ICT system that works with storage.
Google Maps
For years, little more than 11 years, when we travel, we are not concerned about taking a map of the city or asking for one when we arrive. The giant Google has been responsible for providing us with a map continuously in our pocket without the need to display those huge sheets. It has given us an online real-time localization service; Now the one who gets lost is because he wants to.
With Google Maps we can go to any destination by following the directions of the mobile, in fact, we can even see in 3D or in images the place we want to go before arriving. A technology that allows us to know which is the shortest route, which has less traffic or exactly what we are going to take.
The Google app has changed our lives so much that there are even studies (PRISA) that ensure that most young people would not know how to deal with a physical map today.
Reid Hoffman had a clear idea since studying in Oxford he wanted to create a professional social network, but he did not have the money to carry it out and had to work in big companies like Apple and Fujitsu to raise funds to start his own business idea.
In 2003, he finally managed to make an idea that would change professional relationships come true: create an online platform or professional social network in which each worker created an account and uploaded his resume and added his work experience; and the same with the organizations, they registered and added all their professional information. So, little by little, we will join companies with workers and these with their colleagues.
LinkedIn has become the tool of professional contacts of reference in addition to being one of the great platforms to look for work by Internet. Allows networking from the home chair and seek new aspirations or employment, business relationships or just professional contacts at the click of a mouse.
Skype
Phone calls already existed but there was no service that communicated with computer and computer. That’s what Janus Friis and Niklas Zennström, founders of Skype, thought to innovate with their business idea: revolutionize communications on the Internet and for free; both voice calls and video calls.
In its beginnings it simply pretended to make voice communications of high quality, but in 2005 it began to gain popularity and changed its business idea to something very ambitious after being bought by eBay for $ 2,600 million dollars. So much market got Skype with the video calls that it was bought again by another bigger giant: Microsoft for $ 8,500 million dollars.
Currently, Skype, with more than 300 million users, has a feature that sets it apart from other video call applications on the Internet: the multiplatform. It offers the same user experience on mobile devices, computers or tablets; and it is supported by any operating system.
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