A few weeks ago, Amazon released its first smart phone and this technology world has been watching since. The telecommunication industry has been competitive enough with the intense competitive smartphone war between Apple and Samsung, and now entering the battlefield, Amazon the world’s leading e-retailer. However, Amazon treats this new innovation less of a communication device but more as a way of servicing their customers better through effective data gathering.
Amazon, the world’s leading ecommerce site owns the most impressive distribution system and has branched out into Cloud computing, e-book, music and more. Moving into the Telco industry, Amazon has created another level of disruption in the business industries. It disrupted the industry verticals from Retail, Finance to Telco and we no longer tell if Amazon is in the High Tech industry or a Retailer or moving into Telco --- the industry lines are blurring. It is
absolutely amazing when we look back and see how this chapter of revolution is like no others. It happened faster and changed every way we look at business today.
Let’s take a look at the history for a moment; the 18th – 19th century brought us to industrial revolution where the movement of energy in which machines changed people's way of life and the way they manufactured. The 20th century saw a major shift in the way that vast numbers of people lived, as a result of changes in politics, economics, culture, science, technology, and medicine. It has been theorized that the 20th century saw more technological and scientific progress than all the other centuries combined since the dawn of civilization. However, it’s in early 21st century that we saw the real explosion of digital revolution in which mobile technology, the power of big data and cloud computing connected the world. It is when we learned and heard terms like ‘crowd-sourcing’, ‘networked economy’ and ‘the future of work’… In a short span of time, just like Amazon, many business industries converged
beyond boundaries. How ready are we in managing the Omni-channel world?
Changes that led to yet another revolution
To answer this question is not simple. Let’s pick another great industry; tourism. It’s only a few decades ago, the advancement in transportation sector created the boom in travel and tourism. Airlines, travel agencies, tourism bureaus and lodgings have been working together hand in hand to offer a more seamless customer experience. This was also made possible with the power of internet. This opportunity created a new trend by the convergence of two emerging industries: tourism and healthcare. The medical tourism is becoming mainstream as customers are seeking a more reliable and financially sustainable healthcare system.
With the rising cost of healthcare in the western & modern world, the trend of medical tourism in emerging destinations is likely to continue because price is a core demand driver. The market size for medical tourism was estimated around USD 38.5-55 billion*, based on approximately eleven million cross-border
patients worldwide. Customers expect personalized medicine, predictive health check (not just looking at curing illness but ensuring perfect health for the future).
The growth of technology is blurring the boundaries between services, healthcare and transportation providers. Here’s the benefit such as big data comes in, in which by using scale-up, scale-down computing resources and advanced analytics software, the industry practitioners are able make sense of rapidly growing volumes of data. The industry experts are now beginning to analyze big data to obtain insights. They hope to collectively help the industry address problems related to variability in healthcare quality and escalating healthcare spend by creating seamless customer experience - from selecting destination, logistics of travel, to receiving the medical care. All, if possible, in a few clicks on your smart phones or tablets.
One size does not fit all
The above example just shows one of many industries that have converged into one networked of business. To name a few other emerging trends:
- Telecommunication companies and IT service providers which leverage technology to provide additional services to businesses like virtual private networks, hosting and cloud computing.
- Retail and Financial Services through virtual shopping experience and mobile payment.
- Sport, Entertainment and Retail which work seamlessly with predictive analytics application that enhances fan experience and customer buying behavior, etc.
SAP has led the position as the industry focused enterprise software providers for more than 40 years. It’s with our industry knowledge and expertise, we help our customers to step in the era where the impossible is made possible today. There’s no one solution that fits all industry needs, just as how we all see the world differently.
One last thought, as the new trend of converging industries expand, will it lead to more revolutionary growth or to a monopolistic environment? Weigh in and give your opinions at @dvubroady or kindly respond to this blog.
Source: * Patients beyond Borders.
