How Technology Disrupts the Competitive Landscape

The majority of C-level executives rank technology as the top transformative influence on the competitive landscape, according to a recent survey from IBM. The resulting report, "Redefining Boundaries: Insights from the Global C-Suite Study," indicates that competition from upstart companies and outside industries is expected to increase significantly in the near future, placing more pressure on organizational leaders to find new ways to innovate. They could start by incorporating more proven technologies into these innovation efforts, because far more executives resort to the traditional tactic of brainstorming to identify new trends, rather than using analytics or crowdsourcing solutions. In doing so, they risk getting blown away by competitors old and new. "Management guru Clayton Christensen coined the term 'disruptive innovation' to describe how new entrants target the bottom of a market and then relentlessly move up market, eventually ousting established providers," according to the report. "But what was once a relatively rare phenomenon has now become a regular occurrence. Innovations that harness new technologies or business models, or exploit old technologies in new ways, are emerging on an almost daily basis. And the most disruptive enterprises don't gradually displace the incumbents; they reshape entire industries, swiftly obliterating whatever stands in their way." Nearly 5,250 global CIOs, CEOs, CFOs and other C-level executives took part in the research.