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Recognizing Disruption

 

What we see is only visualized after our mind translates the image. In business, our actions can easily be highjack by what we conditioned ourselves to see. Why is it that some can look through things and some only see things as painted with no interpretation? I remember years ago there was a poster the picture was a bunch of squiggly lines. As you stared at the picture squinting your eyes just right, the squiggly lines would come to life as a recognizable image of a person or thing. It seemed every office had these posters hanging in the breakroom.

“When you stop looking for absolutes is when you discover the excitement of the unknown.”

 Organizations or industries become victims of obsolescence when they refuse to look through, over, and under what is presented as an absolute. Companies can be so stubborn to what was, it becomes their what is. I was listening to a webinar recently where industry leaders were discussing a threat from a disruptive competitor. First, I would say collaborating with peers in times of disruption is a must. However, when the collaboration becomes a cheerleading session for the past, those trying to get to the future will be sounded out by the noise.

“When you’re stuck in the past run from its cheerleaders, to those with an opposing view of the future.”

 When collaborations purpose becomes a sounding board for status quo reinforcement, the collaboration then becomes a reunion. Reunion's brought us up to date on what happen in the past, and Collaboration should be about what can be better or new. As I thought back on this webinar what I didn't hear became more important than what was said. The collaborators all recognized the disruptor as a competitor. A fatal mistake. Disruptors do not see themselves as competitors they instead see themselves as creators of a new way. Disruption changes the game and with its success the legacy players fight for survival, while the disruptor becomes the customer's choice. No industry or organization can force a client to stay in the old way, and when they believe they can obsolesce is their future. I call this the “Taxi industry syndrome” Yes some Taxi organizations will still pick up and deliver customers, however, the how, and the means will definitely be a new model. Industries are disrupted when the monetization of the old way is no longer relevant in sustaining the new way. When this happens, the old business model is destroyed and replaced by that of the disruptor. Disruptors change the business model forcing the implosion of the legacy model.

“Innovations come from what others didn’t pay attention to and destroys those who refuse to accept there could be an alternative way.”

 Recently we all read where Amazon Web services have become the world’s cloud leader. They went from the laughed at competitor to the disruptive leader. Cisco and others saw Amazon as a weak competitor they could easily win against. Amazon had no intention of competing their goal was changing the game. The legacy players needed to adapt if they did maybe they could have challenged Amazon instead of falling to them. Amazon ignores the legacy ways and reinvents the means; Amazon understands that replacing the past with the future is more rewarding than being a competitor fighting to be the best of the past. With today’s technology being the biggest last one standing in the ways of yesterday can be a shorter than ever tenure. Organizations must include adaptation in their vision. The future used to be a quest. Today the disruptor brings the future to the present while the competitors of the old way fight themselves for relevancy of the past. 

 When fighting disruption, the conversation must start with this question. What is the worst that can happen? Without the ability to understand how we could be defeated. We are at the mercy of those who plan and execute our defeat. Many industries will be challenged in this new century. Today’s corporate threat is not a competitor it’s the disrupter which is fueled by technology and driven to innovate. The disruptor changes the means to the result, and when the customer accepts the changes, the old way dies.

R.J. Stasieczko

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ebyers, ty for posting the reply.  I've been out of sorts for the past few weeks with some much needed time off.

Many dealers don't need to change because they are still making a great profit.  Sorry, I meant GREAT profit!  Thus change is not in order for them.  Salespeople to make that change, it's possible, one great idea with a few bucks behind that idea could change everything. 

What Ray posted above could be the copier industry, or it could be IT services or maybe software. 

Print Audit has teamed up with Great America and TigerPaw for seat based billing for Managed IT, & Managed Print.  Print Audit just purchased a document management company to launch seat based billing.   This could be that alternative way.  A little more than a year ago, Print Audit launched their committee to develop a program that would be profitable for dealers for MPS.  At that time, I thought, well if they could do it for printers it can be done for copiers. 

There was a recent article in ENX about XAAS (everything as a service), I did not get a chance to read it, however I will get to it this week.

What could be easier, than to offer a company everything for let's say $300 per seat.  It's interesting, it's new and I'm a believer.

What, this article has been up since the 3rd and no comments?  Well, I guess I'm guilty of that too as it is the 9th. 

However, I am surprised that I'm the first to comment on this.  I have been in the business for a total of 5.5 years so on one hand I'm still a greeny (but then in the copier business that seems to be pretty tenured) and I'm 54 yrs old.  After my first 1.5 yrs in the business I took another job, but then cam back 10 months later after my old boss called me with a major account position opportunity.  I have to say that after my first year in the business, something felt wrong.  After a total of 5.5 yrs in the business, something still feels wrong - and that is the status quo.  Our industry is changing at a rapid pace, yet we still do everything pretty much the same way every day.  Margins are decreasing and prices are decreasing in the face of competition - yet again, we still seem to be doing the same things the same ways. 

I sense that a disruption is needed - in fact it is necessary in order to redefine the new "normal" for the next five years or so until a new disruption will again be needed or perhaps forced upon us by a new technology.  I don't think the move to software (doc management, etc.) by using "partners" is the answer - and that is proven by its overall failure to gain the traction I believe it should have (yes, my opinion).  It's like adding water machines to your copier business - yes, it's another stream of revenue, but it isn't part of us.  We can pretend that the software we are trying to sell through our "partners" is truly related, but even our customers get it that it isn't.  That is not disruption or innovation, it's desperation and it is a short term fix.  But that's my perspective. 

So just how do we disrupt the current status quo?  As copier reps are we in a position to even do so?  And if we do disrupt it, how do we continue to enjoy being employed and a good income?  It's coming, I know it is, I just hope I don't get blindsided by it. 

 

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