Five digital disruptive Frisbees (and how they affect your bottom line)

The digital space as a whole is a disruptive force all by itself, but in order to assess its true effects on business, it should be dissected into its various integral parts. I believe that there are five Frisbees that we need to look at when trying to succeed in our digital efforts.

Five disruptive forces in the digital world that are shaping the rest of the world. These are social, mobile, data, e-commerce and connected objects.

1. Social
Being social creatures, people quickly realised that digital connectivity enabled them to communicate more conveniently and quickly with whomever they wanted. This included brands whom they had never had unrestricted access to before. Thus, brands whom have embraced social media, and the new customer, have correctly recognised the very important fact that customers are done with quietly being on the receiving end of whatever the brand feeds them. Social networking has given everyone a voice, and once that happened, there was no putting that toothpaste back in its tube.

Success in social is not about a presence on social media platforms but rather leveraging relationship. Learning to use people-to-people connection to deepen relationships and influence people's lifestyles accordingly.

2. Mobile
This disruptive force is fascinating, as not only did it initially disrupt the very concept of communication, but it also continuously disrupts itself as it is ever-evolving. Not only do mobile phones allow for levels of communication never experienced before, but more importantly, it has changed the consumers themselves.

Mobile changed the context of digital engagements; it helped people turn any physical experience into a digital experience. Businesses that are succeeding in their mobile venture are focusing on the context of their mobile engagement rather than the content they deliver in their mobile experience.

3. Data
Never before have we had so much information so readily available at our fingertips. Brands can now learn vital information about their potential customers by simply knowing how to analyse the data in front of them correctly.

This means that consumers now have the power to dictate their own shopping experience. Informed consumers can choose the volume and type of information they share online. Rather than a brand trying to shape the public into the perfect customer, brands how have to understand correctly what it is their customers want, and then give it to them.

Companies succeeding in data usage are using their data resources to provide better products, services, and more personalised customer experiences to the market.

4. E-commerce
E-commerce is gaining strength in South Africa in recent years, with an increasing number of established online stores having proved themselves to consumers. We have also seen a number of traditionally brick-and-mortar stores opening online stores as part of global and local expansion initiatives.

In its simplest explanation, e-commerce is the ability to make transactions in the online arena. This simple technology has grown up a lot in the desktop and B2C world. Today we see the need to improve thinking across mobile commerce, mobile payments and integrated online and brick and mortar purchasing experiences.

5. Connected Objects (Internet of Things)
This exciting disruptive force is taking the digital world, which has always been decidedly separate to the physical world, and firmly integrating it into an individual's everyday existence. Connected objects are essentially any object, be it an appliance, watch or utensil, which is connected to other objects via the internet. This is referred to as machine-to-machine (m2m) connection.

If social media connects people, then The Internet of Things connects objects to objects and people to objects.

Through the m2m connection, people can now live in the digital realm full-time. For businesses, this disruptive force means that product delivery, product design, customer experience - and almost every single aspect of the business - can change to become more productive, more useful - and ultimately more profitable.

So there you have it, five Frisbees to keep your eye on to succeed in the digital world.

To read more about how we applied the five disruptive forces into the Retail Industry visit DigitLab for the latest #DigitLabInsight "The Future State of Retail".