How do businesses survive in this new era of disruption?

COVID 19 is a global pandemic far-reaching the shores of Asia today and our ordinary lives have been disrupted beyond our recognition. No one was fully prepared for what we are experiencing, but companies must respond, to the best of their ability, in order to survive in this new era of disruptive change.

In every disrupted cycle there are winners and losers, and organisations that can adapt quickly, be more efficient and are keen to adopt new technologies, that assist them to be more productive are most likely to survive. Companies should try to direct resources to radically innovate and become future ready.

A quote from Praxis Labs said; “from today onwards most leaders must recognise that the business that they were in no longer exists. If your demand for business can be disrupted, I think it’s time to re-evaluate the business you are in.”

Firstly, we all know that disruption has always affected businesses, although COVID 19 is the most significant disruption we have experienced. However, the speed of disruption today has accelerated considerably. The three factors affecting this speed is:

• The rise of Big data – we are living in a world that is data driven and algorithm defined. This has led to the rise of technology advancement to manage and leverage this data. If data is the company’s new asset, then algorithm is the new differentiator.
• Technology has evolved fast because of the ability of data. Cloud computing capability and 5G has enabled global data transmission and changed the dynamics. The new ecosystem takes months and not years to penetrate, which can now be accessed by small start-ups.
• Easy access to incremental funding from investors providing start ups the financial runway to compete effectively with bigger organisations.

Accelerated disrupted technologies and evolution are supporting many new start-ups with different models and different rules to serve the market and new segments. This means that established organisations must utilise their current resources while making investments into technology and automation that help them to mitigate this risk.

“What we all agree is that we need radical innovation and thinking to harness technology for the best results technology can deliver for the new world.” Yau Boon Lim, Senior Partner, Lim-Loges & Masters.

Those companies that can adapt quickly in this unprecedented time will build an opportunity to figure out the best way to manage the new way forward. COVID 19 has altered the rules we are familiar with. We are in a new era of disruption and the world will not look the same again.

Follow our next article in the series which looks at disruptive technology and disruptors.

The information has been extracted from our recent webinar on 2 April 2020, organised in conjunction with Britcham, James Kane, Managing Director, Mondelez International (Malaysia & Singapore); Daisy Jiang, Director of Operations, UIB; and Yau Boon Lim, Senior Partner, Disruption Management, Lim-Loges & Masters discussed Disruption from Nowhere. This the first of a series of articles from their discussions.