The term “Disruptive Technology” was coined by Prof.
Clayton Christensen in 1995 amidst the technology revolution phase in Computer
hardware industry. Every little component inside a computer underwent a
transformation of sorts, be it reduction in size, be it in fabrication
techniques of microprocessors or be it in functioning of different components
of the computer. While computers enjoyed the limelight of being amidst a
technological revolution, there were numerous examples since 1960s which
qualified of being “Disruptive” in their own rights. Transformation of an analogue
radio to a transistor radio, emergence of portable calculators, transformation
of CRT to LCD are some of the path breaking events which reinstated the fact
that technology is evolving every day. A disruptive technology initially offers
a comparatively lower performance with respect to the traditional demands of a
market but at the same time provides fresh attributes, which in turn gets
inculcated into consumer acceptance over a period of time; finally it
substitutes the former version to emerge as a new industrial order.
The term “Disruptive Technology” was later modified into
“Disruptive Innovation” in order to include business processes & models
along with products; which possess the same capability of bringing about an
absolute and immediate transformation in the industry. Introduction of Retail Stores
was a disruptive business model which targeted innate consumer behaviour of
impulsive buying. Google leveraged its position as the most powerful internet search
engine company for tying search results to paid advertisement, which a lot of
companies subscribe to. Apple has been a constant innovator with IPOD &
IPAD technology creating almost a parallel market today. We are witnessing an
overwhelming presence of Android & Windows OS replacing traditional Symbian
OS in Mobile technology. Today, disruptive innovations are trying to utilize
all the effective parameters to bring in a simplified & unified solution to
common demands. A lot of technological innovations came up in the past couple
of years targeted towards ease of lifestyle like Google glasses, Pebble
Smartwatch, Microsoft Illumiroom, 3-D printer etc. Emergence of online,
competency based learning universities is on the cards which will surely
disrupt the way education has been delivered till now. Advanced robotics has
been taken up by various Governments to strengthen their defence arsenal. The
biggest enigma today as a form of disruptive technology is Big Data. It was
always on the cards but it started gaining importance once analysts understood
the value of churning that asymmetric information from disparate sources into
something meaningful. As it caters to all sectors, it has completely changed
the way firms used analytics to predict and identify business elements. IT
services has taken a toll as well, with the introduction of a new & unknown
competency. IT & ITes companies are re-orienting their focus on prominent,
recent & disruptive technologies like Cloud computing, Big Data with Hadoop
etc by creating a workforce with these niche technologies as their competency;
re-orientation however takes time, that’s why the firms which foresee change
beforehand have had an advantage over others.
But the use of innovation should not be restricted merely
to creation of a niche market and realization of revenues from it. Healthcare
& Pharmaceuticals are the sectors which need more innovation apart from the
advancement of medical instruments, more to create a social impact. In India,
Medtronic’s business model called “Healthy Heart For All” is making healthcare
more affordable. Advancement of human genome technology is a noted achievement
though. Various firms do advertise how latest technology is being leveraged for
the society by them, to bring the world closer and to satisfy their basic
needs, but the question still remains; How effectively can we implement these “disruptive”
forms in order to facilitate every section of the society?
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