Glenn Davies: Disrupting Africa

I think it’s fair to say that the landscape for technology and innovation is undergoing huge change. The ‘tech’ industry as we know it is transforming and moving at speeds like no other. And any industry that is moving with it is doing so with the help of disruptive technologies being developed in the IT space.

New platforms, systems and innovations are emerging daily and ‘technopreneur’ innovators are breaking ground on a daily basis. Many of the major transformations are being fueled by powerful emerging technologies, such as mobility, cloud computing and virtualization, while others are being driven by new consumer demands and expectations. Technology is disrupting everything.

So what’s the difference between Disruptive Technology and Disruptive Innovation?

A disruptive technology is one that displaces an established technology and shakes up the industry or a ground-breaking product that creates a completely new industry. 

A disruptive innovation is an innovation that helps create a new market and value network, and eventually disrupts an existing market and value network (over a few years or decades), displacing an earlier technology. The term is used in business and technology literature to describe innovations that improve a product or service in ways that the market does not expect, typically first by designing for a different set of consumers in a new market and later by lowering prices in the existing market.

History of disruptive technologies

It’s not so long ago I can remember writing a letter on my typewriter but this was quickly disrupted by the personal computer and changed the way we do business forever. Personal computing also disrupted the television industry, as well as a great number of other activities we have become so used to.

The humble Email makes my list for displacing letter-writing and disrupting the postal and greeting card industries. Then came the laptop computer launching a mobile workforce enabling people to connect to corporate networks and collaborate from anywhere.

Mobile phones made it possible for people to call us anywhere and disrupted the telecom industry. And smartphones largely replaced feature phones and, because of the available features and applications, also disrupted cameras, MP3 players, calculators and GPS devices, among many other possibilities.

Cloud computing has been a hugely disruptive technology in the business world, displacing many resources that would conventionally have been located in-house or provided as a traditionally hosted service.

Social networking has had a major impact on the way we communicate and -- especially for personal use -- disrupting telephone, email, instant messaging and event planning.

Technologies that are disrupting Africa

Whilst there are hundreds, if not thousands of disruptive technologies presenting themselves today, I feel 3 stand out most when it comes to influencing Africa and its commercial economy - Mobile technology, Cloud Computing and Big Data Analytics.

Africa is a mobile continent first and foremost. Roughly one million new phones are activated every day, adding to the more than a billion already in circulation. From commercial to retail, there is now unparalleled connectivity and access to work operations. Essentially, the concept of an ‘office’ has been thrown open to include anywhere and everywhere where there is mobile service.

With Cloud & Virtualization technologies, a recent report by KPMG’s Technology, Media and Telecommunications practice stated “Continuing developments in Cloud and Mobile, and the interplay of these technologies, is enabling business models that take advantage of economies of scale, provide virtual access to supply chains and allows physical products to operate in the Cloud.” It has been forecasted that in Africa, the cloud market is projected to grow at an annual rate of 20 – 25% over the next three years, and accordingly many of the most innovative business models are utilising this technology to help sharpen their competitive edge.

Africa is already well known for leading the charge in disruptive technologies in the mobile money space; but an even more exciting disruptor lurks in the shadows ready to tackle one of the largest opportunities ever presented in the Africa tech world: big data analytics. Across the continent, there’s a tremendous potential for using data analytics in powerful new ways in a wide range of industries and domains, from telecommunications and banking to transportation and healthcare.

Data is pouring in from every conceivable direction: from operational and transactional systems, from scanning and facilities management systems, from inbound and outbound customer contact points, from mobile media and the Web.

But the explosion of data isn’t new. It continues a trend that started in the 1970s. What has changed is the velocity of growth, the diversity of the data and the imperative to make better use of information to transform the business. When it comes to Big Data and Africa - watch this space.

Conclusion

A recent survey by KPMG of CIO’s and CTO’s revealed that more than three quarters believe that the second most critical factor, after talent, leading to innovation in business is the adoption of new technologies. It can take considerable time and investment to come to grips with disruptive technologies, but the upside is certainly there and worth the pain. It’s simply the scale of the rewards that has yet to be seen. So perhaps it is time to consider whether or not your own business is maximising the potential presented by the latest disruptive technologies?

Glenn Davies is Group CEO of Inigmah

 

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