Building innovative business models around emerging technologies

1. 7/24/2018 Building Innovative Business Models Around Emerging Technologies
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Geo Wilson Follow
Tech Startups & Corporate Innovation are my thing. I founded @352inc, @Ent_Innovation &
many startups; mentor at @TechStars & @ATLTechVillage. Atlanta is home.
Mar 24, 2017 · 3 min read
Building Innovative Business Models
Around EmergingTechnologies
It’s a commonly trumpeted fact that only 12% of the Fortune 500
companies of 1955 remained on that list in 2015. Depending on who
you talk to, those 61 companies left standing represent the natural
cycle of innovation in a consumer-driven economy, or a merely sign
that all good things must eventually end. At the current churn rate of
companies listed on the S&P 500, 75% of current companies will be
replaced in 10 years.
How’s that for a motivation to adapt to new technology? It’s literally a
do-or-die scenario for most modern companies—at some point in its
lifecycle, every company will face the challenge of changing along with
new technology or fading from the marketplace.
Many executives and innovators need look no further than former
photography giant Eastman Kodak as the poster child of a company
sunk by an inability to adapt to new technology. Yet at the end of the
day, Kodak’s demise was not simply about technology. It stemmed from
a failure to adapt its core business model to that emerging technology.

2. 7/24/2018 Building Innovative Business Models Around Emerging Technologies
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At the current rate of change, business as usual
means your organization may be gone in 5–10 years.
Three Paths to EmergingTechnologies
Chris Curran at CIO Dashboard recently outlined three key drivers for
experimenting with new technologies:
Demand-Driven—It’s easy to chase down a new technology when
a customer demands a new feature or new platform, but that can
also result in your innovation department rapidly moving o -
mission. As Henry Ford learned early on, leaning too heavily on
customer demand would have only resulted in a faster horse; it
can be a good way to drum up business, yet avoids true
innovation. Since companies have little motivation to truly
experiment, they also leave themselves open to disruption by a
smaller, more visionary competitor.
Technology-Driven—Just like consumers, many innovators
simply chase the newest technology. Most likely, your company
may not need a Virtual Reality experience or a Snapchat presence,
but it’s important for corporations to experiment with new
platforms, coding frameworks and other emerging opportunities.
Too often, however, this becomes an unstructured exploration of
new things rather than true experimentation with a business
objective in mind.
Business-Driven—Innovators that look at new technologies
through a business lens rst, rather than a technology lens, are far
more likely to hit upon successful innovation projects. Through a
product thinking mindset that puts customer needs and business
objectives rst, innovators can establish a framework for aligning
new technology strategies with the core business and rapidly
validate ideas with prototyping and testing within the
marketplace.
ShiftingYour Business Model
Typically, innovators view emerging technologies through the lens of
the company’s current, successful business model, rather than mapping
out how a new technology might open new lines of business for them.
This approach often requires an entirely new business model than that
of the core business unit.
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3. 7/24/2018 Building Innovative Business Models Around Emerging Technologies
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For instance, MP3 players only became widespread after Apple shifted
the digital music business model by creating the iTunes store to support
the iPod. Airbnb leveraged digital connections to upend the hotel
industry landscape with a fundamentally new approach to customers.
Despite its work in digital photography and even photo-sharing digital
experiences, Kodak’s failure to truly shift its business model away from
silver halide lm was the ultimate death knell for the company. It’s the
role of the innovator to not only recognize which technologies can
support new products or business lines but also evaluate emerging
technologies unencumbered by the pressures of the core business unit.
At the current rate of change in the marketplace, business as usual
means a business that may be gone in 5–10 years.
This article was originally published at Enterprise Innovation, a leading
publication for corporate innovation pro les, news and insights.