If Amazon could fail then how about you?
Generally, in the business, it is a perception that big organization will not fall. But the crises of 2008 have shown us that no company is big enough to say afloat for a very long time. Post the 2008 crisis, we have also seen many major retail outlets getting closed – Sears, Toys “R” Us, Circuit City, Sports Authority. These were a large-scale giant organization in the USA and have been part of the American way of life for decades. But a single company – Amazon just changed the tide for them. Then the question arises – will Amazon last forever as it is so big and the Answer is Amazon will also fail one day.
In today's' digital world the collapse of major retail outlets has clearly shown us that the business tide is changing and only the disruptive companies which are able to change according to the market condition and customer experience will survive. The only way to avoid this great fail is by ‘INNOVATION’.
In the late ’80s, 90’s and early 2000 we often heard the world FORTUNE 500 companies. Today in 2018, when was the last time you heard the world ‘FORTUNE 500 companies’. In turn, we hear all the UNICORNS (privately head startup valued over 1Billion) – Uber, Airbnb, Spotify, Snapchat, Flipkart, Pinterest, Twitter, Facebook etc. All these companies have created the market for themselves and are offering the product/services which did not exist or rather existed in the non-digital and traditional old business format. And the only common tool these companies have used for their benefits is ‘Innovation’.
One needs to accept and believe that the market condition and the customer experience/expectation has drastically changed due to the digitization. Rather it would be right to say that the customer attention span or average time to wait has reduced. Thanks to the mobile device, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram generation which expect everything instantly. This expectation has been carried forward to the daily usage operations like banking, insurance, eCommerce, Book, Travel etc.
Over the years, we have seen #Amazon has been the front-runner for Digital Innovation right from the eBook store, eCommerce Platform, Kindle, Amazon Prime, AWS, Alexa, Amazon Go etc. Similarly, #Microsoft too has changed its direction with the Cloud First Approach for all its product line and have been successful. The CEO of both these companies has accepted the Digital Transformation and molding their business operation accordingly and have been successful.
The business organization serving the international customer base or the local suburb community has to change themselves in order to survive this digitization phase. And the change has to be accepted by the top-management starting with the CEO. Unless the top-management and CEO are convinced that Digital Transformation is not a hype but true indicator of the market trends; it would be very difficult to change the culture, perception and the business operations.
I think the next phase of major disruption will be around the BSFI sector. The conditions are quite ripe with the induction of the startup called FinTech with innovative business ideas and difficulties for the traditional banks and insurance companies who have been in business for a generation; to upgrade themselves to the new customer expectation. Remember, the top leading Banker might think they are Too Big to Fall but then do Remember the year 2008 and the current market digital trends..... they tell a different story!!!
In the conclusion, I would just like to Quote Jeff Bezos – “Amazon is not too big to fail. In fact, I predict one day Amazon will fail. Amazon will go bankrupt. If you look at large companies, their lifespans tend to be 30-plus years, not hundred-plus years. If we start to focus on ourselves, instead of focusing on our customers, that will be the beginning of the end. We have to try and delay that day for as long as possible.“ – Jeff Bezos.