From industry convergence to innovation

Smart technologies are helping customers share, trade and optimize their experiences as never before. Digital technologies have empowered consumers in many ways. Today, they have greater access to knowledge, data and choice: enabling them to make better decisions and giving them a more powerful voice. Many believe that technology brings a democratization of the historical power imbalance between those who provide and those who receive services. 

As EY continues our discussions on innovation this week in San Francisco, we’ve examined the implications of industry convergence —the blurring of two or more previously distinct industries and sets of participants. Today consumers are more likely than ever to accept offerings from insurgent players, regardless of industry, when they feel underserved or unserved. Industries rife with dissatisfied customers and anachronistic business models may be the most affected by this. As industry boundaries blur, existing companies face unexpected competition from start-ups with new ideas and disruptive business models, as well as from incumbent companies in previously unrelated sectors. In a converging world driven by smart technologies, every industry is vulnerable. 

Today’s innovators are cross-industry thinkers. They are collaborative workers. They look beyond their own backyard and engage new sources of talent and innovative tools to make real, tangible differences.  The best innovators know that true ingenuity can come from unexpected places. They know often it is better to look outside of their office, group or organization and consider the broader ecosystem. And they look outside of their own industries. Organizations stuck in industry-specific bubbles will be left behind. 

As you look at your own organization, ask yourself: 

• Are you interacting with and learning from industries outside of your own?
• Does your workforce encompass a diversity of backgrounds and skills?
• Or do you engage people with similar backgrounds in support of your existing culture?
• Importantly, are you bringing in technical skills from industries other than your own?
• Do you value a “rogue” element in your workforce and seek different and possibly contrary perspectives?

Let’s look at some of the industries that are dealing with these challenges. For example, long gone are the days of health care services companies sifting through folders or spreadsheet programs of patient records. Today, technology driven health care companies are using data specialists, researchers, consumer product companies and others to harness the power of analytics and maximize the power of patient data. While this process was historically designed to support the health service provider, it is now more and more designed to empower the patient.  Why shouldn't patients be able to their access blood test results and communicate with the doctor through an app? Now they can, and they should. 

And consider the still growing power of social media. Around the world it has become routine and is now an integral part of the daily lives of billions. Already, leveraging social media to connect to your customers and stakeholders is routine across many industries.  

Silos don’t work any longer.  This is true within organizations, between organizations and in society as a whole. As everything and everyone is connected, businesses need to build robust and responsive ecosystems and drive collaboration in previously unexpected places to meet customer and consumer  expectations.

The views reflected in this article are the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the global EY organization or its member firms.