Six trillion Growth opportunity and the narrow attention span

Six trillion Growth opportunity and the narrow attention span among the existing 7.640.000.000 competitive web pages (Aug. 2017) is a tough issue. He who can transform and stand stil in this huge, global Transformation will be present in the next Growth wave. So, shift your competence, change your mindset and ways of working, to be able to go through. No one will help you, if you don’t start.

Six trillion Growth opportunity

Due to my Networked Society work for 7 years, I’m following the G20, BCG, and other internet related prediction studies. Small and medium-sized owners must realize that the Growth opportunity is going to be huge within the internet economy, or connected economy, or the transformed world (whatever you prefer to call it).

It is necessary to explain that his global GDP-addition will come from new business models, from and for current industries (startups and existing companies). But it will come out of market diversification, simplified service models, and new segments. Few examples among the hundreds:

Connecting small origin-product producers with global markets
Exporting unique artisan experiences and combined marketplaces
Diversify the transport, tourism, entertainment businesses with specialized offerings
Software systems and service platforms for 5G, IoT, and A.I.
Transformed markets: financial (fintech and more), healthcare, media & content
New learning models
Migrating forces to market completely new offerings

All these can be market openings for the Tuscany region, Crete in Greece, Lisbon, Stockholm’s innovation patents, fabric producers and the tourism’s new solo entrepreneurs. You name it!

Anyone can benefit from this growth opportunity, if only they transform and adapt to more productive, efficient, efficient cost-base model, and unique creativity and experiences. Tough, you think? It will be, but you can’t simply fix your logo to modernize, while your entire industry is disrupted.

Obstacle No1: Digital divide

The OECD shows that the 97% of 16-24 years’ old are prepared, but it’s not the same at older ages (decision-makers, politicians, business owners). The digital divide means that we have two generation groups not being able to understand each other, and then co-create Change models. The divide brings along great social instability as well, when it comes to jobs, competence, and work. Last but not least, in OECD countries, the 5.4% are Males competent in ICT roles and technical domains, driving innovation and Change, while Females are only 1.4% (leading women to stay ‘trapped’ into more traditional roles and skills).

Obstacle No2: SME’s don’t know and they get fooled by amateurs

Small-medium-sized businesses are in the learning-adapting phase. They sometimes think that only creating a website is enough, without turning tech tools into real business transformation. They get fooled by ‘siloed’ web developers, digital (FB) experts, and many more cash-out sources, but they get lower outcomes than expected. Unfortunately, European states haven’t realized that they must create institutions for “business learning hubs” to help all industries be prepared for What’s next. Chambers are failing their roles, and associations quickly turn to be “personal image boosters”.

Obstacle No3: Big companies resist change

Used to be the case that a big company was promoting “best-cases” in between 1980-2000. But now, that leadership exemplification is needed more than ever before, to set ‘raw-models’, they are tired, heavy, and complacent. Their Managers come from the previous era and still old-logics rule in customer service, partnerships and mergers, and incubating talent for Growth. The[inlinetweet prefix=”” tweeter=”” suffix=””] 64% of EU and Middle East companies aren’t adapting technology[/inlinetweet] and new ways.

Stimuli to discuss and share

K-Farmers

In a greenhouse outside of Seoul, a woman is taking pictures of her cucumbers. Another one is instagraming how she produces fresh cheese for prospects. In another part of the country, a farmer is documenting his tomato production. Together, they are part of a movement in South Korea to create more transparency within the food production industry, reach new customers and create stories. See the video here.

This film is part of a global Ericsson project where we’ve traveled to over 25 different countries in order to find the real-life change-makers who are transforming our world through mobility. The project serves as both a study and a celebration: a study on how connectivity has reshaped the ways in which we communicate, collaborate and innovate, as well as a celebration of pioneers who introduced new applications of technology to transform our businesses, industries, and society at large

(source: Networked Society)

Media shifts

According to Nielsen, Americans now own four digital devices on average, which consists of HD televisions, internet connected computers, and smartphones. 2/3 of Americans use smartphones, which allows them to create and consume media anywhere, anytime. As a result of this choice of screens, Americans are now consuming 60+ hours of content per week.

Right after choice of devices, there’s also choice of channel, whether it’s social, news outlet, blog, forum, search engine. And finally, there is the choice of multi-media and content whether it’s video, text, images, or audio. This is why you see content industry and the Netflix type of investments exploding…

(source: Marketing curiosity)

Creative industry

Is your in-house creative team still making the final movie cut? You can find out by tapping into large business networks of creators. I personally use and train myself in Canva.com. Check Fiverr for any creative service you might need. With the wide “democratization” of content creation, it’s now easier than ever to create content. But the next phase is funneling talented creatives into a platform that connects them with businesses.

Once these platforms hit a critical mass of supply and demand, they can adjust pricing in real-time, and ratings will give you the best possible matches. This is the holy grail of business network economics. More big brands are tapping creative crowdsourcing sites. Frito-Lay’s Doritos brand helped pioneer the space with an online contest, now in its ninth iteration, to crowdsource a Super Bowl commercial!! Doritos recently used crowdsourcing to find a holiday video card, said Brad Alesi, a vice president at the company’s contract marketing agency Marketing Arm.

(source: Los Angeles times)

“We will have more Internet, larger numbers of users, more mobile access, more speed, more things online and more appliances we can control over the Internet”

Vint Cerf, ‘Father of internet’

Obstacle No4: Young pioneers work in echo chambers and silos

Young leaders, startup owners, incubators, edu-hubs are doing their thing; events, competitions, fire-chats, FB lives and so many other initiatives. But they are doing it in a way that doesn’t influence (and educate) society and the business community as a whole. They are ‘silo-ed’ and they might develop an effective model, a successful business, hire some few employees, but they don’t implement the next step: door-open the corporate world, go door-to-door to SME’s and ask for partnerships and co-creation to influence and educate the larger population.

Obstacle No5: Schools & Universities still produce old-competence

Thousands of future marketers still are taught the 4P’s. Thousands of Math students still are prepared to become school teachers. Thousands of creative designers still learn on flash and web banner projects. Thousands of psychologists have been told that coaching will be the profession of the future (half of our working world is now a coach…). But the new jobs won’t be professions, but specialist-generalist roles to facilitate lower-costs, larger efficiencies. Coding, How economy works, Marketing a business, aren’t still included in education curriculums, distancing our kids from future opportunities and market demand.

Obstacle No6: If you see only the technical side, you’re out

The hype is that you should be code-expert, or tech-‘junkie’ to develop a business. That is partially true, but let me tell you that Ireland is producing €71 billion per year through services’ segments, simply using tech tools. The game-changers in the future will be creative ideas in everything we do or market and excellent personalized (custom-tailored) services, in any industry.

Obstacle No7: Still business managers invest in on-shelf-discounts

Due to obstacles 2, 3 still business owners invest time and huge resources in physical stores, but without a diversified strategy with many touchpoints, simply out of pure habit. To say that digital commerce is killing off physical stores is lazy thinking and a half-truth. On the contrary, pure-play online shopping is the imperilled model, evidenced by the lack of e-commerce-only retailers —save for Amazon and eBay— that have gained any meaningful heft and influence. Of course, e-commerce is informing how we shop, having an outsized impact on traditional retail.

But retail bankruptcies, store closings, and liquidations don’t mean consumers have traded in bricks for clicks. They reflect a business and marketing model failure and a mixed brew of factors, including a vastly overstored retail landscape still sized for a pre-e-commerce/pre-Great Recession shopping mindset, just as consumers buy fewer tangible things, like a new purse, opting for more experiential purchases, like a dinner out.

Brick merchants are buying click merchants because online-only is not a viable retail model, according to “The Death of Pureplay Retail,” a report from digital think tank L2. For one, “walk-in traffic doesn’t exist online,” while stores can generate organic traffic. And expansion builds brand equity, the report says.

Obstacle No8: Citizens & Consumers fear for their Privacy

With a percentage of more than 65% in all countries (more or so) citizens and consumer fear on their privacy and personal data. Tip for every web / e-something / mobile service you develop: if this fear (or perception) continues it will be a huge implication for developing online payments, click-buy habits, and membership models. That said, you have to educate your customer, give them trusted solutions, and great message transparency what you do with their data (don’t let urban myths grow…). That goes for you Mark Zuckerberg as well…

The business owner of any size or segment or type of service, who will transform and adapt the best cases in this huge, global Transformation will be present in the next Growth wave. This is why I’ve made it my mission to share know-how. We can’t progress if the few are successful and the rest fail behind.

So, shift your competence, change your mindset and ways of working, to be able to go through. If you don’t start now, your path is uncertain (sorry to be so cynical, but truthful).