Technology-driven business models will rule the roost!

There is always a line of thought that it is only technology that is the enabler for driving excellence across organizations, especially in a digital era. This is far from the truth as organizations thrive in this digital age not just because of effective deployment of technology but owing to robust technology-driven business models. Take the case of ride-hailing company Uber or even the Over-The-Top (OTT) platforms such as Netflix, Disney Hotstar, and Amazon to name a few – all these brands came to the market with solid technology-driven business models and went on to become highly sustainable, wherein technology was not the only factor for their business success.

Disruptions are the order of the day across industries, which means that business models that appeared sustainable two-three decades back are off the radar with the onset of new business models disrupting the market. For centuries, agricultural and colonial business models dominated the world and soon gave way to the production era after the industrial revolution. Towards the end of the 19^th century and into the 1930s manufacturing models gained popularity as advances in production machinery enabled organizations to produce far more than before. Business models relied on those machines to achieve economies of scale, pushing costs lower and increasing profits. The 1950s saw the introduction of the marketing era as organizations realized the importance of gaining competitive advantage as business models shifted to market segmentation and brand differentiation.

With business models evolving, marketing campaigns became as important as manufacturing capacity as market research emerged as a key focus area for organizations to undertake product development initiatives. As organizations became more marketing and brand-savvy with their focus on cultivating customer relationships it triggered the arrival of the relationship era.

Technology-driven business models adopted by organizations must focus on what problem you are solving for whom; how you will create customer value; how your product or service will get to customers; how your business will stay competitive; and all revenue and costs you can anticipate. Technology-driven business models are here to stay and there is little doubt that organizations can succeed with technology-driven business models, wherein the success cannot be just attributed to technology. Technology will continue to play its part and that is why organizations will continue to focus on technology-driven business models as it is the need of the hour in this digital age.