What would industries after 30 years look like? Similar to industries of today or radically different! We should explore possibility of radical changes because of slow but fundamental shifts happening around us. Lets discuss them:
Democratization of Design & Manufacturing: Product design is moving out of confines of R&D Dept with suppliers and customers participating in the process. Several Auto OEMs invite suppliers to design the car parts which are supplied by them. Customers are encouraged to give design suggestions. 3D printing will further make manufacturing available to masses and consequently design.
Increasing Commercial Significance of Community Platforms: Platforms like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter have revolutionized the basic act of social interaction. As these community platforms gained wide acceptance, social media marketing became prevalent. Several start-ups broke into scene which provide a community platform for people with complimentary needs to interact and exchange services (Eg: www.myridebuddy.com). On some platforms, the participants are both provider and consumer of the service (Eg: www.waze.com).
Rise of Integrators: Developments in ICT have made it possible to integrate data from various sources, including real-time data, and run analytics. Now data is out of silos and available to derive intelligence and insights from it. This has led to new business models where firms integrate data and provide services like multi-modal trip planning, traffic simulations etc. Eg: www.rideamigoscorp.com, Mapunity
So what kind of industries and business models these shifts to democratization, community participation and integration will lead to? Some of the defining characteristics could be:
- Society and Business will converge: Business will be primarily oriented towards addressing social and environmental needs.
- Orchestration by consumer: Industries will organize around consumer experience. Consumers will configure and design their experience and businesses around will adapt and serve accordingly.
It would not be a surprise if industries like healthcare and transportation cease to exist and industries of Well-being, Happiness, Mobility & Leisure emerge. Its exciting times ahead and we could witness a renaissance in industries.
