Disrupt yourself or be disrupted (Part 2: the blurring of products and services)
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Description
Disruption may be the most over-used word of the 21st century, but there’s often a reason why something becomes a cliche: because it’s at least partly true. The world is changing so fast today that what might be a sound business - or business model - now may not stay that way for long. In this series of episodes, we discuss the dynamics of disruption and break it down to two basic mechanisms. In Part I, we tackled the twin notions of bundling and unbundling. Part II looks at the second way that people and companies can reinvent their businesses or business models: by turning their products into services or vice-versa. A car is a product, right? Not anymore. It’s increasingly a service (Uber, Lyft, Bird), and transportation as a service is taking off. Financial advice is a service, right? Not always. With Wealthsimple and other Fintech start-ups, it’s becoming a product. The same can be said of Meditation Coaching and the Headspace app... What does all this mean for you or your company? Ask yourself if you can turn your service into a product (which will allow you to scale), or your product into a service (which may allow you to charge a premium). This is a very useful mental model to view the world as well as your business or job. Not only will you able to foresee (and possibly fend off) disruptive challenges, we argue that it will also arm you with some tools to prepare for the biggest disruption coming towards all of us: automation. Tune in for Part II of a lively discussion on the promise and perils of Disruption, and then let us know what you think!
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