“As the environment gets a breath of fresh air and the planet vibrates less from the world’s greatest unplanned experiment in physical movement, the internet is humming with activity that is accelerating the deployment of exponential technologies to solve critical challenges,” says Patrick Halford, Vice President for Key Digital Technologies at Spinverse. Here are some of his insights on converging business models.
Nascent technologies that were once the province of specialist activities are being rapidly deployed across industries. Case in point; robots which can be quickly re-tasked to provide autonomous hygiene solutions in hospitals, schools, offices and transportation systems. At the same time, drones (flying robots) are being unleashed to solve urgent logistical needs, perform cleansing functions (indoors and outdoors), inspection, safety and many other operations.
Across the organisational spectrum, teams are harnessing previously held-back capabilities to solve urgent problems. In the process they are discovering new value chains that can re-wire revenue streams.
Simultaneously, governmental funding, which greases the rails of co-creation, has accelerated with new programmes being fast-tracked to stimulate economic activity, overlapping with existing funding calls at national and European levels. In parallel, corporates, universities & research institutions, SMEs and startups are adjusting the circadian rhythm of their businesses.
New normal of remote collaboration
At the recent, and first, digital CTO Forum in Finland, organised by Spinverse, Technology Industries of Finland and Business Finland, we broke into work teams to model new opportunities for sustainable, resilient supply chains. This new-normal format of digital collaboration enabled the gathering of technology executives to open the aperture on applying new thinking and growing combinations of technologies to get the economy back on track.
Opportunity is running amok for organisations tuned into the new realities. New needs conveniently overlap with existing business model challenges. Front stage and backstage business model design offers incumbent organisations potential profitable pivots.
Catching on with vehicle electrification
Let’s look at an obvious example of an unmet need colliding with an existing organisational infrastructure searching for a new market.
Across the Nordics, we have large car and truck sales/leasing organisations, often family-owned, who are transforming their Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) based business models to the drum beat of electrification. Tesla has helped remove one hundred years of assumptions regarding the manufacturing, sales and servicing of cars and trucks. Other manufacturers are catching on, stimulated by additional factors such as environmental standards, social awareness and Tesla’s rapidly encroaching business.
Vehicle buyers are also delaying decisions, waiting for range anxiety to be mitigated by improved batteries and faster, easily available charging infrastructure. This is of course impacting existing ICE inventories.
Meanwhile up in the air, the COVID-19 situation has accelerated the deployment of drones for urgent logistical, inspection and healthcare needs. Drones can also multi-task and gather vast sums of data which can be mined for new sources of value. The Air Taxis are coming as well!
However, one of the biggest challenges with keeping up with drone demands is not the technology. It is the ability to deploy and manage drone fleets at scale. Drones and their payloads are riding their own exponential curves, obeying the laws of price/performance improvements on a yearly basis. This can be an expensive proposition for small organisations to circumnavigate.
On the other hand, car and truck fleet management organisations have vast infrastructure and procurement experience that can be leveraged. They also have a deep understanding of things that move and carry goods.
So why not take a pivot and spin up a new line of business such as drone fleet management? The technology exists and the organisational infrastructure exists...they just exist in different places at the moment.
Spinverse helps to alloy new value chains
Exponential growth in technologies and business doesn’t just come from the doublings in performance and/or reductions in cost. It also comes from converging business models marrying-up to make new markets. This folds back in on the R&D which attracts more investment and creativity, which in turn brings down the cost and drives up the utility.
At Spinverse, we help to alloy new value chains, creating ecosystems that generate new 100 M€ businesses through access to funding instruments and new ways of thinking.
More insights from Patrick Halford: