Will the post Covid winners be the disruptors?

3.August.2020

Will the post Covid winners be the disruptors?

I bet that in the last 6 months everyone has experienced that “ctrl, alt delete” moment in both their professional and personal lives. Recent research suggests that a surprisingly high percentage of us would like to retain some or most of our new daily routines. Adaptability has been forced onto most, even on those who object to making daily changes and are by admission, creatures of habit.

This too is mirrored in the business world.

Historically every now and then, new entities emerge that challenge established players. Think of EasyJet in the `90`s, Vistaprint in the noughties and more recently the likes of Uber, Rightmove, airbnb and deliveroo. The list today is endless with seemingly every sector ripe for disruption and no day goes by without another large investment being made by VC`s and private equity players into so called disruptors.

This endless list is due to one fact – all those companies use big data and big data exists because of superior technology, which today is available for most at affordable prices. There was a time when big data was only used and understood by the B2C sector, eager to find an edge over their competition. But you have to balance this data advantage with forward looking products or services that make tangible differences to everyday lives. Target this at the right audience and traction will be gained.

As an obvious example, take Elon Musk at Tesla. All the major car giants had the data, budgets and ability to build electric cars but chose not too – why change an established, cash generating business model? Sure, they all had token development teams at research sites, but no one really pulled the trigger on full scale production. Along comes Musk. He saw the global lethargy from the sector, identified the growing pubic feeling of the green agenda and went full time into mass production, so forcing the others to act, or die. By his early design pace and speed to production, he earned early player status and today the term recognised widely for the electric car is `Tesla`, so joining the ranks of `Hoover` and `Xerox` to describe an action recognised by a brand name. The supply chain into Tesla is also encouraged to be disruptive, from the Tier 1 suppliers to how the cars are sold.

Anyone has the opportunity to be a market influencer but a disruptor is another matter. Not everyone will become one though, either by design or circumstances and this emerging picture will be interesting to witness over the next couple of years, post pandemic.

I for one will be keeping an eye out for the winners during this time, from the manufacturing of goods to vet care, tour operators to builders and transport operators to healthcare. What fantastic opportunities must now exists for those with ideas that will make our lives easier, drive company value and springboard exciting career paths for tomorrow’s risk taking leaders.