Big tech changes are evident left and right, and yet the outcomes of the trend don’t appear to be evident even to the most experienced of professionals.
We keep hearing how data-driven this and that is the future, but if you make an effort to observe the markets outside of your respective bubble, you’ll see that things are far from being black and white.
One interesting standpoint has been recently published by Harvard Business Review. Pioneered by veteran investment banker Jonathan Knee, who also happens to have authored “The Platform Delusion: Who Wins and Who Loses in the Age of Tech Titans,” the thesis argues that “digital superpowers” are not nearly as invincible as they may appear to be at first.
Here’s an interesting quote to help us get started:
“Today many people in the industry, as well as academics and investors, seem to think that the large tech platform companies uniformly benefit from strong network effects, which inexorably propel them toward global dominance. But that is demonstrably false. Let’s start with the notion of scale. The traditional view is that it helps companies by spreading fixed costs. The new, sexy scale on the internet comes from network effects, and people argue that it offers an inherently superior competitive advantage. But that’s crazy. In the absence of significant fixed costs, any network-effect-driven business is going to attract competition from new platforms that find they can break even at extremely low usage levels. Also, network effects are not the primary driver of competitive advantage at most of these companies.”
Jonathan Knee, “Can Big Tech Be Disrupted,” Harvard Business Review
Now that the thesis has been set, let’s add a couple of variables to it to see how big tech changes really are affecting the present business environment.
European Union Moves to Limit Big Tech
Here’s a representative example of what “your respective bubble” implies.
The world just so happens to be home to all kinds of countries with different strategic goals. With the obvious push towards deindustrialization, other forces have been forced into the arena.
Let’s stop at that as predicting what the near future may bring with everything that’s been going on in the last three years or so is only likely to give us a headache but no clarity.
One local player that’s trying to set up its own rules is the European Union (EU). This union comprises, basically, the so-called Western Europe with some added former Warsaw Pact countries. Although these countries occupy only a small portion of the world, they have formed a shared market and are trying to govern this and that independently, with a varying degree of success.
One notable portion of the Union’s affairs that concerns us here is the so-called European Digital Market. More precisely, the mechanisms governing it, which happen to be two acts: The Digital Markets Act (DMA) and The Digital Services Act (DSA).
Basically, the DMA aims to govern how large online platforms are allowed to compete in the EU market. The Act aims to help local EU companies to compete against large market players as has been made evident in the example of Facebook Messenger, which has been forced to cooperate with smaller local messaging platforms.
The DMA is yet to be fully implemented, with the predicted date when everything will fall into place being May 2, 2023.
As for the DSA, it basically forces big tech companies to provide ‘responsible’ content (your guess is as good as mine!), remove ‘harmful’ content from their platforms, and limit the spread of ‘misinformation.’ While these categories remain vague, what the DSA communicates clearly is that big tech companies must provide ‘transparent’ algorithms.
Remote Work
Once again, the EU is but a drop in the sea of change. To get the bigger picture, all strong market players capable of affecting the trend need to be taken into account, which is presently impossible to achieve.
Hence, let’s observe these initiatives as an example of how big tech may not be that fortified after all.
One huge boost is remote work. Many people have noticed how this work model was aggressively promoted during the pandemic, obviously with the aim so setting the trend.
As a result, even people who wouldn’t have even considered this model are now reconsidering their options.
A direct result of this almost global trend is the emergence of hybrid work models, which strive to align the business practices that are rapidly becoming obsolete with the ‘new normal.’
Since the transition is known to, well, transit, there are some crossovers aimed at making workplace digitalization as smooth as possible. Hence, there are six hybrid work models, as follows:
- Partially remote work, with flexible office space
- Almost entirely on premises
- Partially remote work, multiple hubs
- Partially remote work, large office space
- Almost entirely off premises
- Multiple microhubs
Hybrid work models also empower another recent trend — digital nomadism. Jointly, these two initiatives are changing the business environment dramatically.
Popular Types of Remote Work
There are many popular types of remote work that have gained popularity in recent years, especially due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Some of the most popular types of remote work include:
- Software development and engineering
- Content creation, such as writing, online video editing, and graphic design
- Virtual assistance and administrative support
- Customer service and support
- Remote hiring and recruitment management
- Sales and marketing
- Project management
- Training and online tutoring
- Healthcare and telemedicine
- Accounting and finance
- Legal services and consulting.
These are just a few examples, and the list is by no means exhaustive. With the increasing availability of digital tools and platforms, many traditional office-based jobs can now be performed remotely. The remote work trend is likely to continue and expand in the coming years as more companies and workers realize the benefits of flexibility and remote work arrangements.
Big Data-Powered Information Sharing
One aspect where the influence of big data is evident is information sharing. Some of us still remember the humble beginnings of Facebook, for example, which is nowhere near the social monster it is now. The platform is also a good example of how information sharing has changed both personal- and business levels. Just consider marketing: it’s unthinkable to avoid cross-promotions that habitually include social media campaigns.
On a deeper level, new tech giants have responded with innovative solutions to meet the rising demand for tremendous volumes of data being shared. Some of these technologies have already become standards, while others are shyly emerging as ‘trends.’ Cloud computing is the most illustrative example of all.
This is also happening in the supply chain and logistics space. Warehouses are finally starting to move out of outdated technologies like Microsoft Excel into cloud-based dock scheduling software that stores all of their necessary information in real time so they can reduce fees and improve productivity.
Going Mobile
Lastly, we come to the inevitable: more and more people are relying on their mobile phones for not only communication, but also online shopping, education (mLearning), directions (Google Maps), entertainment, news sharing, and so on and so forth. Honestly, I’m surprised these devices are still called “phones.”
This trend has been predicted to keep expanding and businesses naturally must follow lest they eventually perish.
Can you imagine what will emerge from this hotchpotch? It indeed is difficult to say, especially since these examples are just the tip of the iceberg!
Hopefully, everyone everywhere will enjoy the ride.
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