- We're living in an era of massive disruption.
Now, I don't want to get all philosophical on you,
so for the moment, let's just focus on business disruption.
Because of the digital revolution of the last 30-odd years,
many old established business
have had to adapt and evolve or shut their doors forever.
Let's take one example
that everyone's familiar with, Blockbuster Video.
Now, here we have a company that's doing amazing
with retail stores on every corner,
renting out videos to one and all.
Yes, they adapted when VCR moved to DVD
and they added games.
But one day someone figured out
that what people were really paying for
wasn't the physical movie,
they were paying for the content.
Netflix, Amazon and others started making
that content available for rent online
and Blockbuster found themselves out of business.
Want to know a company that made that physical
to online content transition a lot more successfully?
This may surprise you
but it's our old friend the Encyclopedia Britannica.
Britannica actually realized
where things were headed relatively soon
and started planning on moving away from print
as early as the 1970s.
Finally, in 2012, they announced that after 244 years,
they were ceasing to produce hard copy versions
of the encyclopedia and moving to online only
and you know what?
According to Michael Ross,
a former Britannica senior vice president
in a 2016 interview,
we couldn't have been more thrilled.
He went on to say, everyone is happier
because we reach millions of people
rather than tens of thousands.
Now, here's another example.
Kodak.
Kodak used to be the absolute powerhouse
for photographic film for the masses.
In 1975, Kodak stock was $106 a share,
that's about $500 in today's dollars.
But then came digital cameras
and then phones with cameras,
so who buys film anymore?
Answer, not many people.
Kodak is still a going concern
but they're now just one of many companies
selling inkjet printing, print workflow software
and other odds and ends.
Current share price?
A bit over $3.
According to a recent Gartner survey,
95% CIOs believe their jobs
will be altered due to massive digitalization,
so when that digitalization comes,
how is your company going to turn out?
As a Britannica or as a Blockbuster?