Disruption is simply a change and switch in position in a particular industry because of technological innovation. Before every change, there are always processes and steps that can be keenly observed. This has brought about us analyzing the stages of disruption or perhaps steps of disruptive innovation.
Understanding the processes that precede innovative disruptions can equip start-ups with the know-how to successfully manage it. Understanding the stages of disruption allows you to know what you will encounter in your journey to disrupting an industry or perhaps in your perception of a disruptive technology around you. It can also provide you with ample information to determine what projects to invest in and those to cast aside.
Managing disruptions competently can take your Business from being a Well to being an Ocean.
We at Tech Expo Africa have brought together 3 critical stages you can expect when it comes to Disruptions.
The First Stage of Disruption – INTRODUCTION
Yes. It is as simple as it sounds.
In the first stage, the new technology is introduced to its audience. This stage is a stage of successive failure but any disruptive innovation that gets past this stage is already 30% ahead of the others. You have to be able to introduce the idea to your set audience and present to them why they should choose your innovation over one that already exists.
In the stage of Introduction, there is always a need for a unique selling point, and a sweet tongue perhaps.
You can ignore the sweet tongue but you must take note of the selling point, especially if you are the intending disruptor. Your targeted audience needs something to convince them that your invention is simple to use and more affordable than the present technology tool they are using.
An error is possible at this stage because when a product or service is cheap, it can present a mentality to your audience to go for the more expensive option because there is an unfounded perception that a higher price always works better.
The Second Stage of Disruption – CONTINUATION
Starting a business is easy but staying in business is can be just the opposite. Research has proven that 90% of start-ups fail within their first 5 years and YES, there is no evidence that one of the failed businesses did not have a disruptive innovation to present to the world.
The tedious and strenuous process of maintaining your foothold in the market can only be resolved by tools and a social network that calls and creates room for survival. After introducing your invention, the next step is to keep producing, satisfying and improving.
Keep producing what you invented as you are still at the initial stage of gaining the trust of your audience. Though a level of scarcity or rarity of a product can drive up the demand, therefore more value; that only applies in select situations. The moment your product is of less quantity in the market, then you are no longer creating disruption in your industry.
Keep satisfying your customers. They are the soul of creating significant change in industry. If you are planning to replace another organization in the industry with your disruptive innovation, then you have to take your audience, or perhaps we can now call them customers, into consideration. The time for taking review has arrived as there has to be a poll for your users to express their opinions on some functions or features of your innovation.
Keep improving. Every single company or business that stops improving will go out of the market in no time. You need ways to keep improving your invention and getting it to a better level. Applications like WhatsApp and Facebook keep having frequent updates because of the steady improvement. Just as we have created a space of improvement at Tech Expo Africa, create a field for improvement and that way you can satisfy your customers more and at the same time, make more profit. We have tech tools to aid you in every stage of disruption you may be at as well as a social platform for you to relate with other start-ups and even big establishments to learn and grow at a faster pace.
The Third Stage of Disruption – REFORMATION
No project is ever fully outlined on the first day and no one has it planned out when they start a successful project. As Meta CEO, Mark Zuckerberg explains in his Commencement Address at Harvard, 2017, it only becomes clearer gradually. During the process of development, the face and purpose of the innovation are constantly refined, unwanted features are filtered out and void spaces are filled up. This reform takes place and seals your position in the market making you rise beyond the level of a start-up to the level of an established organization that has been through the tumultuous storm of market entry and survived.
Having gotten the idea of the 3 stages of Disruption, kindly know that it does not end here.
We have prepared a full plate of problems and many side dishes of solutions to go with it in different fields related to Tech.
You don’t want to miss out on our servings of resources in your growth journey.
For this purpose, our upcoming conference this year is the thundering theme;
“Disruptions: The Rise and Fall of African Start-ups“
Join our Telegram community today to stay abreast of updates, information and details on how to book your seat, physically or virtually. You can also follow us on IG, FB, Twitter, LinkedIn: @techexpoaf.
Visit techexpo.africa or call +234 813 399 5500 for more information and enquiries.
Writer’s Bio
My name is David Victor (Vemmal), a content marketer looking at it from the North but you might want to observe from other perspectives realizing I am also a creative writer. I develop various content like Blog posts, Articles, Web content, social media content and others as long as it has a purpose and audience then I can work around it. Poetry is also my field and to avoid serving you too many side dishes here, you can reach me on:
FB – Vemmal David | Twitter – Vemmal Space | IG – @Vemmal0460
