When you hear the term 'disruption' what comes to mind?

For most companies this means that a competitor, or worse still a start-up has taken their existing business, driven a bus through it, and what was once a sector they previously owned was now being 'disrupted' by an external entity which has mainly focused on the following 3 things;

1- The Customer

2- The Process 

3- The Market Gap

Very few companies will purposely set out to 'disrupt' themselves, in my experience they are always in a constant state of what I would call 'protectionists ignorance' which in simple terms means let's keep doing what we've always done, so its no surprise that most disruptive innovation comes from external sources. 

Just speak to any of those retail brands that are no longer dominating the high street, go speak to the people at 'Blockbuster', Woolworths, Habitat, etc, etc. The same can also be said about the banking sector, the financial services sector, the legal sector, and the global healthcare sector, and without a doubt the music and media industry.

In the past, consumers had no choice but to pay attention to what brands had to say across a handful of radio or television channels. Today, every single Instagram page or Twitter account is a media outlet in its own right. Social media has democratized share of voice; people are no longer passive consumers, but creators in their own right. Consumers are now dictating when, where and how they engage with brands, and they are beginning to use this newfound power to voice their concerns and boycott brands that don’t share their values and belief.

I found this article (link below) about the key impact on resource in relation to 'disruption' which would suggest that whilst companies are concerned about disruption few are mitigating risk with up-skilling employees, below is a graph highlighting a number of industries that recognise (or not) the threat of disruption.

In September 2019 following our 2 day Global Conference where people from all over the world will come together as we at DLA Ignite will be launching the worlds first 'social media accreditation program', this isn't just about reading a few books, attending a one day 'Masterclass', answering questions and then getting a certificate, and then nothing really changes. 

This is about recognising that 'Social Media' has already 'disrupted' the buying process in both B2B and B2C, we believe that social media is something that impacts the entire business, and whilst we started out looking at the sales process our accreditation program will be rolled out to cover off HR, Finance, Operations and other key elements of the business from which the customer judges the 'experience' and chooses to engage with a brand or not.

This will be the equivalent of an NVQ, or CIM and will tell the rest of the world that you, and your company are already ahead of the biggest social trend that's already impacting and disrupting business around the globe.

If you would like to find out more, we would be delighted to talk to you.