
A better, more efficient technology replacing an old one is not a phenomenon unheard of. Since the beginning of this century we have seen disruption hitting many industries and revolutionizing the concept of how it’s buisness is conducted. It is a constant race that one must keep up with to survive the wave of disruption. But, what is disruptive technology?
The term disruptive technologies was defined and first analyzed by the American scholar Clayton M. Christensen(currently a Professor of Business Administration in the Harvard Business School) and his collaborators in 1995, in his article Disruptive Technologies: Catching the Wave, and has been called the most influential business idea of the early 21st century. He describes the concept further in his 1997 Global Business Book Award work The Innovator’s Dilemma. Disruption describes a process where a smaller company with fewer resources is able to successfully challenge established incumbent businesses. Disruptive technology refers to any enhanced or completely new technology that replaces and disrupts an existing technology, making it obsolete.
Further talking about Disruption, Christensen uses the word low-end disruption which occurs when the rate at which products improve exceeds the rate at which customers can adapt to the new performance. Therefore, at some point the performance of the product overshoots the needs of certain customers. At this point, a disruptive technology may enter the market and provide a product that has lower performance than the previous but that exceeds the requirements of the customer, thereby gaining a foothold in the market.
By 2025, 2 Billion people will have their first online banking experience, replacing the need to ever walk into a bank, talking about the public transportation sector, companies like uber, careem have almost replaced the concept of the traditional cab, tram or auto, similarly online education platforms like Edx which provide free online courses in affiliation with top Universities like Harvard, MIT etc. have over 7 million students registered in just 4 years. In the healthcare secor the wearable gadgets have taken over which are quite affordable and preferred by over a 100 million people providing you an insight of your health conditions without having to visit a doctor. Now the real question here is what will happen to the the structures that house these sectors in the future when disruption takes over.
Top 5 Disruptive Companies
Even with all of its perks the concept of disruption might not appeal to some buisness owners who want to cling on to the traditional methods, but as mentioned above it is a race and you must run faster then your competitor to survive.

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