Digital disruption reshaping the game

Digital disruption is pervasive across different industry sectors served by Deloitte’s Global Consumer & Industrial Products Industry group. We cover the entire value chain from raw materials (e.g. agriculture, chemicals, paper, metals) to manufacturing (e.g. automotive, consumer products, aerospace, industrial products) to the end consumer (e.g. retail, travel, hospitality). In every part of that chain, technology is significantly – and rapidly – altering the business landscape.

The impact and opportunities presented by digital technologies are immense. So it is no surprise that companies are strategically focused on how to be more digitally connected with their customers, and at the same time are watchful on how this may disrupt their current competitive position.

I recently had the pleasure of hearing perspectives on this from two senior executives, in two different industries, who were speaking at Deloitte-hosted events. One is a vice president of an iconic automotive company, while the other the CEO of a disruptive start-up in the retail field.

The automotive executive reflected that the industry’s ecosystem is evolving at a pace not seen in its long history. The automotive industry is tackling digital as both an opportunity and a disruption, and automakers are continuously looking to keep up with digital trends by creating new solutions, increasingly with a focus on alliances.

For example, one automaker is interacting with networks such as ride sharing groups, engaging early with the various forms that the future of mobility will take. That future will include connecting with customers via their smart devices both in and out of their vehicles. Increasingly we can expect automotive players to take a holistic view of the customer, finding ways to use digital to be ever-present in their lives in order to enhance customer loyalty.

That holistic approach is certainly also the case in the retail world, where forward-thinking businesses are developing ways to extend their connection to consumers, offering opportunities to save both time and money as well as improve access and selection, with all of this happening in an anytime, anywhere model.

According to a retail CEO I met with in New York, shopper behavior is changing where the point of sale happens, and companies that can be light and nimble in their response will be better-positioned for success. The impact of digital will also result in the creation of massive, mobile-first retail businesses.

I attended the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in early January, and there, too, I witnessed a number of digital trends translate into new products and solutions. Cognitive computing and artificial intelligence were very prevalent at the show, highlighting how the “Internet of Things” (IOT) is changing our lives as consumers. Many IOT solution providers are embedding a wide variety of cognitive technologies to differentiate their products.

At CES, I heard an executive leader of a major technology company talk about the role of partnerships in the IOT/cognitive marketplace. Technology firms are teaming with, for example, clothing retailers to build smart consumer apps, medical product providers to create adaptive monitoring tools, and appliance makers to embed self-diagnostic devices that not only sense if something is about to go wrong with a product, but also where in the manufacturing process the problem started.

Everywhere I looked at CES I saw remarkable ideas: smart refrigerators that help consumers decide what should be on their shopping list, cloud-based voice services that serve as a virtual assistant, connected and autonomous vehicles, interactive robots, and drones that can track nearly anything anywhere.

Deloitte regularly shares insights on how technology trends in this evolving landscape are impacting various industries, from manufacturing to services. It is certainly an interesting road we are on.