What is disruption? Why are we so enamored by this word? Well it came into the tech lexicon possibly from Clayton Christensen’s classic – The Innovators Dilemma. One key point to be made is this : According to Christensen “new companies disrupt incumbents not when they introduce new technology, but when they help create new markets.”
Will you disrupt or be be disrupted? This is an often repeated refrain. After Clayton Christensen published his series of books starting with ‘The Innovators dilemma’ the story of simplified solutions upending complex expensive ones are common lore. Who has not discussed the long march of simple over complex – PC over mainframes, Korean over Japanese over American cars, E-Trade over Schwab over Merrill Lynch. Skype and other VOIP services over phone co’s. Square over Visa and Mastercard, Smartphone camera’s over Digital cameras over Kodak and Nikon.
