As digital comes of age, customer markets are being remade

IN THE world of technology, a lot has happened in five years. Especially when you consider most of it has been clouded by economic uncertainty. When Lehman Brothers went bankrupt, 11 million iPhones had been sold; today, the figure has reached 400 million. In 2008, there were no Android apps, Spotify didn't exist and printers printed in two dimensions. But it's not just the rapid adoption of new digital technologies that impresses: it's what they are being used for and how they are transforming traditional sectors beyond recognition.

There's no doubt that digital technology has made it easier for companies to respond more quickly, improve productivity, exercise more control over inventories, and boost efficiency. Yet, even as we see how effective cloud, social, mobile and analytics technologies can be in automating routine processes and turning vast amounts of data into actionable intelligence, these technologies are but a prelude to something more profound.

Companies are using digitally fuelled technology to create new, visionary business models that are unlocking opportunities in entirely new industry segments and opening doors to new customer markets. This is resulting in higher growth than would be possible by remaining tethered to traditional business models.