Services incumbents will escape destruction from tech disruption

TECHNOLOGICAL change has left a wake of destruction across manufacturing and retail, decimating storied names such as Nokia, Brooks Brothers, Sears, Debenhams and Toys R Us.

Advances in technology are now poised to reshape the services sector - with far-reaching consequences for global markets since services represent two-thirds of global gross domestic product (GDP) and three-quarters of the workforce in developed markets.

But while new technologies - cloud computing, big data analytics, private blockchains, artificial intelligence and machine learning - will have major implications in the service sector, the path of disruption will follow a radically different trajectory from manufacturing and retail. Tech-savvy startups will not drive existing incumbents into extinction.