What are Disruptive Technologies?

New technologies are delivered to us every day. However, once in a while a new technology shakes up an entire industry and creates a world of its own. These game changers are commonly known as disruptive technologies.

Past Disruptive Technologies

Believe it or not, industry innovations have been displacing technology for some time now. These past inventions were tried-and-true disruptive technologies:

• The Personal Computer
• Email
• Smart Phones
• Social Media

The PC forever changed the labor and communication industries while Email supplemented the postal industry. Even further, smart phones largely disrupted the PC era, and social media has replaced the Email for personal communication.

Present Disruptive Technologies

It’s no secret that we are living in an innovation driven society. Even with new technologies soaring to market on a daily basis, very few end up shaking entire industries. While rare, there are many disruptive technologies rocking our world today.

The Internet of Things allows any device with an IP address to communicate with one another. Now, smart equipment and devices can communicate data more effectively. For example, potential quality issues and equipment failure can be identified much sooner in a manufacturing setting because all machines are communicating together.

Furthermore, search engines are expanding beyond Google. Search Engine Marketing is expanding to sites such as YouTube, Amazon, and Pinterest. More and more consumers are looking for answers through video, product reviews, and social media. Brian Solis comments, “More than 88% of consumers are influenced by other consumers’ online comments.”

With world goals to be 100% net zero by 2050, wind and solar technologies are emerging from the energy industry. According to Fortune, the International Energy Agency predicts that the sun could become the world’s largest source of electricity by 2050. In fact, the cost of solar energy has fallen by a factor of 10 in the last decade. Renewable energy is, and will continue, surpassing fossil fuels and changing the way we build.

Future Disruptive Technologies

Disruptive technologies are definitely on the rise. Fortune published these disruptive technology trends to be on the lookout for:

• Genomics
• Advanced Materials
• Autonomous Vehicles
• Advanced Robotics
• 3D Printing
• Advanced Oil and Gas Exploration and Recovery
• And many more!

How do disruptive technologies affect the wire and cable industry? Stay tuned for more information!