Anything for a quiet life?

Today’s technology thinks otherwise and a much beloved word that has come to the fore is “Disruption” to explain what is happening, the change from incremental improvements to radical changes which can and do disrupt established ways, be it in products or markets or in our way of life.

A little thing, or perhaps not so little for those affected by the change, is the coming closure of Westpac bank in Waikanae, which for many Seniors in particular is a change to their way of life, forcing them to either change bank – and that may be short lived if others follow suit – or learning to use an ATM where they don’t always feel safe, or learning to bank on-line if they have and use a computer or connected device.

Kapiti SeniorNet members have the opportunity to learn to deal with such technology so such disruption would be regarded more as a gradual and not unexpected change as society moves to embrace and use technology for everyday chores.

Disruption happens everywhere in industry and business, for example when Netflix was established back in 1997 they really did not have a business model nor did they know who their customers were or what they wanted. That took them a good 10 years to find out, innovate and develop, so by the time they had worked out what their customers wanted then companies like Blockbuster, the video stores, got hit bad because they slept, and the imbalance between them was too great. In a matter of just a few years Netflix had taken over and disrupted the market.

Overseas many bank branches do not take cash, no doubt much to the annoyance of smaller businesses which either have to take cash to another central branch or refuse cash transactions. The businesses in Waikanae banking with Westpac may find themselves in a similar situation which in turn could lead to a disruption of past business practices.

Transformation can be disruptive and a lot may depend on the strategy by the leadership of any one organization as to whether a change can be both supportive of the existing culture as well as be meaningful to both those who work for it and to the customers.

Let me change tack a little because whilst thinking about the above I came across a little video from Nike, the shoe makers, or should that be ‘the sneaker makers’, now it is fashionable to wear sneakers where shoes used to be worn, who have come up with self-tying shoes/sneakers, handy if lacing up is becoming a bit of a problem with stiff fingers or back. Well here is a disruptive invention that could put shoe-lace makers out of business.

Have a lovely undisrupted day.