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RESEARCH, ANALYSIS & TRENDS




Digital Darwinism:


Survival of the most


adaptable to

change



Recently I got hold of an excerpt of the timely book by the "Internet of Things" - the connection of a variety
"Digital Darwinism” by Ralf T. Kreutzer and Karl-Heinz of objects that get controlled, evaluated or used via the
Land that has been released in German around a year Internet.
ago and will be available as an updated English edition
in around eight weeks. Although the key drivers behind the adoption of this
developing trend are convenience, fun and in a broader
In their book the authors allude that companies have to sense learning, the effects of this power- and system
develop their own business models further in terms of shifts are without doubts similar to those in the past:
the digital transformation not to fall victim to “Digital Dar- Business models that have been successful over many
winism”, saying that all those companies can become a years and decades are now receiving rejections by the
victim that do not adapt quickly enough to the new re- market.
quirements that the new trend of DiSoLoMo combines.
Neglecting the trend could mean to miss out on new The authors Kreutzer and Land point out in their book
business opportunities that could be developed and ex- that the increasing “internetization” of our daily lives
ploited with "digital", "social", "local" and creates space for new business concepts that use the
"mobile" (DiSoLoMo) business models. DiSoLoMo trend as a tailwind rather than a headwind. It
is literally in line with the times and Joseph Schumpet-
DiSoLoMo is the basis for the “Internet of er’s seemingly paradoxical term “creative destruction”
Things” (IoT) that has been adopted by generations of economists as
a shorthand description of the free market’s messy way
"Digital" encompasses the phenomenon that not only of delivering progress.
products, but also services such as bookkeeping tasks,
document management or complex IT applications, are Embracing the IoT opportunities and challenges is
digitized and made available via the Internet, which in crucial
turn replace entire business processes such as books,
newspapers, magazines, or movies: Therein exactly lies the challenge for companies and
their employees, therefore encouraging us to invite all
"Social" means that the communication on the Internet CTOs and CIOs, who want to analyze these new busi-
is already dominated by the user - keyword "User Gen- ness concepts at our upcoming event. MediaBUZZ will
erated Content" - and companies often only "react", gather decision makers of established businesses who
when they are mentioned in the social networks. are open to new ideas and don’t want to run the risk of
oversleeping the third (digital) industrial revolution!
"Local" refers to the trend towards more and more appli-
cations that experience their relevance due to the spa- Fact is that if companies are not willing to take up the
tial proximity, such as e.g. the local coupon allocation new market forces constructively, it is to be feared that
for "Location Based Services" (LBS). the prognosis of Brian Solis, a designated U.S. Busi-
ness Specialist becomes true, saying: "70% of the For-
"Mobile", finally, describes that the mobile access to the tune 1,000 companies will be replaced in a few years.
Internet continuously gains momentum and importance. Not because they didn´t get enough fans on Facebook,
Therefore, every company should ask itself whether it but because they didn´t adopt to the new networked
can provide relevant content for the emerging app econ- society!” In fact there is something else that has to be
omy – even if it is e.g. just in form of an app for finding considered as well, the fact that other than in the finan-
public toilets, if your company sells toilet paper. cial industry – here there is neither a "too big to fail" nor
a "too small to succeed"!
Thinking outside the box is essential
Or to use the words of Charles Darwin: "It is not the
strongest of the species that survives, nor the most in-
After the invention of the steam engine in the mid-18th telligent that survives. It is the one that is most adapta-
century and electricity in the late 19th century, we are in ble to change.” ◊

the midst of the third industrial revolution, which is driv-
en by the ubiquitous "internetization" and is embodied By Daniela La Marca
4 Asian eMarketing July 2014 - Marketing Analytics
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