At JourneyApps, we want to make sure we are aligned with the highest level strategic goals our customers are seeking to achieve. A strategic model that’s really helped us and our customers reason about software and digital tools is the one described by Carlota Perez, a British-Venezuelan scholar who specializes in technology and socio-economic development, and author of the book Technological Revolutions and Financial Capital:
Perez argues that if we look back at modern history, starting with the Industrial Revolution, a new technological wave has combined with ecosystems of innovation and financing to transform the world economy roughly every 50 years:
Each technological revolution has required existing businesses to master a new means of production, such as steam or the assembly line, or software delivery at scale in the digital age.
Perez’ model specifies two distinct periods in each cycle:
- The Installation Period: When new innovation and financial capital combine to create a Cambrian explosion of startups, disrupting industries of the previous age.
- The Deployment Period: When production capital of new industrial giants starts taking over.
Between these two is The Turning Point — when businesses either master the new means of production, or decline and become relics of the last age.
What we are seeing is that the Age of Software & Digital is at the Turning Point:
What this means is that in the world of Software & Digital, the pace of technological change is relentless. Large companies are continuously being disrupted. Companies across industries are shifting their spending to digital technology at a feverish pace as they realize their market success is increasingly determined by software. And many of them are failing to adapt.
No Sector is Safe
Virtually all sectors of the economy — from primary industries extracting resources, to processing and manufacturing, to services and knowledge work — are at risk of disruption by software-centric competitors. Even if your fundamental business model is not disrupted, your infrastructure model or operating model may be at risk of being disrupted. This echoes what venture capitalist and Netscape founder Marc Andreessen argued in his seminal essay: That Software Is Eating the World.
JourneyApps: Helping Organizations Master Software Delivery at Scale
JourneyApps plays an important role in helping our customers master software delivery at scale in order to stave off digital disruption. We are helping large organizations achieve unprecedented results with successful custom software implementations that are transforming their business operations.
Contact us today to learn what JourneyApps can do for you.
