T he digital revolution has changed our lives, both private and business. We have grown so accustomed to some of the changes that we don’t notice them or think about how they change operations in the digital economy. For ex- ample, how we prepared and travelled in the past and how we travel today. We previ- ously engaged a travel agency and entrust- ed them with choosing the optimal itiner- ary and airline for every flight and journey. Tickets, on costly forms, were delivered by couriers. Those who flew regularly bought the Official Aviation Guide (OAG), which was printed in paperback form, with fine print, and contained information about most air- lines and their timetables. And that’s how they sought the optimal combination of flights if they didn’t want to entrust that to a travel agency. We waited patiently in line to get our boarding passes and negotiated with offi- cials to secure a desirable seat next to the aisle. Today it is most common for us to as- sume that responsibility ourselves, instead of a travel agency official or staff at the check- in desk, as though we are airline officials. We enter our data, choose our flights, prices and combinations in order for our journey to be optimised. We check-in for flights ourselves and choose our own seats on the plane. And we do all of that with the single aim of receiving confirmation of our ticket that we have to print ourselves or a board- ing card that we save on our smartphone or print out. Companies reduce their costs because their operational activities are partially tak- en over by clients themselves. Self service and support from other clients, including in terms of evaluating and ranking products and services, have become the standard. The pay-off is the swift completion of desired activities, transactions or purchases. That’s why automation, robotics and artificial in- telligence are used ever more often – from bots that use the location of users to lead them to the nearest retail outlet, cash ma- chine or restaurant, to algorithms that ap- prove your cash loans or allow overdraft fa- cilities. Implementation is currently the most important part of the user experience and the motivation for users to personally take on part of operational activities. Many products have become digital, so instead of buying a book you can very quick- ly download one via the internet in digital format and read it on your tablet or e-read- er. The same goes for magazines, movies, videos and TV programmes, operatic and theatrical performances. The sales model has also changed, so that some things are offered with a monthly subscription instead of being on sale, while
instead of buying other things customers pay for usage, and only pay for that which they actually use. Yesterday’s partners are changing with the new digital ecosystem and the client is coming to the centre of operations. Apart from in the travel sector, we have already accepted changes in the music industry, the TV and film industry, IT services and soft- ware, while a good example of changes that are yet to come is the news that Norway is preparing a law to only register vehicles with electric motors as of 2025. The grow- ing popularity of electric cars, coupled with the growing number of charging stations for them and their better geographical cov- erage, heralds the arrival of major changes for owners of petrol stations, manufacturers of motor fuels and carmakers. The intense competition in the development of tech- nologies for self-driving vehicles foretells even greater changes that are approach- ing beyond the horizon. Companies emerging out of the indus- trial era must adapt, and in particular they must resist attacks by start-ups - new com- panies that are established in today’s digital era and utilise the new opportunities of the digital economy, while taking advantage of the slowness of existing companies. And they primarily do this by using information as a basic resource, with digital channels and the automation of business processes. Alongside the aforementioned chang- es in the sales model, and with the new digi- tal ecosystem creating entirely new business models that are seriously taking over part of the clientele in many industries, this pro- cess is also accelerating because there are increasingly more innovative new compa- nies. An additional reason is that barriers to entering business have been reduced sub- stantially, while operating costs have been reduced as a result of automation, making it much easier to launch a business today than it was around 30 years ago. The problem for new companies is that they don’t have cli- ents or trust, nor do they have equity, reve- nue and profit. That’s why they rely on eq- uity investors, and their services are usually free because the hunt for customers is very important for them. Companies coming from the industri- al business model have capital, clients, trust and many points of contact with clients, in either the physical or digital worlds. All of this should provide the basis for the digital transformation that uses the introduction of digital business models to defend com- panies against attacks by new agile com- petitor companies, and which should also ensure growth in the digital economy. And this should be initiated as soon as possible, despite the fear of change.
ća vozila predskazuju još veće pro- mene koje se valjaju iza horizonta. Kompanije koje dolaze iz indu- strijskog vremena moraju da se pri- lagode i posebno da se odupru na- padima startapova – novih firmi koje se osnivaju danas, u digitalno vre- me, i koriste nove mogućnosti digi- talne ekonomije dok koriste sporost postojećih kompanija a to je na pr- vom mestu korišćenje informacija kao osnovnog resursa, digitalnih ka- nala i automatizacije poslovnih pro- cesa. Uz već pomenute promene u modelu prodaje i sa novim digital- nim ekosistemom kreiraju potpuno nove poslovne modele koji ozbiljno preuzimaju deo klijenata u mnogim industrijskim granama i taj proces se ubrzava pošto ima sve više inova- tivnih kompanija. Dodatni razlog je to što su barijere za ulazak u posao značajno snižene i što su operativ- ni troškovi smanjeni kao posledica automatizacije, pa je mnogo lakše započeti posao danas nego pre tri- desetak godina. Problem novih fir- mi je što nemaju korisnike i povere- nje i nemaju kapital, prihod i profit. Zbog toga se oslanjaju na kapital in- vestitora, a njihove usluge najčešće su besplatne jer im je lov na korisni- ke veoma važan. Kompanije koje dolaze iz indu- strijskog poslovnog modela imaju kapital, klijente, poverenje i mnogo dodirnih tačaka sa klijentima bilo u fizičkom, bilo u digitalnom svetu. To sve treba da bude osnova za digital- nu transformaciju, koja uvođenjem digitalnih poslovnih modela brani kompaniju od napada novih firmi, agilne konkurencije i treba da obez- bedi rast i u digitalnoj ekonomiji. I treba početi što pre, uprkos strahu od promena.
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