CHAPTER 11Predicting Future Trends
You cannot underestimate the speed at which the digital world evolves and new technology replaces the old. You must embrace new tools and functions as they are introduced or you get left behind. One of the ways you can ensure you are able to do that is to stay ahead of the curve. If you can get a jump‐start on whatever's coming next, you will be the one with the advantage over your competitors.
So how do you keep up with the rapidly evolving world of technology?
Out with the Old, in with the New
You can see exponential changes in business wherever you look; even the speed at which businesses change is increasing. If you look at the S&P index (Standard & Poor's list of the top 500 US companies based on market capitalisation and other criteria), you can see how fast things are changing these days. Businesses used to last 30, 40, even 50 years on that list. Now the average time a company spends on the list is just 13 years and this will probably soon drop down to 10 years. This shows you exactly how tough the competition is. And investors are ruthless. If you were once in the S&P 500 but you drop out of the list, you're as good as finished; no one is interested in an ex‐S&P 500 company.
But competition is healthy and these fast fluctuations show that barriers to entry are always being lowered, that new companies are constantly coming up through the ranks and making it into the list. It means that the world today is more of a meritocracy, which ...