From Data To Profit

Introduction

Businesses are thinking about technology backward. Many business leaders think that 2020–2023 brought about the fastest digital transformation in history, but in fact those three years were the slowest technology will ever change again. Technology and therefore business will never move this slowly again in our lifetimes.

Businesses today are in adapt-or-die territory. Apple CEO Tim Cook said, “We don't believe you can save your way to prosperity. We think you invest your way to it.” As such, Apple is looking for new markets to expand into, using innovation to drive growth. Amazon is slimming down and reallocating its war chest with the same goal. Both used smart investments during the Great Recession to become the companies they are today.

The last time Amazon snapped its fingers, half of retail disappeared. Amazon combined digital and web technologies to disrupt the retail industry and become a titan. Even retail giant Walmart seemed invincible until Amazon leveraged technology to reveal the weakness in Walmart's operating model.

Amazon is looking for ways to be a disruptor again. But Amazon won't be alone this time, and the disruption will touch every competitive industry, not just retail. Microsoft and OpenAI's partnership was the major technical story of 2022 and revealed the potential scope of AI applications. Nothing in recent memory has captivated people's attention in the same way.

ChatGPT reached 1 million registered users in just 5 days and soon after ...