Getting To The Next Billion

Today, most companies appreciate the value of understanding the intersection between the past, present and the future. It is one of the reasons why we continue to consider data as an asset. Because data, and patterns in the data help you understand the past, which allows you to add value in the present, thus enabling a presence in the future. Specific areas such as healthcare, agriculture, space etc will continue to benefit from the approach, but they do require other patterns.

1. Understand the reach of the global moment

Loosely defined a global moment is the product of your current “product/s” reach in terms of people and or geography and it’s current utilization. Ideally, you want to understand the utilization duration at the lowest granularity such as a minute, second etc that applies to your organization. This gives you an idea of how you add value in your customer’s journey. It also indicates where you currently do not play which helps in taking the right decision for the future. Value is both real and perceived. The recipe for a great company is to serve the real while continuing to expand or build up the perceived. It is important to note that new “value” continues to change as we define / re-define cultural norms on a daily basis. Not knowing the value of the global moment is truly not an option for most companies anymore.

2. Clear learn / unlearn approach

Just like data points do not indicate knowledge or wisdom, existing patterns do not always translate to value for the company or the next billion or trillion. But, it is important to be able to understand the patterns that are working and unlearning from patterns that are not. Having a clear approach in enabling both learn and unlearn capability at speed translates to competitive advantage for the long term. Unlearning is critical as it allows for breakthrough thinking and it enables you to secure or build your future. The near term future though belongs to companies that will have the capability to run simulations at the speed of thought while applying game theory principles to maximize the value for the customer and the company. It is no surprise that companies are focusing on quantum computing as that will significantly speed up the capability build out. For now, we need to focus on experimentation at speed that is geographically dispersed and based on learning and unlearning. Currently, this is enabled mainly by AI and cloud and very soon will become a focus for the edge.

3. Speed and Connection

The last part is presence at the end point. With the advent of 5G and satellite based internet, bandwidth and speed are no longer constraints and the discussion then comes back to your ability to connect with your customer. The combination of both speed and connection along with simplicity creates a unique bond, one that clearly focuses on maximizing value in customer’s mind without standing in the way.

Taken together, these three become a solid foundation that continue to enable long term approach to getting to billions faster. As this approach will also help you in understanding how to retain those customers for the long run. Yes, there are other areas such as pricing-based, value-based, needs-based constraints-based, accessible-based etc approaches that can help, the frame-work above will only strengthen all those very significantly.

If you are interested in learning more, please do send me a message on Linkedin. I would be happy to have a conversation with you and your team. Feel free to share with your network. May this inspire the upcoming generation that future is bright.