Today for Harvard Business Review, Larry cautions regulators of potentially transformative technologies to consider likely benefits as well as potential costs, and try to find a balance between the two. With so much of the tech-related news focused on harms, many of them unquantified or carefully studied, we risk losing out on some of the most important breakthroughs still to come from the digital revolution.
In a new article published this week in MIT Sloan Management Review, Larry and his co-authors assess the impact of the global pandemic on continuing digital disruption. COVID-19, they conclude, has accelerated disruptive trends already well underway, in particular with regard to consumer demand for digital devices, networks, and services.
Businesses and other institutions hoping to survive, let alone thrive, in a post-COVID economy will need to accelerate efforts to embrace innovative virtual business practices, internally and externally.
The article offers five disruption imperatives, pragmatic strategies that leading enterprises have already adopted.
Larry and National Broadband Plan author Blair Levin published a white paper this week with the Aspen Institute on the Internet’s many contributions to managing the COVID-19 crisis. The authors propose an initiative to review remaining gaps in the digital transformation of business, a cross between the NBP and the 9/11 Commission. Read their recommendations here:
https://www.aspeninstitute.org/blog-posts/the-internet-after-covid-19-will-we-mind-the-gaps/
This week in Harvard Business Review, I have a long analysis of the so-called “streaming wars” that are disrupting the media industries. Incumbent producers and distributors, tech companies, and consumers themselves are all creating vast amounts of new content, experimenting with a wide variety of ways to distribute and monetize it.
From Disney+ to YouTube, from Peacock to Snap Chat, from DirectTV Now to Instagram, it’s an abundant if confusing time for consumers!
Who will win, or at least last long enough to make a profit? The article suggests, based on extensive research, that different age groups are gravitating towards different models for producing, consuming, and paying for video content. Would-be winners of the streaming wars would do well to understand the characteristics of each, so much the better for balancing offerings so as to appeal to each.
The risks here are enormous. Give away too much to younger audiences, and risk cannibalizing existing bundled PayTV subscriptions that pay for the innovation. Offer a one-size-fits-all service that compromises too much, and you muddle the message.
One thing is for sure: the platinum age of low-cost or even free content can’t last forever, or even much longer. A reckoning is coming, sooner rather than later.
As with all industry disruptions, the Big Bang is followed by the Big Crunch.
See “For Streaming Services, Navigating Generational Differences is Key.”
Larry’s new book, “Pivot to the Future,” is an instant international business bestseller! For recent media coverage and Larry’s most recent writings, visit our Facebook page.
Larry’s new book, “Pivot to the Future,” co-authored with Omar Abbosh and Paul Nunes of Accenture, went on sale this week with a big bang, premiering as the #1 strategy title on Amazon.
The book also got an opening day window display at the Barnes & Noble flagship store on Fifth Avenue, pictured above.
At the New York City launch event on April 22nd, Larry joined his co-authors and special guest Arianna Huffington for a terrific discussion moderated by Fortune magazine CEO Alan Murray.
Visit the PTTF website at www.pivottothefuture.com for more details and to watch a video of the event.
Larry’s new book is now an international business bestseller. Get all the latest news here.
