DISRUPTION VS. EVOLUTION AND FINDING THE RIGHT TECHNOLOGY

Description: Conversations about technology and business disruption tend to focus on commercial big bangs: products, services, or companies that upend industries and create not only market demand, but the markets themselves. But for small and midsize businesses, disruption can come in the form of any technology—think social media, mobile, native analytics, and the cloud—that materially changes customer engagement, operating efficiencies, or profit potential. For companies whose production capabilities are restricted by a shortage of local manufacturing talent or whose margins are being hurt by fulfillment and distribution inefficiencies, disruption can mean an interface that enables desktop management of a remote workforce or outsourced team. It can take the form of technology that supports small business owners and even sole proprietors in their pursuit of clients or trading partners in foreign markets. And companies that serve an aging customer