Digital disruption, the big Bang...

Technology is destined to transform almost every major industry and change the way we live, work, and play in the near future. 

All Australia’s business including  practices do not need to look far into the future to see the new wave of digital disruption headed towards them. It is already here, transforming the way companies and operate and how they engage with their customers. It is estimated at lest one-third of the Australian economy faces imminent and major digital disruption 1.

The same technologies that opens up unprecedented possibilities and the innovations which are changing economies and markets, and reinventing relationships between organisations, suppliers and customers; also have the potential to totally decimate existing markets and businesses.

Digital Disruption is changing society.

Whether you’re delivering goods or services online recruiting new talent via LinkedIn, developing a mobile app or ditching your document retention department, you’re already experiencing the upside of digital technology.

In some ways, today’s innovations – broadband, smartphones, the cloud, the ability to analyse complex data sets, social media and other tools that make it now possible to ‘digitise’ a whole business..

The above is nothing, new... what is new is the "gestation" time.

It took a decade to get rid of typewriters and typists, we pioneered "Cloud" technologies back in 2000, they are just maturing in 2015... the real pace of change has been very slow..

But during 2014 all of this changed, with the likes of Airbnb and Urber..
In the space of 18 months, the whole short term rental market has changed forever, in many cities real estate agents have simply left the market altogether, as they simply cannot compete with a direct to client supply chain, 70% of all real estate in Australia is sold via online channels,  there is an explosion of DIY home sales in the last year, as sellers realise they can reach potential buyers themselves (same shortened supply chain).

Taxi owners, who paid hundreds of thousands for a taxi licence, are seeing them become worthless overnight as customers move to the same direct supply model as airbnb.

How many woman do not buy their cosmetics from strawberry net these days?

But this is just the top of the ice burg...

Not only are supply chains being decimated, but also barriers to entry are crashing down... instead of spending $500k on  a taxi licence, one simply signs up to  Urber and starts making money as a taxi owner?

25 years ago, one could start up a new bricks and mortar company in Silicon Valley in a day.. today one can create a virtual company with world wide reach with almost zero staff..

In the same way as there was a physical infrastructure within Silicon Valley, premises, corporate, suppliers ect, the Cloud offers an almost limitless range of suppliers of almost any service. Need staff simply plug in highly skilled staff from the Phillipines into a modern digital platform, and deliver their services directly to your clients.. All possible to day..

What has this to do with Accounting practices? or any Australian Business?

Your 20+ something year old staff, can now, just like the Urber taxi, start their own practice without any of the traditional bricks and mortar barriers..

As Cloud accounting software. spirals towards zero, same as taxi licences, a whole new world where the next generation "Cloud Accountant" delivers high quality accounting services directly to the client, much like AirBnB.

It's all about shortened supply chains and the low cost mobile delivery platforms, and next generation cloud software solutions.

Given the digital disruption of Urber and AirBnB, it is realistic to ask will traditional accounting practices exist in 18 months?

We believe the future is bright for the "next generation" of Cloud accountants, and that they exist in almost every bricks and mortar firm today..

Check out the next generation Accountants Web Office, the future is here today..








    

       

1. Dellotte 2015..
Disclaimer The contents of this site should not be understood to be accounting, taxation or investment advice but rather as general product related educational information that may or may not meet your specific requirements.