A Positive Disruption
Harvard Business School professor, Clayton M Christensen coined the phrase ‘disruptive innovation’, also referred to as ‘disruptive technologies’, in 1995. Disruptive innovation is the process by which a product enters the market with simple applications and then steadily works its way up, eventually displacing established competitors.
What is positive disruption?
A positive disruption is when the disruptive innovation saves money, makes an organization more efficient, allows the organization to be more flexible, or all three.
Companies at the top of their market tend to produce sustaining technology (an improvement on an existing product that has an established role in the market) that have historically proven themselves to be well received and financially successful. As a result, improved technology has a tendency to outprice the market creating an opening for disruptive innovations to introduce themselves to consumers who have historically been excluded.
Disruptive innovations tend to have lower margins, smaller target markets, and simpler products that are not as attractive to the more demanding customer. Smaller companies can create a loyal customer base by producing quality products that appeal to consumers that have historically been unable to afford existing technologies. When combined with stellar customer service the customer base for these companies can experience tremendous growth.
There are examples of disruptive innovations in all markets. Craigslist was a disruptive innovation for classified ads. iTunes was a disruptive innovation for record stores. Even taxi service has been impacted by disruptive innovation with the introduction of ridesharing companies such as Uber and Lyft.
Healthcare innovations
In healthcare, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning are a positive disruption. Robot-assisted surgeries, 3D printing of medical supplies, computer-assisted coding, Computer Assisted Physician Documentation (CAPD), speech recognition, and workflow automation are just a few examples where technology disrupting the status quo. In an attempt to provide quality and affordable healthcare to all, medical facilities and physician practices are looking to this technology to augment the exceptional care provided within their organizations.
Healthcare providers want to establish and maintain a solid relationship with their patients. In order to accomplish their goal, facilities are looking for ways to improve the clinical workflow efficiency. Disruptive technologies that can easily integrate into existing workflows are providing medical organizations the opportunity to achieve the necessary efficiencies while improving provider satisfaction. Patients are the ultimate winners, receiving a more personal level of care without sacrificing the technical components needed to positively impact their health and well-being.
Dr. Tom Lang, an emergency room physician, recently shared his thoughts on newly introduced technology that is having a huge impact on the way he delivers care; “In my view, efforts such as the Fusion Narrate Vision Click™ from Dolbey feature demonstrate the commitment to innovation that is needed to further weave speech recognition deeper in physician workflows … this is definitely the direction we need to be going.”