July 20189 We now have algorithms churning all this data that can predict when a planes engine will fail, when someone is going to buy something, what a person's chance of a given disease is, why a person is calling you, what sex your child will be, and the list simply goes on. As the data grows and the availability and consumption of the data becomes easier, we are also starting to see blurring of the lines between the old and new. Data is not something that can be controlled and contained. It can be hindered but it is very hard to stop the flow.All this data is feeding the AI; Machine learning, augmented and virtual reality, intelligent applications, recommendation engines, etc. Yes, I do understand that data is only one component of the digital ecosystem and yes the power to process it is also becoming ever easier to obtain, but without something to process, the ability to process is irrelevant.In this new and emerging world, if you are not able to harness, extrapolate, digest and utilize data that is available to you, you will simply be consumed by your competitors. Additionally, if you are not able to change the way you do business and identify new and innovative ways to monetize data and present it to your end customer Fast, Anywhere, Anytime, Consistent and Free, you will lose the Choice race. In most cases this means you not only need to innovate on the service you provide and the data associated with it, you need to innovate on your revenue streams. The days of the traditional paid electronic services will become less of a viable proposition to customers. You only need to look at shopping, payments, remittance and the technology paradigm itself to see this changing. The days of paying license fees for software use are being challenged like never before, as the Choice is there to have a product or a service that requires no payment, but with similar if not better functionality.One of the largest disruptors to the status quo is the emergence of new businesses that are able to leverage data in new ways, yet provide the same service as the incumbents­cheaper and faster. I personally do not believe that the issue is about disruption of an industry. The industry will still be there, it will just change form. There was coal before oil, there was gas lighting before electrical, there was gold before gold receipts, i.e., "Modern Cash", and so it goes on. People will still need to borrow money, they will still need to place their money into an account, they will still need to make payments, and to send money to far off places. Maybe this will not be a traditional bank account, but the company that is able to provide the service cheaper and faster, or as a free service based on an alternate revenue stream, is going to win over the customer sentiment and in turn share. DATA IS NOT SOMETHING THAT CAN BE CONTROLLED AND CONTAINED, IT CAN BE HINDERED BUT IT IS VERY HARD TO STOP THE FLOWWilliam John Streitberg
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