“Digital Darwinism” is another industry buzzword that has been making rounds lately in online space. It simply denotes the idea that in the digital era, businesses are embroiled in a struggle for survival not unlike one that occurs in the state of nature. To extend the analogy further, we can say that prey animals, i.e. consumers, are evolving at an accelerated rate, and predators, i.e. companies, are finding it hard to keep up. Businesses that fail to adapt themselves to the current environment are bound to perish, whereas those that manage to develop some form of competitive advantage are likely to stick around, at least for a while.
Just like in nature, these adaptations can take many forms. Some businesses are developing new methods for understanding consumer behavior in order to exploit them more easily. Others are incorporating cutting-edge technologies to surpass present limitations on how they do business. Others yet are mimicking what their more successful competitors on the market are doing to ensure some baseline of success. Finally, there are businesses that use some or all of these approaches in tandem to have the best possible shot at coming out ahead.
If your own company is starting to feel the pressure to adapt or perish, as per the tenets of (digital) Darwinism, take a look at our showcase of modern business survival strategies.
The Impact of New Technologies
Economic thinkers such as Karl Marx have argued that there is an intrinsic relationship between technological development and commercial interest. Mechanical looms, steam-powered mining carts, and other examples of industrial machinery have enabled capitalists to mechanize and automate production, netting them substantial profits in the process. While the dominant technological paradigm has changed significantly since the 19th century, it is still very much the case that technological sophistication is strongly correlated with commercial gain.
Even though the defining technologies of our age are not all digital in nature, the ones that are influencing the business world as a whole come from the domain of computer science. Distributed communication networks, artificial intelligence software, large dataset analytics, and numerous other implementations of modern computer-based technologies are enabling prosperous digital companies to improve the efficiency of their workflows, to better understand and predict marketplace fluctuations, and to respond more rapidly to changing consumer demand.
A company that wishes to remain competitive in our tech-driven world should therefore keep a close eye on the latest technological trends, and adapt to ones that are likely to be advantageous in their particular business niche. This can mean using AI to automate repetitive tasks, leveraging search engines to strengthen online presence, and other similar technological adaptations.
Changing Market Conditions
Marketplace competition lies at the heart of modern economic theory. This means that companies that respond well to what others of their kind are doing on the market, have a better chance of coming out ahead in the struggle. However, some would argue that the aforementioned struggle became more fierce in recent decades as a result of globalization. Because businesses operating in digital industries are now facing competition from countless companies scattered around the globe, it is difficult to keep track what everyone is doing, or figure out the countermoves one ought to make.
As a result, the majority of business now have to rely on observing loosely defined trends to get a sense of what’s going on the marketplace. Based on this knowledge, they have to make a decision on which trends are worth following, and which can be safely disregarded as passing fads.
It is difficult to give concrete guidelines on this matter, but some business analysts are predicting that companies will increasingly rely on freelance work in their day-to-day operations. Another trend that’s worth keeping an eye on would be workplace automation – more and more companies are utilizing systems for automating certain processes to save on time and resources.
Understanding Consumer Desire
Consumers are the third pillar of the modern economy. Their demand for goods and services is what ultimately decides what the commercial sector will look like. As a result of global economic development, there are now proportionally more consumers than at any previous point in history. This situation is inherently favorable for business, as there is more spending power to go around.
However, this change in numbers was also followed by a change in structure. Modern day consumers are in many respects similar to their predecessors, but they are also exhibiting a range of new behavioral tendencies, some of which businesses have a hard time adjusting to. And if a given company fails to appeal to the modern consumers, its odds of surviving on the modern marketplace will plummet.
There are two main consumer tendencies that modern businesses should take into account. One is a preference for self-service options – contemporary consumers prefer to have access to tools, and not pre-built solutions. The other is a demand for personalization – consumers view the goods and services they purchase as a representation of their persona, so they like having different means at their disposal to express themselves.
Conclusion
Every business generation experiences its share of economic difficulty. Factors outside their control frequently push companies to actively fight for their place under the sun, and many are cast aside in this struggle. “Digital Darwinism” is just a new way to name this fact, but it has little explanatory power on its own. So instead of focusing on the way the problem is phrased, companies looking to ensure their long-term existence ought to take measures for adapting themselves to current technologies, marketplace conditions, and consumer preferences.
Angelina is a content creator for Desing Rush and other websites that are publishing articles about digital marketing and web design. She could also be tagged as someone who enjoys reading, vending machines and camping. She is positive and hard-working, but can also be very geeky.