Adapt or miss out

Vodafone general manager of digital and social media Geri Ellis says the way to keep up with digital innovation is constant, brutal reform.

Any kind of technological development brings its own possibility of negativity, and businesses can just as easily become victims of digital disruption as thrive because of it, she said.

Companies crushed by the speed of digital reform included film giant Kodak, which went bankrupt after the advent of digital photography, and Blockbuster Video, who turned down an offer from Netflix for its own streaming service, and ended up being forced out of the market.

Other companies or industries she said were struggling were Borders Bookstores, fighting off global online bookstore Amazon; Blackberry and Nokia who failed to recognise the threat of the iphone; and record labels, who are now struggling to compete with streaming giant Spotify.

Their weakness was that they were too complacent about the change digital brought with it.

She urged business owners to put funding into extended value chains, accounting for the possibility of future needs or desires rather than just current markets.

Those that changed had thrived, she said, like Air NZ, which swiftly transitioned its booking services from travel agents to online, or Xero, which developed cloud-based accounting software.

‘‘When we don’t look at future needs we not only miss out on opportunities, we also risk our entire business,’’ Ellis said.

Ellis was speaking at RISE 2015, a conference designed for women in business, which has been running since 2012.

Founder Kate Webb said she established the the event as a regionalised programme, so women would not be forced to travel across the country, leaving family or business commitments behind.

Around 100 women gathered for the event , which focussed on digital innovation and female entrepreneurship.