The new disruptors

Rapid growth in smartphone penetration is creating an ever connected workforce relying less on middlemen to conduct business transactions, says futurist and inventor Mark Pesce. This is a trend CIOs will need to watch out for as larger companies compete with leaner startups moving in on their turf.

Speaking to a group of over 70 CIOs and IT managers at a CIO Breakfast event, Pesce predicts the century old labour model that is most prevalent in New Zealand will gradually be broken into smaller gigs, and smaller still tasks.

These gigs and tasks will be created and undertaken using smartphone apps, leaving established companies which would usually work as intermediaries in a vulnerable position. We are already seeing this with freelancers and contractors, but it will only become more common, he says.

This message resonates with New Zealand, where according to research by Google and IAB, smartphone penetration is estimated to be at 44 percent this year.

Pesce points to Uber as an example of a disruptive startup using this aggregated labour. In the US, and several other countries, it is illegal for limo drivers to pick up fares that have not been pre-booked. Uber connects limo drivers with paying customers by letting them book their fare using the Uber smartphone app. This nominal act is within the law, but gives the limo drivers access to lucrative serendipitous fares they would otherwise have lost to taxi companies. For its services Uber takes a cut of the fare.