Cisco: 40 per cent of firms to be sucked into 'digital vortex'

Tech giant claims digital disruption will reshape markets faster than 'perhaps any force in history'

The disruption caused by the digital revolution will be so strong that it will obliterate 40 per cent of businesses in the next five years, according to Cisco research.

A new report by the firm claims digital disruption of businesses will reshape markets "faster than perhaps any force in history". It claims that in five years' time, 40 per cent of today's businesses will be "displaced".

Cisco's claims come from its new Digital Vortex report which surveyed almost 1,000 business leaders in 12 industries across 13 countries including the UK, Germany, the US and China.

Cisco said the term "digital vortex" refers to the driving force created by digital developments across industries.

Three quarters of respondents said they believe digital disruption is a form of progress.

When questioned on the approach they are taking to the changes prompted by digital developments, just a quarter of them said they were proactively responding to the changes it brings and almost a third said they are taking a "wait and see" approach in the hope of copying successful competitors which blaze the trail.

The technology products and services industry has the highest potential for disruption over the next half-decade, according to Cisco, which added that data-driven industries such as media, financial services and retail will also see a fast pace of change.

Cisco Consulting Services' senior vice president Martin McPhee said there is no escape from the changes digital will bring about in the world.

"Every country, every city and every business will be required to become digital in order to thrive and survive in the new digital economy," he said.

The report was created in association with the Global Centre for Digital Business Transformation.

The organisation's director Michael Wade said: "It is not just business models that are changing, it's value chains and product offerings as well. Digitisation is not just changing industries, it is increasingly blurring the lines between them.

"The most successful disruptors employ what we refer to as 'combinatorial disruption,' in which multiple sources of value – cost, experience, and platform – are fused to create disruptive new business models and exponential gains."