Can Process Improvement be Disruptive?

A number of articles I have read recently say that it is difficult, or impossible, to develop disruptive innovations in an existing company or organization.  See here for an example from a blog post.  Suggestions are to separate them from an ongoing business to isolate them from the pressures of meeting operational goals, such as revenue, profit, etc.  So, they reinforce the idea that innovation must occur in a new company or isolated in an existing company.

But, what about continuous improvement, such as those encouraged by the Malcolm Baldridge award?  As a Certified Manager of Quality/Organizational Excellence (CMQ/OE) I would think that process improvement would lead to the potential of developing disruptive innovations.  If anyone has seen any research or articles that address this, please let me know.

Process improvement, if properly addressing all aspects of the process and resulting products/services, would take into account innovations that are new and have potential to affect what the company is currently doing.  If cost reduction, then addressing all areas that could result in cost reduction might lead to a disrupting innovation that made them a market leader.  Sane with almost any characteristic of either the process or the result of executing that process.

What do you think?  Is it possible to develop disruptive innovations through process improvment? 

Top 7 Disruptive Personal Media Trends for 2013

Innovation Labs published their analysis of the top personal media trends that they believe will be disruptive to business in 2013.  They list the following:

1. Responsive web design is becoming a strategic must-have
2. Mobile data encryption: growing exponentially in importance
3. Mobile video is fast becoming mass consumer phenomenon
4. Every organisation will need a UX Designer
5. The ‘Internet of Things’ is merging the digital world with the physical world
6. Mobility is the top priority as a driver of transformational change for CEOs
7. iOS and Android continue to dominate in a fast moving ecosystem, with app stability becoming a major issue

Individually I don't think many of these are or will be disruptive.  Taken as a whole as characteristics of mobility they play a role in the disruptive innovation of mobility.  People do not want to be tied to any one place to do their work, enjoy their entertainment, or connect to their friends.  Any business must address the issue of how they deliver the services and products in a mobile society, and this will change many things.

Examples of how things are already impacted are reports you see in the news about Best Buy being a showroom for on-line ordering - but not necessarily from Best Buy.  Mobility has also changed the delivery business since what you order on-line from your mobile phone has to be delivered.  Stores like Walmart are offering instant pickup of orders placed on-line, or even delivered to your home.  All these are disruptive changes in the market place.

But, I think the Internet of Things (IoT) is probably the most disruptive of all, and we are just now beginning to see the effects.

Are Tablets Disruptive to the PC?

The Wall Street Journal today published an article that indicates that Gartner sees a structural shift in the PC market.  This is based on the drop in PC sells by 6% for 2012.  While PCs are not being left in the dust, the tablet appears to be the gift of choice for this past Christmas gift giving season.

I see coworkers carrying around tablets to meetings instead of laptops.  I have a tablet that I use for various things, but it doesn't replace my PC.  For me there are several reasons the PC will continue to be in my life - complex graphics and virtual reality video games - all of which require the power of a PC and graphics card.

At work, the table may be disruptive to the PC as most companies work from a server based infrastructure, so email, etc., are all kept on a server, and not on a laptop.  In the future, the cloud (a server in the sky) will do the same thing.  For my tablet to become really usable at home, I will have to move to a cloud environment, otherwise if I read my email on the table, I have to either save it there, or read it again on my PC and save it there.  Or both, and then I need to sync both systems.

So, are tablets disruptive?  Not yet, in my opinion, but they may become so.  The trends in storage, power included in the tablet, and communications speed in wireless capability, even in the home, all will merge to make it disruptive.