From D2C (direct to customer) to D2A (direct to avatar) and now from B2B (business to business) to B2B (bot to bot) we seem determined to cut the fat, and automate and optimise the exchange perhaps unaware that the margin is in the very human mess (and that in our enthusiasm for optimising, perhaps not realising that we - our share of the messy margin - might be, must be? next in line...)
Anyway, whatever your thoughts, when all that can be is (and it does seem to tend that way) optimised out of the supply chain, what we are left with will be that which is essential - the question then is if you - your job, your tasks, your industry - will make the cut.
(Maybe going back to the farm isn't such a strange idea after all ;)
How are you outsourcing your decision making - and your negotiation to artificial assistants already?
What side of the value-margin line does your job and industry land? (Are you margin takers and/or margin makers? - and how will you (can you?) defend your pile from progress if there are smarter, better, faster alternatives out there?
Do you realise that if you optimise and automate your pricing and processes, so can your competitors?
Do you understand that that which can be automated (or even just digitised) can be replicated and optimised until all value is extracted?
How do you step out of the "perfect pricing" price war trap and into your own space with a defensible natural (not legally enforced and threatened) moat?
So many questions! (What are yours?)
Read more:
Bot to bot : https://thinkgrowth.org/the-future-is-b2b-bot-to-bot-commerce-c90a4fcbbbb8
Direct to avatar : https://www.forbes.com/sites/cathyhackl/2020/08/09/is-direct-to-avatar-the-next-direct-to-consumer/?sh=5d17d9d3102a
The future starts now : https://www.amazon.com/Future-Starts-Now-Insights-Technology/dp/1472981502
Outsourced to AI : https://futurism.com/man-financial-info-ai-make-decisions
Dancing bot to bot