Oliver Allen is a Senior Account Manager at GlobalData. Oliver started work at GlobalData two and a half years ago as an Account Manager before being promoted to his current position. When he’s not at work, Oliver spends his time playing guitar – he is self-taught player of five years and is currently learning Careless Whisper by George Michael. Speaking with our business librarian Susan Klopper, Oliver shares his insights into our new disruptor content and how it can be incorporated into both academic and professional environments.
GBL: What is your 2 minute elevator pitch to get someone excited about this database?
OA: Disruptive technologies are always effecting the world – (e.g. Brexit, Blockchain, gene sequencing, AI, blockchain). And you well know history is littered with great companies that disappear because they miss the key tech themes in their industry. We identify the disruptive themes that will lead to success for a company and we identify what will lead to failure.
GBL: The Goizueta Business Library also licenses GlobalData Consumer database; in what ways does the Disruptor content complement it?
OA: Within this database we give you access to cross category information whereby our consumer analysts combine insights from both worlds. Disruptor also gives you access to information completely separate from consumer such as technology, financial service, energy & utilities, mining, healthcare, retail and food service.
GBL: What differentiates Disruptor from your other databases and from your competitors?
OA: We are the first and only company to have a disruptor database which has cross vertical analysis capabilities. It is unique from our other databases as it is purely focusing disruptive technologies which are going to affect companies 3-5 years from now. This means companies can prepare their strategies for possible eventualities so that they don’t miss out. For example Microsoft missing the mobile phone boom (jumping in too late) or Tesco buying loads of stores and not having any e-commerce. https://disruptor.globaldata.com/Homepage/Home/report_Summary
GBL: What can our students expect to learn from this content?
- Key disruptive technologies
- Companies within each sector/ type of technology
- Top 1000 influencers shaping the technology landscape via twitter
- Innovations within technology
- Strategies and companies use to be successful/ or fail
- New & deals – who is involved with who and why is it important
GBL: Tell us about your methodology for analyzing disruptors.
OA: We use a combination of machine learning algorithms, advance data mining capabilities and expert analysts who pull together primary research and validate it by analyzing more than 200,000 sources on a dialing basis in order to identify trends and insights. We also speak with 500+ C level technology and sector experts to understand their view on the market so we can provide content which allow business to make wining strategic decisions.
GBL: Can you provide us with a few examples of how this content is used in the corporate world?
OA: It is primarily a long term strategy tool which has these main benefits:
- companies to target/acquire/partner
- what tech to invest your time and money into
- direct line to professionals in the tech sector will help you understand the new tech quicker.
GBL: Is there anything else you would like to share?
OA: The database is structured around a number of themes, each focused on different emerging disruptive technologies. You will find reports called Thematic Report which look further into the future and give a deeper understanding of each area.
What are the main take-aways?
GlobalData’s Disruptor, a new Goizueta Business Library database, is focused on understanding emerging tech-enabled opportunities on promising start-ups, tech-led innovations, the latest tech/sector trends, consumer insights, and venture capital portfolio investments.
Applications for GlobalData’s Disruptor database includes:
- Anticipating emerging competitive threats and strategies
- Identify critical insights from top influencers per sector
- Identify the key technologies in which your customers and competitors are investing
- Track and trace venture capital investments into disruptive tech
The database contains:
- 40,000+ start-ups
- 14,000 VC and PE firms
- 1,500+ innovation profiles
- Top 100 influencers per sector (Fintech, Healthtech, DisruptiveTech, RetailTech)
- Analysis of 200,000+ tweets/quarter
- Consumer behavior survey data across 36 countries