Consumers have spoken – and texted, and tweeted and ordered online.

In almost every facet of today’s economy consumers are choosing digital alternatives. They are effectively saying: “give me a digital alternative” or “Byte Me”. The question is why?

In 1995, Nicholas Negroponte published his seminal book “Being Digital” where he predicted how anything that could be digitized would be digitized. Products and services would evolve from their current physical tangible form (made of atoms) to digital alternatives (represented by bits and bytes of digital information). Negroponte’s Nostradamus-like digital predictions were prophetic – but also too conservative. 

Let’s look at how industry after industry has been disrupted as consumers choose more reliable, more immediate, more cost effective and just plain superior digital alternatives.

Kodak sales declined 50% over the last 10 years and in December, 2010 Kodak was removed from the S&P 500 in the US. The use of digital photography skyrocketed and there are now more than 1.5 billion digital and 2.0 camera-equipped cellphones used by consumers every day. When was the last time a proud, new parent pulled a paper picture out to boast? But how often do you receive pictures from friends via email or smart phone, or on Facebook pages?

After all this creative disruption, even destruction, businesses who think they don’t sell information to consumers probably feel smug and secure. Surely industries such as manufacturing are immune. How could the inherently physical and tangible be disrupted by this digital trend?

Long, long ago (at the turn of this century) Blockbuster was a company recording revenues higher than $1 billion every year; once even as high as $1.5 billion. But last year Blockbuster went bust and fell into bankruptcy – around the same time Netflix sales hit $2.2 billion.

Borders book stores filed for bankruptcy in February 2011. Have consumers stopped reading?  Apparently not as Amazon sales skyrocketed 800% in the last decade to $15 billion. Oh, by the way, Amazon now sells more ebooks than paper books! 

Same things go for music, newspapers and a myriad of other industries.

Some giants of the S&P 500 have been brought to their knees by the new digital norms. Some have evolved and are “Being Digital” to better serve their customers.

The last time you needed some cash did you choose to stand in line at the bank to see a teller? I didn’t think so. 

When you were booking your last vacation did you make a trek to your local travel agent or did you book it yourself online?

I could go on but you get the point. 

After all this creative disruption, even destruction, businesses who think they don’t sell information to consumers probably feel smug and secure. Surely industries such as manufacturing are immune. How could the inherently physical and tangible be disrupted by this digital trend?

Not so fast.

Have you heard about 3D printers? “Printer” may not be the perfect word to describe this technology because the image of two dimensional paper copies comes to mind when the word “printer” is used. A 3D printer is actually a sophisticated machine that replicates a product after the original has been scanned into a computer.

Think this won’t disrupt manufacturing businesses around the world? The technology is still in its infancy, but it works.

Need a new widget for your automobile? Pretty soon you won’t be ordering it through a supply chain that stretches back to China, Japan or Germany. You (or your dealer) will simply download a digital image of the product you want and “print one” that will be built in only minutes from a composite material. Voila! A replication of the broken widget for your vehicle is ready to be installed.

You’ll do this not because of an inherent preference for digital but because of your preference for a reasonably priced product in the size and colour you want where you want and when you want it.

How far away is this technology from being main stream? Probably not as far as you or Nicholas Negroponte might think. Did we think only a few years ago that we would be making video phone calls on our mobile handsets today?

The jury has reached a verdict and digital wins because consumers prefer digital. The technology behind digital is complex, but digital makes life easier and more convenient for consumers. Firms that ignore this reality do so at their peril. Don’t be a deer in the digital headlights.