How to grow your business in an ever fragmenting world

It's an intriguing question... consumers and markets are fragmenting as never before, each of them determined by an ever increasing set of diverse communities. This is a new paradigm for businesses. Not so long a go they could adapt products or services to well-defined segments. Not anymore...

So what do companies need to do to to ensure sustained growth? According to a recent report from Accenture, they need to develop aggregation skills. And for that, they'll need to rely on four technologies in the next three to five years:

"First, they’ll use sophisticated analytics to gather the massive amounts of data required to identify and
serve new customers worldwide. Second, cloud computing will help them to combine services by providing users access to remote computing power and software on a pay-per-use basis. As a result, all companies will be able to access the advanced computing power they need to identify global customer segments at the click of a mouse, without large upfront capital investments.

Meanwhile, two other technologies—mobile connectivity and online social media—will allow these companies to connect with customers wherever they are located and spot themes shared among individuals worldwide, respectively. "

Thanks to these technological shifts market segments don't need to be determined by geographical boundaries, but by common needs and attitudes at a global level. One of the driving forces behind this is the rising middle class in emerging markets, that make specific segments based on common needs and attitudes much bigger -and profitable to serve...

A worthwhile read (click here for the full report)