B2A
BUSINESS TO ALGORITHM
You wake up in the morning and prepare to go out as usual. You jump in your Tesla and a message welcomes you on the screen:
“An unexpected condition has been detected with the Power Conversion System on your Model 3. A replacement part has been pre-shipped to your preferred Tesla Service Center. Please use your Tesla Mobile App or your Tesla account to schedule a service visit appointment now.”
Your car self-diagnosed a problem and pre-ordered the necessary parts. The replacements are on their way to your favourite service centre. All is automated.
FRICTIONLESS
One day you will be at home, baking bread as one of the (few) new skills that you’ve developed during the lockdowns of the early twenties. While you are kneading the dough the main light in the kitchen goes out, it’s burned out. With your fingers still in the sticky mix you face your Amazon Alexa and say: “Computer (yes, you are a trekkie after all), order one new light bulb”
A voice coming from the small black box confirms: “ok, your new light bulb will arrive tomorrow.”
Chances are the light bulb you will receive not only fits the socket (it’s not the first time you buy a light bulb on Amazon) but it’s also the product that ensures the best margins for Bezos and Co.
Now, if I were to buy a light bulb with the same characteristics, chances are that I would receive a slightly different light bulb, one that is more convenient in my location, shipping and other things considered.
AUTOMATIC
B2A not only sounds right, appealing to the aesthetic pleasure of lining up B2A, B2B and B2C in alphabetical order, but it also makes a lot of sense. It’s part of the 5 trends for the 2020s published by the Strategy and Futures Research Unit at the end of last year.
If computers are managing more and more aspects of our lives, taking decisions on our behalf, are we on the verge of creating artificial influencers, marketers and salesmen that will target artificial decision makers? Will procurement become an hyperfast and hypercompetitive process, akin to what high-frequency trading is today? It seems the world is already moving in this direction…
Will B2A become an important part of the market?
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