The Fourth Industrial Revolution is steadily underway, and it will continue disrupting our industry far beyond anything before it. McKinsey estimates that AI, a critical part of this revolution, can deliver global economic activity of around $13 trillion by 2030. By 2023, the worldwide number of IoT-connected devices is predicted to increase to 43 billion. So how does leveraging these technologies change the competitive landscape for companies big and small?

Avishai Sharlin, division president of Amdocs Technology, recently talked to Tony Saldanha, president of Transformant, about this topic. Saldanha claims that digital transformation is happening all around us. That means our real competition is no longer a larger company, but disruptive, digital-native startups leveraging technologies like AI, automation and the Internet of Things (IoT).

"When I dug into the details, it became very obvious that the cost structure of operations in startups was about half of those in similar large companies. A large part of that is because the work processes in smaller companies are simpler," said Saldanha. "Secondly, the use of digital technology meant that they did processes differently."

But beyond merely using technology to change the way a company functions, it comes down to the culture as well. Saldanha calls this "living DNA" when everyone in the company becomes a disruptor of themselves.

"That's what gives you a Netflix, which has in 20 years disrupted its business model four times. From mailing DVDs to streaming to original content to international," he said. "The only way that happens is if everybody in the company understands that this is not about technology, it's about disrupting yourself. And when you keep disrupting yourself, you stay ahead of the competition."

To hear more on the need for constant disruption, including where the media sector sits on the change timeline, listen to the Future of Tech podcast series.