Tesla's #optimus has received less attention than its #fsd, #powerwall, and #evcharginginfrastructure. This is today's #experimentation at the edge (as I discuss in my book, #DigitalMatrix). Very soon, faster than we may have reasoned, they might be part of our lives--first in the factories and warehouses, then in service establishments such as healthcare and hospitality sectors, and our homes. Reinvention of business models will take advantage of such innovations. While Optimus may be a visible manifestation of robots (humanoids), the fusion of physical and digital domains will be more invisible, as we already see in autonomous cars and tractors. Observing how #optimus executes tasks under diverse conditions will allow #Tesla to accumulate data network effects and develop new sources of competitive advantage.
My forthcoming book #FusionStrategy with Vijay Govindarajan (VG) draws attention to the broader convergence of physical and digital domains that redefine the competitive landscape and compels companies to explore alternative ways to unlock value trapped in analog business models. In most industrial settings, this convergence will be invisible to outsiders. Still, the business value shifts will be most acutely felt by those competitors who do not fully embrace the power of digital + physical fusion in products, processes, services, and business models. Consumers will increasingly demand that such value be provided by legacy companies or attracted by new entrants that intuitively fuse physical and digital dimensions of business. Given the rapid acceleration and convergence of multiple digital technologies, every industrial company will face its fusion future sooner than most expect. What strategic experiments are you designing to understand the relevance of your business in the fusion future?
