Never send to know for whom the phone rings…

…it rings for thee.

Apologies to both John Donne, and Ernest Hemingway, but let’s face it – the smartphone revolution is upon is, with great vigor. Just think of what these little devices have done since their introduction only a few short years ago, if you, measure the key date as 2008 – when the first iPhone was introduced and the helldogs of Android were subsequently unleashed.

Smartphones have, for all intents and purposes, replaced digital cameras, GPS devices, laptops, handheld scanners, tape recorders, compasses, iPods and even flashlights (and virtually put out of business the product lines and sometimes companies that produce these items)! Most smartphone manufacturers make tablet devices as well, and now many are making smartphones a little bit bigger, which could likely kick their own tablet lines to the curb. The smartphone is making a good run at replacing other devices as well, including televisions, small ones at least. My smartphone can be programmed to function as a tv remote at the very least!

And this is just the device end of it. With the proliferation of Apps and the rise of cloud computing as a trusted place to store and retrieve information, the disruption is becoming logarithmic. The taxi business is being shattered by Uber and Lyft, credit card companies are feeling the pinch from companies like Softcard and Apple Pay, ATM machines could someday be a thing of the past, and Rand McNalley – when was the last time you bought a globe, or a road map? All of these once thriving businesses are falling to the portability, convenience and consumer control that is being made possible by the Holy Trinity of phone, app, and cloud.

The smart businessperson should be asking “How long will it be before the smartphone puts US out of business? Already entire occupational categories are threatened, including the guys who drive those cabs (although they can always go work for Uber), fleet managers, schedulers, logistics specialists, reference librarians (all librarians!), meter readers. And phones, apps, and data-in-the cloud is being used to upend the worlds of higher education, financial planning, and even medicine. Some of the top mHealth apps out now, for example, help us monitor our weight, set up a fitness program, track our heart health, provide first aid information and treatment recommendations, manage and treat our diabetes. Taking pictures of skin conditions or our eyeballs and sending them to a physician can avoid a trip to the clinic or emergency room and make the cost of such a visit cheaper when it is needed, and mental health apps can provide us with calming advice or connect us with a therapist around the clock or around the world.

The new technologies, wondrous to behold and use, are letting us do things we never thought we could do so conveniently, effectively, and cheaply. But make no mistake, it is also threatening almost every major institution in the world of work, business and commerce. If you understand that the bell is tolling for you, it’s time to start thinking about how you can participate in the digital revolution. Resistance, in the long run, will likely be futile. Don’t become a bookstore.