Member-only story
The Commoditization of AI and What It Means for Your Business Reality
“Commodities” are interchangeable goods or homogenous products. As artificial intelligence (AI) technology becomes ubiquitous, accessible, easier to use, and more affordable to all businesses, what implications does it have on competitive dynamics and strategy?
Lessons from cloud computing foundational services
You don’t have to look too far back in time. Cloud computing isn’t that old, but it has a lot to say in terms of tech commoditization trajectories. Close technical examination of major cloud computing companies reveals a clear pattern — there is little differentiation at the bottom of their stack.
Take cloud storage or compute for instance. Is there really such a big delta between what’s offered across AWS, Google, Microsoft, etc.? Other than pricing nuances, they are fundamentally the same. Typically, an enterprise will consume whichever offering on the basis of cost (cheapest), management approval, or historical momentum (grandfathered in).
It’s no big secret that cloud service providers keep a close eye on usage trends in their larger ecosystems. Over time, they have moved up the tech stack, often developing solutions that effectively replace software previously offered by third parties (eating other…
