Definitely
But the barriers to that understanding aren't where you'd think they would be. They are economic, not technical.
It is in the nature of companies to focus on ever more lucrative opportunities. There is a lot of pressure on them to do this.
It is in the nature of disruptive technologies that, when they first become viable for mainstream use, they are crap relative to existing products. And are priced accordingly. With resultingly thin profit margins.
Which means that existing companies are geared to run away from the opportunity. And companies which are geared to take advantage of that opportunity have a strong desire to improve the product farther so they can take more business.
This is what makes it a hard business problem. Technical knowledge is fairly straightforward to aquire. Reorganizing your basic internal business processes and incentives is another story.
Cheers,
Ben
