The world is currently experiencing an unprecedented level of disruption with mobile being at the heart of the process, according to Amit Pau, director of Ariadne Capital.

Pau was giving the keynote address at the second U-Start conference of the year held in Cape Town last week.

“Where disruption takes place it is a combination of fantastic entrepreneurs, combined with technology, but added with one vital ingredient. An innovative business model,” he said.

“What mobile has done is give us global coverage, devices that allow us to access information anytime, anywhere; and one other aspect – the consumerisation of technology.”

He said chief technology officers (CTO)s are terrified of bring your own device (BYOD) policies.

“What has BYOD done? It has just addressed the fundamental failure of IT departments to deliver innovation that the consumers and end users require,” said Pau.

He said the global apps market is testament to the disruptive nature of the mobile space.

“The global apps market last year was around US$68 billion. Let’s put that in a backdrop that five years ago there was no market. And in the last five years we’ve probably had one of the most brutal global depressions going on.”

Image courtesy of Shutterstock