Transportation
Uber disrupted the taxi and car service industry without purchasing a single vehicle . Today , the company operates in over 300 cities within 60 countries and is now building autonomous self-driving technology with machine learning to eliminate the cost of using a driver , further disrupting traditional models .
Hospitality
Airbnb has disrupted the hotel industry with their peer-to-peer marketplace and homestay network , again , without purchasing a single rental property . Founded in 2008 , Airbnb shares space in over 34,000 cities within 190 countries . Over 70 million guests have booked trips on the digital platform using its sophisticated search algorithms , global payments and automated mobile communication .
Entertainment
Netflix disrupted its own business model in 2011 when it shifted from DVDs to online streaming . Using Amazon Web Services , Netflix has leveraged the elasticity of the cloud to dynamically shift during peak hours and expand its service availability . The multinational entertainment company now has 86 million subscribers in 190 countries , and generated close to $ 8 billion in revenue last year . Now that they no longer have to worry about IT , they can spend more time and energy producing the award winning shows we love to binge watch .
Retail
Zara , the Spanish clothing and accessories retailer founded in 1974 , releases new designs each week , rather than the traditional six month industry average . By adopting cloud RFID technology and a cloud-based monitoring system to track and replenish stock , Zara has better visibility into what styles , colors and patterns their customers are buying , and which ones they are not . Zara is ranked # 53 on Forbes Most Valuable Brand List and earned $ 15.9 billion in revenue last year .
Financial Services
Citigroup is driving new thinking across the financial services industry by expanding their cloud and big data capabilities to enable automation and machine learning through their digital innovation lab efforts . Working with senior teams at Apple , Citi was able to release the first financial services application on the Apple Watch , in just 120 days .
Agriculture
Land O ’ Lakes uses sensor-driven networks built on Google Cloud Platform to continuously monitor a variety of factors , from moisture content to nitrogen levels , temperature and solar coverage . Aggregating all of these data sources in real time allows their farmers to optimize the care and health of their crops , and leads to more efficient use of resources , lower costs , and higher yields . Because of this innovation , Land O ’ Lakes farmers are producing 650 % more corn today on 13 % fewer acres than they were 50 years ago .
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