

Technology is taking over many areas of life, but what’s taking over technology? Disruption is a popular buzzword, but what does it really mean for business organizations?
Ben Verwaayen (@verwaayen), general partner of Keen Venture Partners LLP, answered these and other important questions regarding diversity in technology. Verwaayen talked with Stu Miniman (@stu), host of theCUBE*, from the SiliconANGLE Media team, during the Nutanix 2016 .NEXT Europe about disruption and technology.
Verwaayen has been working with technology for the past 40 years with several large companies. In that time he’s watched companies “change and adapt to keep fulfilling tasks,” said Verwaayen. Often that change happens in a linear fashion, but sometimes change has to come from outside the company. That’s when disruption happens.
Now Verwaayen uses his expertise to help smaller companies “fulfill their potential,” he said. He works with startups to make their production faster and more effective to change the direction of the industry, according to Verwaayen.
While Verwaayen largely works in Europe, he’s seen how Silicon Valley has influenced technology worldwide. Though their sphere of influence is great, “it’s not the only place or model,” said Verwaayen. Disruption and technology has largely been seen from a Western lens, but there’s an influx of diverse talent all across the globe.
Silicon Valley is remarkable, but its international employee base doesn’t mean its cultural DNA is diverse, said Verwaayen. When looking at trendsetters across the industry, it shouldn’t be a matter of one against the other, but “one and the other,” said Verwaayen.
As technology encroaches every space of our daily lives, we must find more ways to make it accessible, Verwaayen stated. To do that, companies have to create technology that’s “an enabler.” Companies have to be loud and customers need to know everything that’s available, he added.
To create the most effective and disruptive technology, it’s necessary to look “outside, not in,” Verwaayen concluded.
*Disclosure: Nutanix Inc. and other companies sponsor some Nutanix 2016 .NEXT Europe segments on SiliconANGLE Media’s theCUBE. Neither Nutanix nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.
Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE and theCUBE’s coverage of Nutanix 2016 .NEXT Europe.
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