**3. The impact factors of technology commercialisation**

Technology innovations hold great potential to transform businesses and digital ecosystems. However, many such innovations struggle to cross the chasm [16] of large-scale commercialisation because of technological discontinuities [17] in the development of technologies. Therefore, it is crucial to understand the key characteristics that enable a new technology to successfully commercialise and become a widely adopted phenomenon-level application. Entrepreneurs and CTOs are perpetually faced with the difficulty of determining which technologies will assist them in gaining or retaining their leadership position and competitive advantage. In this section, the organisational onion model will be applied to examine the potential causes for the failure of technology commercialisation from the technical, formal, and informal dimensions. By examining these factors, this study provides insights that can be used to predict whether a disruptive innovation has the potential for successful commercialisation and becoming a phenomenon.

To specify the impact factors, this section will conduct a case study of three technological innovations [18], Blockchain, Metaverse, and ChatGPT, that have attracted significant attention from both academia and industry in recent years. By examining these case studies, we can gain a deeper comprehension of the impact factors and identify commonalities.

Blockchain, Metaverse, and ChatGPT are three technological innovations that are currently generating significant buzz in the industry. In chronological order, blockchain emerged first with the launch of Bitcoin in 2009, followed by the Metaverse concept which gained momentum in the mid-2010s, and ChatGPT which was developed more recently and is a product of OpenAI's advanced language models. All three of these disruptive innovations utilise cutting-edge technological advancements, but their commercial viability varies considerably.

Most research in the field of information systems evaluates the adoption of new technologies from a comprehensive perspective. For instance, the alignment between

### *The Chasm of Technology Innovation in Digital Transformation: A Study from the Perspective… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.111793*

information technology and business strategy [19, 20] examines how organisations respond to the challenges of a dynamic environment and digital innovations to develop an appropriate digital strategy. This strategy is highly dependent on the firm's specific resources, including IT systems, business processes, business goals, and the capacity of its staff. The importance of actions over time to align business strategy with resources is emphasised in some studies [21]. Using a dynamic approach to develop a digital strategy [20] takes into account multiple aspects of business operations [3]. Adopting an all-encompassing strategy for digital transformation in all departments at the same time can pose several challenges for organisations. One of the main challenges is the implementation of digital transformation on organisational reform and enterprise culture redefinition, which can take considerable time and effort. This is because digital transformation is not just a matter of technology implementation, but also involves the transformation of the entire organisation, including business processes, customer relationships, and employee skills and roles. Additionally, digital transformation can be a risky process due to the uncertainty associated with its implementation. There may be a lack of clarity on how digital technologies can be integrated into existing business processes and how they can impact the organisation's bottom line. Moreover, digital transformation can require significant investment in terms of time, money, and resources, and organisations may face resistance from employees who are hesitant to change their working practices. Implementing such a large-scale change can be as traumatic as re-inventing a company, and as a result, the failure rate of startups is alarmingly high. Therefore, digital transformation should be a long-term, lifelong strategy that accompanies the growth of the organisation and consists of multiple stages of small objectives. So that digital transformation can be maintained as a long-term objective, each subgoal should have the key benefit of profit enhancement.

This section focuses on the adoption of new technologies, which is the cornerstone and launching point of digital transformation. Typically, the new technologies consist of sustaining technologies, which result in incremental improvements [18], and disruptive technologies, which result in value re-proposition through the acquisition of competitive advantages. For the majority of sustaining technologies, the objective is to enhance the performance of established products along dimensions of performance that mainstream consumers in major markets have historically valued. The key to successfully adopting these technologies is to integrate this type of technology into the existing business framework to aid in the accomplishment of the enterprise's overarching objective. Corresponding small-scale adjustments in workflow and organisational structure are required but will not fundamentally alter the enterprise's profit model. The disruptive technologies [22] are distinctly different from sustaining technologies, which may change the business ecology and affect the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain. In order to avoid the negative effects of technology bringing to a company's performance [23] and obtain a true competitive advantage from disruptive technologies, it is crucial to determine whether a technology is worth investing in. From the perspective of the startup, the question may be, "Is this new technology worth our time?". Blockchain, Metaverse, and ChatGPT are discussed as examples of disruptive technologies in the following paragraph.

In the field of transformation informatics, the emergence of disruptive technologies can be analysed from three different perspectives, as addressed by the organisational onion model [15]. Firstly, disruptive technology can arise from the breakthrough of technical problems, which bring about new products or services that have never existed before. Secondly, it can result from the introduction of a new business model or framework that challenges the traditional industry structure and value chain. Finally, disruptive technology can lead to a completely new experience and culture, which dramatically change the industry chain and the way of value generation.

ChatGPT exemplifies how breakthroughs in technical problems can result in significant advances in conversational AI. It uses artificial intelligence and natural language processing to simulate human-like conversations, paving the way for a more engaging and interactive relationship between humans and machines. This large language model is distinguished by its capacity to process natural language and employ contextual information to generate coherent and pertinent responses. ChatGPT was trained on more than 40 GB of text data, including web pages, books, and articles, by OpenAI, a renowned artificial intelligence research laboratory. This extensive training has enabled ChatGPT to generate high-quality responses to a variety of conversational prompts. The predecessor to ChatGPT, GPT-3, has 175 billion parameters, but GPT-4 is anticipated to have even more. These developments in large language models have the potential to revolutionise numerous industries, such as customer service, education, and healthcare. Chat GPT is an excellent example of a disruptive technology that expands human capabilities beyond what is currently feasible with existing technologies. This type of innovation, which extends the essential needs of users, does not necessarily require extensive market cultivation. Rather, it has the potential to quickly spread among users like a virus, similar to how Google search rapidly gained popularity two decades ago.

Blockchain and Metaverse are two innovative technologies that have the potential to revolutionise the manner in which we interact with our environment. Some might argue that they are also powered by original technology. Blockchain, actually, is based on the concept of distributed ledger technology, which has existed since the early days of the Internet. Blockchain addresses the Byzantine Generals Problem [24], which refers to the challenge of coordinating distributed computing systems with multiple, unreliable nodes. Blockchain's innovation is that it eliminates the need for centralised entities like banks or other financial institutions by providing a decentralised and secure method through the creation of a tamper-proof and transparent network for storing and exchanging data. Therefore, Blockchain belongs to the second category of technological innovation. Unlike the first category of technological innovation that bring about entirely new products or services, blockchain technology revolutionises the way businesses interact with customers by providing a secure and transparent way to build trust and reduce the need for intermediaries, such as banks or other financial institutions, in a variety of industries. As a result, blockchain has the potential to transform various sectors, from finance and logistics to healthcare and beyond, by enabling new business models and more efficient operations. Evidently, the blockchain network requires a large number of participants to ensure the ledger's integrity and security in order to function effectively. Therefore, the success of a blockchain-based business model is contingent on the ability to attract and retain a large number of participants willing to contribute computational resources and expertise to the network. From the perspective of entrepreneurs, the cost of promoting blockchain technology is higher than that of ChatGPT due to the need to establish trust and credibility among potential users and stakeholders. Blockchain-based solutions often require a network effect, which means that the value of the technology increases as more participants join the network. Therefore, entrepreneurs need to invest significant resources and time to build a large user base to achieve the desired level of network effects. From the perspective of managers responsible for digital

*The Chasm of Technology Innovation in Digital Transformation: A Study from the Perspective… DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.111793*

#### **Figure 3.**

*The mapping relationships of disruptive innovation with organisational onion (after [15]).*

transformation, the adoption of blockchain technology requires a longer period of industry maturity than ChatGPT. Blockchain is still in its infancy, and many industries have not yet established the necessary infrastructure and adoption standards. Therefore, the decision to adopt secondary technologies such as blockchain depends on the degree of industry maturity relative to the enterprise's current resources. If the industry is not mature enough to support blockchain-based solutions, the business may need to consider alternative options or wait until the industry matures before investing in blockchain technology.

Metaverse encompasses even more expansive and futuristic ideas than Blockchain, as it involves creating a virtual world that users can enter and interact with through advanced technologies such as virtual reality, augmented reality, and the Internet of Things. The key technologies have existed for decades. The innovation of Metaverse takes these technologies to the next level by creating a fully immersive and interactive virtual environment that can be accessed by anyone, anywhere, and at any time. It is a revolutionary way of interaction that disruptively changes the current behaviour and even culture, offering endless possibilities for entertainment, social interaction, and even commerce. However, commercialising Metaverse will require significant effort due to the need for infrastructure development, standardisation, and user adoption. Metaverse belongs to the third category of technological innovation, which redefines the use of technologies, the formal and informal norms in the virtual world, as shown in **Figure 3**. Metaverse can transform how we work, play, and socialise by creating new opportunities for collaboration, creativity, and innovation. It represents a significant technological advancement that has the potential to transform numerous industries, from entertainment and gaming to education and healthcare.
