Business executives grappling with online disruption should steel themselves: the real transformation is yet to come, as smartphones play an increasingly prominent role in people’s lives.

These powerful, portable computers – coupled with the evolving networks of data storage and distribution that support them – are redrawing the competitive landscape in two ways.

Initially, more existing behavior takes place on mobile, around shopping habits and media consumption for example, opening the door to new entrants while forcing incumbents to rework legacy business models.

However, smarter devices also change habits while creating new ones, as people and companies adapt to new possibilities around location and personalization. This includes wearables and in-car computers as well as phones and tablets, and how they all connect, prompting a fundamental rethink of how businesses go to market.

Moreover, these trends accelerate as devices become more sophisticated, driving data usage, while networks get faster in response. As our illustration shows, the global transition is well underway (story continues after the infographic). 

What happens Next

Data usage spikes up, as people migrate onto fancier phones and next-generation networks.

This is especially pronounced at the moment, as early adopters and people living in richer countries are more inclined to splash out on pricey data plans.

That said, smartphones are also entering the global mainstream, projected to make up more than 63% of handsets worldwide in 2019, according to Cisco, compared with 39% in 2014.

In turn, the appetite for mobile data will exponentially rise.

Cisco foresees smartphones powering through almost 4,000 MB of data a month on average by 2019, compared with 819 MB of monthly data last year.

4G phones will get through even more – almost 5,500 MB per month by 2019, compared with 2,000 MB per month in 2014 – but will no longer consume more than twice as much as slower phones, as they do today.

Video At the core

While multiple businesses will be impacted by these changes, much of the attention will focus on video, already the largest component of network traffic, and set to become even bigger in the future. Cisco forecasts that video will make up 72% of mobile data by 2019, up from 55% last year.

“New partnerships, ecosystems and strategic consolidations are expected, as mobile operators, content providers, application developers and others seek to monetize the video traffic that traverses mobile networks,” Cisco executives wrote in a paper published earlier this month.

“Operators must solve the challenge of effectively monetizing video traffic, while increasing infrastructure capital expenditures.”

Remote or cloud-based storage has changed the game for media consumption, formerly constrained by memory and speed limits on an actual device.

The new challenge for telcos will be working with content providers on products and services that support unleashed consumer demand, while keeping an eye on upgrade costs at the same time.