ducts for less cost. These industries are affected, not changed, by technology. Industries Created By New Technology There are certain industries where technology plays a different kind of a role. In most industries, technology provides business people with a way to do what they have always done better. For high- tech industries, however, the new technology actually creates new businesses for the company to participate in. The leading examples of the high-tech industries include computer manufacturers, software companies, and telecommunications firms. These companies are not only able to make themselves more efficient through the use of technologies, but the stream of innovations that are regularly introduced is constantly redefining them. This means that the high-tech companies are in a constant state of decline and rebirth, in a cycle that makes other industries dizzy. What this translates into is a very special environment when it comes to issues of churn. Basically, we are finding that high-technology industries, such as telecommunications, have a built-in product obsolescence cycle that guarantees that churn is going to be a continuous problem (or opportunity). eXcellence in Telecommunications The Telco Churn Handbook Ultimately, telecommunications is an industry founded on churn. Churn is, in fact, the lifeblood of the industry and the key to the firm's long-term survival. THE NEW TECHNOLOGY ASSIMILATION LIFECYCLE Much research has been done in the past few decades to help consumers understand the role of new technology in their lives and how people and businesses come to assimilate that new technology into their day-to-day operations. One of the most frequently quoted books in the subject area is "Crossing the Chasm" by Geoffrey A. Moore. This book sets out to define for the makers of new computer technology exactly how consumers and marketplaces actually go about this assimilation process. Figure 2-1: The new technology assimilation curve Figure 2-1 shows the basic new technology assimilation curve that h