Growing pains: Why perpetual change is the only answer

If the constant pressure to modernize, transform and generally maintain a state of perpetual change feels like an invention of the modern age, you’d be wrong. In the 6th Century BCE, Greek philosopher Heraclitus stated that “the only thing that is constant is change.”

While recognition of the need for change — or indeed, the inevitability of it — isn’t news to businesses, acting on it is by no means easy. The need to implement a digital-first strategy isn’t the sweat-inducing demand that it once was — but the unpleasant truth is that we want to change without going through the uncomfortable process of change.

That, of course, is reflected across the business landscape. IDG’s Digital Business Survey revealed that nearly 20% of company leaders didn’t know how to approach digital transformation and that only just over half of companies saw technology disruption as a positive factor. Of the close to half that didn’t, a quarter thought it was an outright threat to survival, according to Futurum Research.

Change, while sometimes inconvenient, has always been an unavoidable part of business – it’s just that now change happens so rapidly that the cost of not keeping up becomes a genuine threat all too quickly.

Now, we could tell you that Redwood Software’s automation fabric solutions take the repetitive manual work out of core business processes and free people up to carry out higher-value, more rewarding work. And it’s true, they do. It’s why we do what we do.

But throwing technology at a problem alone isn’t the answer to surviving an existential threat.

Instead, developing a coherent business process and technology lifecycle that takes advantage of incremental upgrades without disruption to the “day-to-day” is vital. Being responsive — across the front-, back- and middle-office — is a key goal of digital transformation.

The tendency for change to be viewed as a problem when it should be seen as an opportunity, is slowly shifting, but not quickly enough for some. A structure that allows agility is no longer just desirable, it’s essential.

And at the center of that, there’s an acceptance to be made. One that might not come naturally: To be successful, we need to be OK with feeling uncomfortable.

At Redwood, we strive to help put processes and structures in place that work for you, wherever your business is on its automation journey. By removing unnecessary repetitive human activity, you get to focus on what you know best: Your business.