Running on Autopilot

I recently had the pleasure to ‘drive’ a relatively autonomous car - a Tesla - and, as the vehicle headed down the highway, with my monitoring our progress as the driver, multiple different business analogies sprang to mind. There are so many scenarios which seemingly happen on autopilot and we are in a climate where just cruising along is not an option – all businesses need to keep an eye on the road.

We are living in a world dealing with a storm of macro factors like never before – inflation, interest rates, the impact of the pandemic, geopolitical conflict, a battle for talent, rising energy costs, supply chain issues and more. Organizations cannot stand still, or do what they have always done, and the winners in any industry will be the disruptors and those who are flexible and open to change.

At the start of the pandemic, businesses scrambled to adapt, to help their people work from home, to implement tools to aid productivity and to digitize operations sooner than planned. Technology was instrumental in enabling this shift in business, evolving the way we work and live.

The team at Unit4 has been looking into how ‘The Great Acceleration’ has happened and we will be releasing our detailed findings next month. At a high level, what we have seen is that this digital acceleration has resulted in a positive change for most, across all facets of business. Back in 2020, companies were indeed quick to adapt but, as we all operate in a new reality, they have now become more complacent. Organizations wishing to continue this acceleration and remain ahead of the game need to adapt their technology and processes to suit this new way of working and operating - this is not a time to go on autopilot.

Across the industries that Unit4 touches, we are seeing demand – particularly from CFOs – to implement software which provides a single source of truth for the entire business, in one intuitive dashboard. Organizations, no matter their scale or vertical, need to keep an eye on all the indicators and vital signs, and having the tools to do this will enable them not just to keep up, but to overtake.  

As the pandemic hopefully eases, the analogy of autonomous driving teaches us a few things - always remain in the driving seat, and never take your eyes off the road as there will always be obstacles to navigate ahead. Tools can help keep us centred in our lanes, and warn us of potential bumps in the road – but always be ready to course correct, and use your tech to accelerate forward!