As with the Roman god Janus, the world of technology has two faces, that of the Creator and of the Destroyer. Of the ideas that have currency in this world, “disruption” is the one that closest fits this bill. To move from rhetoric to reality, it is imperative that we understand both sides of the issue before we proceed wholesale.
The word “disrupt” has come to mean an unalloyed good in the technology lexicon. Disruption, in the mind of the technologist, suggests breaking unwanted or unfair incumbents, pushing over the applecart, and innovating to create better customer outcomes. It has overtones of the famous 1984 apple commercial that shows a powerful woman destroying a totalitarian, Orwellian dystopia with her power. In this sense, “disruption” is revolutionary.
A less philosophical but more prosaic view of the same idea yields an altogether different outcome. Would a company ever celebrate the “disruption” of operations? When websites cease to function or airline flight schedules are amok, the same “disruption” fans cease to celebrate. The face of the Destroyer is rarely welcome.
So organizational leaders must think of short-term continuity and long-term disruption. Advancing a disruptive technology agenda too quickly or without the requisite context and culture to manage the change is hasty and wreaks havoc.
That is where we are with AI; we need honest reckoning and not indulgence in hype.
If one wants the organization to be revolutionized with AI, the inevitable question of where to start arises. Knowing, as alluded to above, that business requires continuity and ongoing attention creates a fundamental issue- how to transform an organization from the inside-out without diminishing its ability to conduct business.
Enter “Peripheral Automation.” As organizations look to “build a new plane while flying the current one,” it is imperative to understand what parts of the puzzle can be changed or disrupted and to manage the effects of those changes before they affect customers, partners, and profitability. This requires a systems blueprint with business impact factored in. Some systems can be mucked with before others. Some systems require parallelism to ensure continuity and disruption can happen simultaneously.
Peripheral Automation (PA) is a practical approach to this fundamental reckoning. PA creates continuity amidst disruption.
Authored by
Romi Mahajan, CEO ExoFusion
I’m an accidental marketer. My skills are in building deep relationships, seeing markets before they burgeon, and in applying socio-political concepts to business. I have 3 pillars on which I pursue opportunities: People, Impact, and Autonomy.
