– Digital transformation? What's the point of that, if we've always done things this way and it's always worked for us?
– Yes, but how much time do you spend updating that analytical information in Excel to know the closings?
– Quite a bit, but it's worth it for us; the information we include is very complete, and we can even determine the contribution margin with certain assumptions about inventories.
– Yes, but doesn't the ERP provide that directly?
– What…?
– We're better than ever, but a bit like always…
Perception is an individual matter, but reality is what it is.
“We are better than ever, but a bit like always,” one businessman finally argued to another in that cordial conversation, with a certain irony and conveying well-measured conflicting feelings.
A curious expression. After a little reflection, a multitude of everyday and personal situations came to mind that I could equally use to describe it. I thought that, besides being useful, it was also charming, because using it to start a conversation would guarantee a moment of attention and silence from the audience, providing ample opportunity to support my story.
This interpretation of the concept of present time in its projection from the past is possible because we have a life experience and historical knowledge that allows us to establish a separation between a before and an after, an earlier time and a later time, in the identification of quantitative or qualitative differences.
The human mind is so wonderful that in becoming aware of these differences, it allows us to draw an imaginary dividing line in time, between a past moment and a present one, as if there had been no transition between them and as if we had been sleeping in the meantime (or asleep, although Cela already taught us that it is not the same).
The past wasn't necessarily better.
In this contemporary history in which we live, we are always going from revolution to revolution.From crisis to crisis and change to change. Since the First Industrial Revolution, contemporaneous with the French Revolution, we have experienced a second and even a third. The changes that have occurred in society have been evident, from the manufacture of the first steam engine to the widespread use of renewable energies and massive, affordable access to the Internet, including the use of new energy sources such as oil and electricity.
In this regard, it would then be easy for us to draw that imaginary line between revolutions, especially because we know from history the living conditions and circumstances in which successive generations developed, adapting to those technical and technological discoveries.
But the reality is that Throughout history, change and adaptation have been gradual and, above all, unequal. between the different societies of the time. Timelines are an illusion of our minds. There were continents, countries, cities, and within them, strategically positioned social classes that were able to learn about, develop, and apply technological advances and the knowledge generated, very gradually, decade after decade, in contrast to the inaccessibility of other classes or other societies that were still immersed in the Middle Ages. And not only that, but their progress was also uneven, faster or slower depending on how technically and technologically advanced they were.
Progress isn't black and white, but rather a whole spectrum of gray. And the past was full of dark grays.
The paradoxical behavior of progress
But paradoxically, as we went through revolutions, progress accelerated exponentially over time, and thanks to the development of transport and communications, it reversed its trend of clear technological divergence towards a Convergent technology easily accessible to allThat is, the global socio-economic environment has gradually favored the Democratization of access to products and servicesThis is particularly true for technology and information, with reasonably inexpensive global connectivity. However, it is understood that the global sociopolitical situation and that of individual countries will inevitably maintain certain imbalances and inequalities.
And it's curious that, in this tendency to become technologically indistinguishable from the rest of the world, we continue to be surprised by the changes we've been experiencing in recent years. This time, it's not because of significant differences in status or time between eras, but because of the dizzying pace of change that we corroborate with our lived experience. In other words, we're once again drawing those imaginary lines in our perception of change, no longer based on the changes that have occurred between decades, but on those that have taken place in just a few years.
Progress is above all opportunity…and decision
But right now, at this very moment, is when we can say that Historically, we are living in a time of greater equality of opportunity.This practicality extends to access to products and services, technology, and information. It is now, in this convergence marked by progress, that People's freedom is what empowers them to decide to take advantage of the opportunities that technology offers., standing out wonderfully as a differentiating element in competition with the rest of its kind.
That is to say, Now the differentiating factor is not the technique or the technology, it is the decision itself.
We can no longer change the past, but we can act decisively in the present. Only through our current decisions will we be able to cross over, in just a few years, to that side of the imaginary line where those who differentiated themselves and survived will find themselves, taking advantage of the opportunities that technology presented to them.
Let's break the lines. Let's make the decision to break them.
The morale
– We've always done things this way and it's always worked for us.
– I'm too old to keep up with new technologies.
– If my children control the social media accounts, I would count on them if I needed them.
– If we don't have time in the company to change or transform our way of doing things.
– If this whole Digital Transformation thing is just a fad.
“We’re like never before, but a little like always.”