The cost of uncertainty – Holding back technology and growth

For businesses that aren’t tech companies, keeping up with digital developments is rarely easy. Everything moves fast, new hyped solutions and technologies appear in a constant stream, and it feels like everything promises is too good to be true.

Uncertainty can lead to passivity

With all the choices and the complexity technology brings today, it’s no surprise that many business leaders feel uncertain. What types of solutions should they invest in? How should they prioritize? How can they know what will actually deliver the most business value?

For companies whose core business isn’t technology, it’s also unreasonable to expect them to fully understand everything from system architecture to AI and automation. They already have their hands full with developments in their own industry.

The questions pile up – and the uncertainty easily becomes a brake. Business leaders don’t know how to move forward, so they simply stand still. They don’t want to make the wrong decision – so they make no decision at all. And the longer they wait, the greater the gap becomes between them and those who dare to take the next step.

Previous investments can fuel the uncertainty

The uncertainty isn’t always solely caused by a lack of knowledge about technology and digitalization – the unfamiliar. It can also stem from something very concrete, such as previous investments in tech that, for various reasons, didn’t deliver as expected.

It is not uncommon for digital initiatives to:

• Never be fully adopted within the organization
• Become significantly more expensive than budgeted
• Turn out to be misaligned with actual business needs
• Fail to integrate with other systems and applications
• Lack clear KPIs, making follow-up and evaluation difficult

Experiences like these can cause many companies to lose trust in tech investments overall. Instead of seeing digitalization as a growth driver, it becomes something to avoid – a risk rather than an opportunity.

From uncertainty to a strategy you can trust

The uncertainty won’t disappear on its own. It only fades when a company develops its own long-term tech strategy, anchored in its business goals and overall business strategy. Creating such a strategy isn’t about chasing the latest technology, but about asking the right questions

• What do we want to achieve as a business?
• What processes are holding us back?
• What do we need to get there faster?

When technology is connected to business goals and the company’s overall direction, the stress is replaced with control – and technology is seen as an enabler instead of a risk.