Limitations of Technology

There is a mis-assumption that technology, like automation, will solve all problems. There is a need to pay attention to non-technical elements (including bottlenecks in the middle and back office processes). Otherwise the technical changes are just a veneer hiding the old wounds, eg misunderstandings, delays, errors, etc. These non-technical elements can include processes, people, policies, delivery, organisational models, etc. These are regarded as less sexy and can be more challenging than the new technology.

Associated issues include

- end-to-end process ownership (ideally empowers an executive to make unified set of decisions to avoid departmental optimisation)

- understanding desired future state (what you are trying to achieve and can include the question
"...do I even need a major technology rehaul to achieve my customer experience and cost reduction goals?..."
Cognizant, 2017

- siloed ways of working (in which key performance indicators of different business units are misaligned

To handle these
"...the first important step is to design an end-to-end, customer-centric blueprint that challenges the limitations of current processes, roles, structures policies and technologies..."

NB
"...digital businesses act as if older, legacy ways never existed. We believe that many non-digital native companies can - and will - make this transition, by changing their mindsets, attributes and operating models to fully enable them to focus on a digitally defined customer experience. These are issues that not even the best technology and skills can cure. By tackling them, a business can achieve a performance boost, whether in the traditional economic terms or in realising entirely new forms of value..."
Cognizant, 2017

NB

Need to be careful that technology does not restrict what you are doing, ie
"...Many companies adapting and restricting their business processes and customer experience within the narrow range of what their technology allows......instead...... determine what your ideal customer experiences in business processes are, then shape the technology to deliver that vision..."
Matt Sanders, 2020

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