When I was a student in England in the 1990s, I often talked about the rise of the Internet, which was still a new and relatively misunderstood concept. At the time, the idea that it could fundamentally reshape the way we live, work and do business seemed far-fetched to many.
One story that stands out involved a small family-owned cookie company in Whitby, England, called Botham of Whitby. (Whitby, interestingly, is the same port from which Captain James Cook set sail to chart the first undiscovered lands.) The family was one of the early adopters of e-commerce, I Explain to your audience how this traditional business is benefiting from the new business. The digital world to reach consumers far beyond the Yorkshire region.
I remember the audience’s skeptical giggles and laughter. The idea of buying baked goods online seemed ludicrous to people. “Who would order cookies on the Internet?”
But the cookie maker saw the future, recognizing its potential long before the Internet hit the mainstream. And while others were laughing, it was busy launching a business model that would change the world.
Technology waves are breaking fast.
As Mark Twain once said, “History doesn’t repeat itself, but poetry often does.” The waves of technology we’ve lived through—the shift from analog to digital, the rise of the Internet, the migration to the cloud, etc.—can inform and enlighten us as we explore AI, quantum, and other technologies.
The challenge is that technological waves are breaking fast these days. And waiting or stopping is not an option.
We have entered an era where the pace of change is accelerating, with each innovation building on the last. Although it took 16 years for the Internet boom to fully permeate business and society, we no longer have the luxury of a long-term adoption and experimentation phase. Every new wave doesn’t just introduce new tools. This creates new business models, leaving room for anyone to take advantage of the opportunity.
For example, within a few years, cloud computing completely changed the way we work. Suddenly, you could browse websites from a laptop at a coffee shop, paying only for the computing power you used. And entire industries changed. This democratization of access allowed small startups to compete with established giants.
The release of the iPhone brought another seismic shift. Suddenly, with social media apps and the web literally in the palm of your hand, individuals can connect, share and influence audiences anytime, anywhere.
Companies had a new way to reach their customers, making marketing more accessible, targeted and measurable than ever before.
And now, with AI at the top of mind and technological advancements happening at an unprecedented pace, how can companies keep up? How can we effectively use AI and integrate it into our business models to avoid being overwhelmed by the coming wave of change?
In his book, Thanks for being lateThomas Friedman emphasizes the importance of pausing and reflecting, rather than reacting emotionally, in an age of high speed. But in today’s age of AI, do businesses still have that luxury?
Thanks to its democratization, AI will become more accessible to a wider audience. But companies need to start experimenting with AI as soon as possible to put it to work effectively. This has less to do with Friedman and more to do with the Japanese proverb, “Fall seven times, stand up eight.” To get immediate results, repeat and fail over and over again. In other words, make the plane fly.
To do this, enterprises need to put collaboration front and center, and work with partners who understand how to navigate the future and the limits of what AI makes possible. to be carried forward.
We’re seeing clients make leaps and bounds by starting small, thinking big and demonstrating quick wins.
AI as a core element of strategy
One example is financial services company Equitable Holdings (Equitable Holdings is a DXC client), which created a GenAI-powered virtual service agent that analyzed thousands of documents, enabling customer representatives to respond 80% faster. , and freed them up to focus more. Value added work
And we’re seeing banks, airlines, healthcare organizations, carmakers, and others quickly move from experimenting with AI to making it a core element of their strategy. Helping clients embrace every opportunity with the spirit of a first-time entrepreneur sets the stage for broader implementation based on the insights we learn together.
Just as people know how to swim in the waves of the ocean so they don’t fall, companies can’t afford to shy away from what’s next. They need to dive in and start imagining a world where machines can automate, analyze and even predict the future.
As I reflect on the journey from those early days of skepticism to the cutting-edge AI-powered solutions we’re deploying today, one thing remains clear: embracing the future isn’t just a choice. , it is a necessity. The pace of technological change is accelerating, and businesses that hesitate or cling to the past will be left behind.
And like Botham of Whitby, those who look beyond the present will be ready to move boldly forward.
