Is Your Business Future-Proof?
In general, the term "future-proof" refers to the ability of something to continue to be of value into the future. Future-proofing may sound like it requires a crystal ball to see into the future, but, I assure you there’s no fortune-telling required. If you stay ahead of the technology curve and workforce changes that are happening now, your business will be better able to minimize shocks and stresses as they develop in the future.
What this means is that you should maintain and upgrade your business infrastructures on a regular basis. While you don’t necessarily need to be the earliest adopter of new technology, it’s advisable to be in the first wave. By future-proofing legacy systems along with talent, companies can realize lasting success with today’s new wave of solutions, services, business models, markets and value propositions.
Unfortunately, too many companies take a “wait and see” attitude. By holding back on acquiring new technologies and talent, while focusing only on close-at-hand projects, these companies get only incremental gains. They stop short of getting full benefit, even when they improve processes, automate tasks and connect operations. This stop-gap approach won’t future-proof their businesses for the ever-expanding digital future.