Fernando Furlan
Through this article, Fernando Furlan explores the intricate dynamics of adaptability in the face of rapid technological advancements. Reflecting on his personal experiences and professional projects, Furlan discusses the inherent anxiety and resistance that often accompany change, especially when new technologies disrupt established routines. He highlights a recent project involving implementing a manufacturing execution system in the conservative glass industry. He illustrates how addressing human concerns and maintaining open communication can ease the transition and enhance project outcomes.
When I was approached by Retail Insiders asking to write an article, I immediately started wondering what I should write about. Some hot topics passed through my mind, like AI, the evolution of IT departments inside companies, and methodologies for project management, but I wanted to bring something not so common to read about. After some days of thinking, I decided to write about changes we are facing as a society, the workplace and new technologies all at once.
Adaptability is one of our most important traits as a species, but at the same time, we adapt very quickly. We are very reluctant to changes in any way to our lives, of course there are changes that are easier and others much more complex, but overall when are going through a change in our lives anxiety kicks in to some degree and we face those intrusive thoughts during the night or when we are trying to focus on something else.
Working on IT made me understand this in more depth. Technology drives us forward and changes every day, reflecting on how we work in this environment. It´s unusual to see someone from IT upset by new systems or technologies unless they are bad or have some exceptional difficulty attached to them.
The unknown is uncomfortable, and while technology changes rapidly, we must prepare ourselves for the stress and disruption it can bring.
A few months ago, my father reached out to me asking why his bank app stopped working, and after some investigation, I discovered that his mobile phone was outdated, the bank stopped supporting the app on his device and that he needed to buy a new one. Immediately, my father was upset with this, as he knew it would involve not only costs but learning the software changes that would come with the new phone. I could feel his anxiety and grumpiness kicking in, even though, for newer generations, this is an easy task. For my parents, this would mean relying on someone to help, making this process even more stressful. But then I remembered when he got his first mobile phone, the first few weeks were of him going back and forth to my sister and me and asking for help, but after the initial ‘onboard process,’ my dad started to see the benefits of this new device. He no longer needed to face long queues to pay bills at the bank, get in touch with friends, throw away his paper agenda and do many other activities made easy by technology.
So, this was the start of my questioning why we are so reluctant to change.
Having experience with big projects, it was clear that the bigger the changes, the more complicated it would be to implement and adjust the process accordingly. Especially here in Brazil, people view any system implementation as a way to make the company save money or improve production efficiency and reduce headcount—the last is usually true but not always the case for a system implementation.
My last big project was the implementation of a manufacturing execution system (MES) in the glass industry. This was a massive project because the idea was to improve the manufacturing process and increase overall efficiency. The glass industry is very conservative. During the blueprint phase of this project, I heard a lot—"This will not work. A system will never replace the experience I have working on an individual section machine or, “We had something like this in the past that didn´t work, so we went back to the previous process.”
I started to understand that it would be more challenging to change the mindset of the people involved in this project and keep morale high than implementing the software itself.
Based on that, we changed our approach to this project. We openly approached the users, explaining the idea behind this project and showing what we wanted to achieve with this software. It wasn´t the company's idea to fire people after the project was done, we wanted to have a better use of personnel and bring an increase in efficiency along with an increase in revenues. This started to bring people on board and motivate them. We started listening to their main complaints and tried to include as much as possible inside the implementation. During the implementation, we had so many people asking to be key that we had to do some triage with the help of HR.
Even though it was a strategic project, we wanted to ensure people felt included in all the phases, avoiding the stress of the implementation. People were excited about the go-live, so they knew all the new tools they would have and the changes to the process.
Our society is changing rapidly. We are near a new disruptive technology—AI, and are nowhere ready for that. How will we adapt to all those changes? Overnight, we might have an entirely new world, from retail, industries and our personal lives. Maybe this is why we see a decline in mental health, the unknown is difficult to handle and more difficult is the fact we are not discussing the changes we are about to face in depth. There are a lot of companies shouting about AI, and we are forgetting that all of this will impact our lives.
We adapt very quickly when needed, but not without a share of stress. The unknown is uncomfortable and may take us out of our comfort zone. There´s no right or wrong answer to making this process easy—technology changes even with lots of resistance. Look at what happened with Uber or AirBnB. We are still discussing regulations, and the affected parties, like Taxis and Hotels, are still fighting against those companies to a lesser degree.
How will the world look in five years? I can´t say, but we must prepare for radical change in the coming years and understand that we must discuss it as a whole. As I demonstrated in my last implementation, ample discussion about the implications and hearing society and the companies developing those technologies may lessen the stress and fear when dealing with unknown aspects AI brings.
As utopic as this sounds, we need to stop looking at numbers and fundamentally understand that we are dealing with different people, cultures, backgrounds and the impact we want to have on future generations. Technology will help us transition those changes, but it cannot do it alone, and technology does not have the empathy that we humans share. If we let technology govern those changes, it will be very difficult to adapt in the future.
