When every business can access similar technology, people become the difference between transformation and real value.
Most businesses now have access to comparable platforms, cloud services, data and AI tools. The advantage no longer comes from the technology alone. It requires the judgement, creativity and customer understanding needed to turn technology into value.
“Technology is no longer a differentiator,” says Andrew Dawson, Managing Executive: Small, Medium and Diversified Business, Telkom Business. “In many cases, businesses have access to similar platforms, similar technologies and similar data, now supported by AI. The real competitive advantage comes from those who use the technology.”
This may sound counter-intuitive in a business environment dominated by automation, AI, analytics and data-driven decisions. Yet the more technology becomes available to everyone, the more human judgement matters. Organisations still need people who can define the problem, understand the customer, ask the right questions and turn digital tools into useful outcomes.
Digital transformation goes wrong, Dawson says, when businesses treat it as a race for platforms and speed instead of a way to create value. “Businesses cannot just be about driving ever-increasing efficiency in a vacuum,” he says. “Efficiency is one part, but the most important thing is the team at its heart.”
People still shape the business
A strong digital strategy starts with the culture of the organisation. Every member defines how an organisation learns, adapts, collaborates and responds to change. Dawson says the strongest businesses have clear leadership, agility, creativity and a strong understanding of the customer. “Creativity is especially important in a technology world where everyone has access to similar platforms,” he says. “The difference lies in how those tools are used.”
Efficiency has limits
Technology can remove routine work, streamline processes and give employees more room to focus on higher-value tasks. But speed alone is not the point. AI and automation should help your teams do better work, not replace them without thought.
“People are not disposable assets,” says Dawson. “Leaders have a responsibility to upskill, cross-skill and redeploy workers into areas where they can add value.”
Employees support digital change when its purpose is clear and it makes their work better. When it increases monitoring, pressure or job insecurity, employees lose confidence and start to disengage.
The same applies to customers. If a digital journey looks efficient on paper but removes the human support customers need, it weakens the relationship. Customers still want to speak to a person when they genuinely need help.
AI needs accountable leadership
AI brings enormous opportunity, but it also brings risk that cannot be left to technical teams alone. Leaders are accountable for the systems they introduce and the outcomes those systems produce. That means setting clear guardrails for how AI is used, building ethical frameworks that guide decisions, and keeping proper oversight in place. It also means ensuring there is always human intervention where judgement, risk, customer impact or employee impact is involved.
“AI is an uncertain journey, and there are many risks,” says Dawson. “Leaders are accountable not only for the adoption of the technology, but also for the outcomes of that technology.”
The deeper risk with AI is weak thinking. It can produce an answer quickly, but users still need to ask whether that answer is accurate, verified and right for the context. A response may sound plausible while still being incomplete or based on the wrong assumptions. Leaders need to build the discipline of checking the source, testing the logic and asking whether the output fits the decision being made.
“As AI becomes more common in business, leaders risk treating it as a silver bullet,” says Dawson. “That weakens critical thinking, especially when AI influences the evidence we use to make decisions and reinforce echo chambers instead of exposing them to diverse views. Organisations that stop doing the hard thinking for themselves will start to look the same. We need to use our own direction and creativity when developing strategy.”
Trust has become a business currency
Trust is harder to earn and easier to lose in a digital economy. Customers are dealing with misinformation, data privacy concerns, phishing, security breaches and a growing number of bad actors. As a result, they are more alert to how their data is used and more cautious about who they engage with online.
“We speak about brand trust a lot,” says Dawson. “Trust is now the central currency people want to deal in. There’s a lot of misrepresentation in the economy. It’s difficult to distinguish fact from fiction, and there are many unethical players who want to take advantage of people.”
Customers want transparency. They want to know their information is protected. They also want reliability, with the option to speak to a real person when the technology fails or when the issue is too important to leave to an automated process.
Digital transformation is a business issue
Don’t leave digital transformation to technology teams alone, Dawson cautions.
“Digital transformation goes far beyond the technology that gets deployed,” he says. “The whole business and its leadership need to take accountability for the journey they want to undertake. It’s far beyond toolkits and platforms.”
Every employee has a role in digital transformation. It only works when they understand the purpose of the change, how it affects their work and where they can help improve the business. That includes identifying friction, improving processes, serving customers better and using technology responsibly.
That means digital transformation has to be led as a business priority. Which customer journeys have to be improved? Where is there friction? What problems need to be solved, and how will success be measured? These are the questions that must be answered.
It’s also a human one
The rise of generative AI risks deepening an already unequal labour market. The workers most likely to benefit are educated, higher-income professionals in roles where AI can speed up analysis, writing, coding, planning and decision-making. Those most exposed are in routine, entry-level, administrative, customer service and front-line jobs.
What’s needed now is deliberate policy, affordable digital access and serious investment in worker transition if AI is to benefit the country.
“We have to remember to keep strategy at the heart of where technology is going and how it advances us,” Dawson says. “We also have a moral obligation to guide it in the right direction. Businesses that get this right understand the people and businesses they are meant to serve.”
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