Companies end up incorporating a number of tools that do not always translate into better services for users or contribute to solving real problems
We have all interacted with our bank by phone, chatbot, mobile app or in person. We also know that each entity has several areas within it and depending on what we need we choose: commercial, insurance, loans, companies, credits, deposits, etc. What we sometimes don’t think about is that for all these pieces to work, there is software behind them that helps them. In fact, to thousands of systems that sustain the complexity of operations. For example, one of the largest banks in the world, which has more than 240,000 employees, has 72,000 active software, that is, one for every three people.
The shocking number reveals a sign of these times of accelerating transformation. Companies, in order to be at the forefront of technology, end up incorporating a number of tools that do not always translate into better services for users or contribute to solving real problems. In fact, they sometimes hinder and complicate operations that should be very simple. This is known as the “inertial innovation syndrome.” “The person wants the bot to manage the cancellation of their card in a simple way, avoid repeating their data every time they are referred from sector or expect to receive alerts of promotions that are relevant to them, they are not interested in knowing that the bank incorporated the latest technology if it does not represent a tangible solution to their problem,” explains Julián Colombo, CEO of N5, a firm specializing in financial software. This syndrome has different causes, one of them is copying the competition. If others have new software, there is an urgency to have it, even if its real benefits are not known. Now it happens with AI, which generates a great FOMO (fear of being left out) and this pushes you to want to try everything that appears on the market as if it were the equivalent of adding potatoes to a fast food combo. While it’s a good strategy to experiment with what’s available, it’s important not to innovate by inertia.
The same thing that afflicts companies has a correlation individually for each of us as professionals. Before we jump into adopting new tools, paying for subscriptions to AI agents, jumping on every course offered and trying to fill our CV with buzzwords, it is advisable to strategically evaluate what it is, from all that apparent new shine, that can really help highlight our value proposition and contribute to the true reconversion of our capabilities. Technological tools are part of the means that enable this transformation, but they are not an end in themselves, nor the only way to achieve it.
