Praise of Time in the Digital Age

Producing wine requires time and waiting, producing wine teaches us to wait.

The vine needs years to start producing and many more to produce quality grapes.

The wine needs time to finish the fermentation naturally and to mature in the cask and the cask itself needs years before giving its best.

Bottled wine needs time to refine and when it is in the glass it needs time to open up and be fully enjoyed.

What does this bucolic picture have to do with the Digital Revolution? It does come in.

In SAS I am responsible for Customer Success which in a nutshell means helping users of information systems (tens of thousands of users in Italy alone) to make better use of what they have, to ensure that they renew their trust in the following years.

As we all know, being users in turn of many ICT systems and as human beings, we need time to digest the continuous technological innovations that digital progress offers us.

The users we interface with every day need time to understand the technology at their disposal, to consolidate the mental mechanisms that help to simplify the daily use of software in company systems more and more.

I would add that usually only a small percentage of the available features are known and only those are always used as there is a common tendency to remain in one's "technological comfort zone".

The Pandemic, with the long months of total lockdown at home, paradoxically forced us to study and practice on the use of new video communication systems and individual productivity tools, and this was made possible because we had time available as never had before.

However, this natural need for Tempo goes in direct contrast with the times that the Digital Revolution has, in full and constant acceleration, further driven by the commercial deadlines of companies, multinationals in primis.

"Modernization", a widely used but sometimes abused term, has the positive aspect of forcing us to keep up with the times and to enjoy the many benefits linked to the new versions and inventions of digital systems: I am thinking, for example, of the transition from central computers to distributed, to the extensive use of PCs and the Internet, to the Cloud today…

"Modernization" further enriches the functional heritage with a wealth of available tools that can cause entropy if it is not part of a gradual and timed approach program, fully shared with users.

Customer Success plays a central role in all of this because it accompanies users in this double path, of making the best use of what is already available, together with the introduction of new ICT architectures and systems, seeking a compromise between the need for growth and the of consolidation.

Training plays a central role in the Customer Success program and must be planned over time by alternating theoretical training sessions with robust practical training.

Let's not forget that time is also needed for the organizational changes and internal procedures that "modernization" requires: for example, the transition to the Cloud has a strong impact on IT departments and is creating a new, much more direct relationship with business users .

The Digital Revolution is fundamental in human progress and pervades every moment of our day, directly or indirectly, with undoubted benefits both at a corporate and personal level, but let's never forget that, like wine, it takes time to be appreciated and ... tasted.