5 ways to keep your business ahead of tech disruption

Fast Company

5 hours ago

'The best laid schemes of mice and men [often go awry],' wrote the poet Robert Burns in 1785. In other words, even our most carefully crafted plans rarely unfold as expected. Nearly two and a half centuries later, in the fast-moving age of AI, that insight feels more relevant than ever.
For entrepreneurs, staying competitive means building a business plan that can keep pace with evolving technology. After nearly two decades as CEO of a SaaS company, I've learned that planning isn't about predicting the future with perfect clarity—it's about being ready and adaptable. Here are five planning strategies that have helped me make my company more tech-responsive and allowed me to future-proof our growth.
Building flexibility into budgets
If the past few years have taught us anything, it's that change is the only constant—and that rapid change is more likely than ever, whether in technology, the economy, or global health.
To keep up in a fast-paced and largely unpredictable tech landscape, leaders need to build flexibility into their budgets. At Jotform, that means factoring in a bit of slack for experimentation and unforeseen shifts. We make space for pilot programs, internal beta testing, and regular software updates—not as an afterthought, but as a core part of our planning process. This approach enables us to pivot as needed and stay open to emerging tools or trends, like AI agents, that could give us an edge.
In a landscape defined by constant evolution, adaptability can become a competitive advantage.
Revisiting the tech stack quarterly
It's essential to regularly revisit your tech stack—the software tools, frameworks, and infrastructure that keep the wheels of your company turning. An interface or database that worked well six months ago may be completely obsolete today. What's more, I've found that you can almost always identify ways to make your workplace more efficient.
While many companies revisit their tech stack annually or biannually as a rule of thumb, for businesses operating in environments where technologies are evolving fast, I'd recommend a quarterly check-in.
Conduct your review with an automation-first mindset. With the right tools and tech, you can streamline entire processes and eliminate tedious, manual tasks, freeing up employees for work that truly matters. Nowadays, I'm investing my time and energy in researching the latest AI agents to integrate into our tech stack. These are autonomous tools that can independently carry out tasks or entire workflows. You give them the goal, and they figure out how to execute it.
Think of it as regularly tuning your engine—and you don't want to cruise, you want to race.
Creating a cross-functional tech committee
At our company, cross-functional collaboration is second nature. Since most projects span multiple departments, we've found that bringing together diverse expertise not only builds momentum, but also leads to smarter, faster decision-making. By involving key stakeholders early, we avoid costly delays and hiccups down the road.
Today, most companies need a dedicated tech committee—one that keeps a pulse on emerging technologies, evaluates the company's existing tools, and offers strategic guidance on implementation.
To make the best decisions for the business, this committee should include representatives from across the organization: developers, designers, sales, HR, finance, and beyond. A cross-functional makeup ensures that all perspectives are considered when shaping the company's tech stack.
Investing in digital upskilling
As a growing body of research shows, professionals across the board are anxious about the impact of AI on their job security. A recent survey, for example, found that 74% of IT professionals fear AI will render their skills obsolete. And yet, many companies continue to take a wait-and-see approach when it comes to AI, mistaking a fundamental shift for a fad. But as each day makes more patently clear: AI isn't going anywhere.
To stay competitive—and to ease employee concerns—companies should adopt a top-down strategy for digital upskilling. Fortunately, AI itself can be a powerful solution. AI-powered tools offer scalable, cost-effective training tailored to each employee's role, skill level, and goals.
Take those AI agents, for example: They can design personalized learning paths, identify targeted materials, and conduct Socratic-style sessions to deepen understanding. Imagine a social media manager aiming to upskill in AI-generated content. An agent can provide curated lessons, recommend practice exercises, and schedule check-ins—making it easy to integrate learning into the workday without cutting into personal time.
Monitoring adjacent industries
Finally, monitoring industries adjacent to your company is not a planning tip—it's a strategy for survival nowadays. Consider the cautionary tale of Blockbuster. By ignoring advances in technology and e-commerce, and consumers' shift toward convenience, they missed the streaming revolution. They filed for bankruptcy in 2010. Meanwhile, Netflix is crushing it in 2025.
The takeaway? Leaders who track innovation beyond their own industry are quicker to adopt the right solutions for their companies. Identify the right thought leaders, check software review sites like G2, and stay plugged into emerging tech. Your plans still might not unfold as expected, but with the right tools, you'll be able to adapt.