For most of the last decade, technology has been treated as a productivity booster — something you bought to make work faster, cheaper, or more efficient. Computers replaced filing cabinets. Email replaced fax machines. Networks replaced sneaker-net disks.
But as we enter 2001, something has quietly changed.
Technology is no longer just a tool that helps businesses operate. It has become something that can just as easily disrupt, expose, or even cripple them.
Many organizations now depend on systems they don’t fully understand. Software updates are applied because vendors recommend them, not because leadership understands the implications. Networks grow organically — a server here, a remote office there — without a clear picture of how everything fits together or what happens if it breaks.
When systems go down today, work often stops entirely. Orders can’t be processed. Communication stalls. Data may be unavailable or, worse, corrupted. These aren’t minor inconveniences anymore — they are operational failures.
What’s most concerning is that risk often isn’t visible until something goes wrong. A misconfigured system works perfectly… until it doesn’t. A trusted user account remains harmless… until it isn’t. Businesses assume stability because they haven’t experienced failure yet.
That assumption is dangerous.
As technology becomes more central to daily operations, it deserves the same level of planning, oversight, and accountability as finance or legal matters. You wouldn’t operate without knowing where your money is going. You shouldn’t operate without knowing how your systems are built, who has access, and what happens when something fails.
In the coming years, organizations that treat technology as a business discipline — not just a collection of tools — will be the ones that stay resilient. The rest will learn about risk the hard way.