Disruption Without Dysfunction: Empowering Teams for Emerging Tech
Adopting new technology isn’t just about keeping up with the latest trends—it’s about delivering real value to customers.
Disruptive technology like AI has the potential to cause massive shifts for SaaS companies. Companies that integrate innovation effectively will strengthen their competitive advantage, but those that chase disruption for its own sake risk wasted investments, misaligned teams, and frustrated customers.
In this blog post, we break down key considerations for leveraging disruptive technology without introducing dysfunction, featuring insights from Tamara Adlin, a UX and product strategy expert and fractional CPO with a wealth of experience at companies like Amazon.
Listen to her podcast episode of So You Think You Can Dev? or read the key takeaways below:
Avoid the Hype: How to Approach Disruptive Technology Strategically
In matters of disruptive technology, it may appear that startups have an advantage in the market. They can build from the ground up around emerging tech, move quickly, and grow at astonishing rates as investments flood in.
In contrast, mid-market and enterprise companies will feel the hype while lacking the agility to leverage disruptive tech at comparable speeds. Larger companies have existing platforms that require integrations and testing at scale. They shoulder more risk. Their people and processes have become entrenched, and making moves is as much a bureaucratic challenge as a technological one.
However, that doesn’t mean midmarket and enterprise companies can’t gain enormous benefits from disruptive technology like generative AI. They simply need a different approach, one that’s not influenced by “shiny new thing” syndrome that’s often the bread and butter of startup culture.
New technologies often create a sense of urgency. Companies rush to adopt AI, blockchain, or other innovations because they fear being left behind. But Tamara warns against making technology decisions based on external pressures rather than business needs.
Instead of focusing on being first, businesses should focus on being the best at understanding their customers.
“If you know your customers better than anybody else, then no startup can catch up to you. No disruptive technology can disrupt you because you have your fingers on the pulse of what actual humans need to do on a daily basis.”
The takeaway? Adopt technology with intention. Being the first to integrate a new tool or feature won’t guarantee success—but delivering a solution that makes customers’ lives easier will.
Break or Bolster? Knowing What to Change and What to Keep
Every company faces moments when existing systems need to evolve. When faced with generative AI, blockchain, or agentic AI, organizations may feel the pressure to change and adapt.
But not every part of a business should be disrupted. How do you decide whether to break outdated processes or bolster what’s already working?
Tamara’s advice: start with the customer experience.
“Should I be investing in this new tech? Should I be changing what I have right now? The ultimate litmus test is: Does it still satisfy those core wants and needs and take away pain points that my customers already have?”
Rather than looking for big, dramatic changes, the most impactful innovations are often small, strategic improvements.
“It may not be about big new features. It may be about taking away little problems.”
Before overhauling a system, identify the real problems first. Many inefficiencies can be solved without breaking everything, but the key is to focus on the right changes.
Managing Resistance: How to Shift Entrenched Teams and Processes
Even when external markets shift, internal teams often resist change. Many businesses struggle to balance innovation with stability, especially when teams rely on long-standing processes.
Tamara points out that deep-rooted resistance isn’t just a cultural issue. It’s often a symptom of misalignment at the leadership level:
“It’s almost like your executive team is like the Greek gods, and if the Greek gods start fighting like Zeus and Poseidon start fighting, lightning bolts and tornadoes come down on the mere mortals.”
Misalignment at the top creates confusion for teams, making change even harder to implement. Before pushing for new processes, companies should prioritize executive alignment. Tamara suggest a simple exercise to test alignment: ask key employees what their top three objectives are. You’re likely to see mixed results from the top down.
For effective adoption of new technology—as with any technology—executives need to align on the organization’s top objectives to identify the greatest levers of impact.
When leadership is clear on goals, teams can adapt more effectively. Without that clarity, change efforts will stall, regardless of necessity.
AI Integration: Making It Work for Your Business
Generative AI is one of the most disruptive forces in technology today, but integrating AI just for the sake of it can create more problems than solutions.
Tamara warns against overcomplicating AI projects or chasing advanced features that don’t actually help customers:
“If you are doing like big AI projects…the features that would help your customers the most are really basic and fundamental.”
Instead of focusing on cutting-edge AI capabilities to start, businesses should ask:
- How can AI remove friction for users?
- Where are the most tedious, repetitive tasks?
- Can we make AI invisible while improving the user experience?
Adding AI features to capitalize on hype is a double-edged sword. Software that pronounces advanced AI features may raise user expectations in tandem and cause deeper frustration if users can’t achieve what they want within your platform. Conversely, good features are good features, AI or not. AI is an enabler of a better software, not better software by default.
A deep understanding of the user experience within your platform is a great place to start with integrating AI in a way that increases user satisfaction and retention, moving the needle toward meaningful impact.
The Biggest Opportunities in Disruptive Tech Aren’t What You Think
True differentiation comes from better understanding users—and people.
“The thing that will always give you the business advantage is knowing your customer better than the other guy. And that has nothing to do with hiring 700 AI engineers.”
AI expertise is vital for understanding the technology itself and building it successfully. However, the frontlines are just as critical. Who is interacting with your customers, soliciting their feedback, polling the market, and reducing their pain points?
Successful implementation of AI in software products is as much a UX problem as it is a data science problem. The greatest features in the world will not matter if no one but your engineers can use them.
The companies that succeed will be those that use AI to solve real customer pain points.
“While your competitor is busy creating 17 new AI things that are just going to end up being confusing… you are out there realizing that if you solve one tiny problem, your customers are going to love you for the rest of their lives.”
For businesses looking to lead in their industries, the takeaway is clear: user experience is the competitive advantage that generates value from AI products.
Final Thoughts: Disrupt with Purpose
Emerging technologies will continue to evolve, but successful adoption depends on clarity, alignment, and a focus on users.
To ensure that disruptive tech strengthens rather than destabilizes your business, consider these key takeaways:
✅ Start with alignment—misaligned leadership creates chaos in product development.
✅ Adopt tech with intention—only integrate what truly benefits your users.
✅ UX is a differentiator—invest in user research in addition to AI engineers.
