A reflection on the last 15 years of technology in the corporate world

Beginning this journey is never easy, as it takes courage, discipline, and—more importantly—belief. I started my journey in HR straight out of college. My early HR work was operational and local, yet even then the tension between policy, systems, and real employee experience was already visible. Even small decisions exposed how quickly policy and reality could drift apart.

Those early 2010s were a time when we were surprised, amazed, and proud to receive a corporate laptop. We compared brands with friends; it felt less like equipment and more like an entry pass into working life. International calls were not automatic. They required finding the one person with the PIN code—someone treated with quiet respect, simply because they controlled the connection to the outside world.

Looking back on those memories, which now feel distant, it is hard to believe that this was only fifteen years ago. Over those fifteen years, progress felt fast and steady. Yet compared with what has emerged in the last two years, those earlier years now feel relatively static.

In retrospect, progress did not happen evenly. It arrived in waves—roughly every five years—each one subtly redefining how work was done. Seen from within a large organization, these changes felt like small nuggets. Only later did we realize they compounded quietly, paving the way for a pivotal moment. That moment revealed something less visible but more enduring: systems are rarely the hard part—alignment is. I have seen this pattern repeat itself across industries and geographies.

2010–2014: Digitization of work and early connectivity

During this period, early digital connectivity enabled international communication beyond physical office phones.

• Corporate laptops became standard, not a privilege
• Email replaced most formal paper communication
• Excel became the universal business language
• Early HR systems digitized records but did not integrate processes
• Remote access began to support work beyond the physical office

Technology supported work, but it had not yet reshaped how decisions were made.

2015–2019: Cloud, systems of record, and process standardization

This phase introduced real structural change, especially in large enterprises.

• SaaS platforms replaced on-premises systems
• ERP platforms consolidated fragmented landscapes
• Mobile access to corporate tools became normal
• Self-service portals reduced administrative friction
• Global process templates emerged, forcing standardization conversations

This was the era when IT transformation became a business topic, not just a technical one, especially in HR, Finance, and Supply Chain.

2020–2022: Remote work and resilience under pressure

Progress that would have taken a decade happened in months.

• Remote work became viable at scale
• Collaboration tools replaced physical offices overnight
• Digital workflows replaced manual approvals
• Protecting systems and data became a leadership concern
• HR moved from administrative support to an operational backbone

This period proved that organizational change was not limited by technology, but by mindset and governance.

2023–2025: Intelligence, automation, and decision-making

This is where we are now—and the shift is fundamentally different.

• Generative AI entered daily corporate work
• Automation expanded beyond repetitive, rule-based tasks
• Greater visibility into how work happens inside organizations
• Data stopped being only for reporting and started influencing decisions in real time
• The impact spread from operational roles to knowledge-based work

For the first time, technology is not just accelerating processes; it is challenging how expertise, judgment, and leadership are defined.

The quiet realization

What strikes me most is not how fast technology evolved, but how slowly organizations adapted their operating models, governance, and leadership behaviors in response.

If progress inside enterprises can sometimes feel slow, it often moves far faster than change in the public and institutional sphere. While companies are already experimenting, adapting, and deploying new technologies, many governments remain cautious or disengaged, still debating frameworks while practice advances ahead of policy. In much of the developing world, where I come from, topics such as artificial intelligence, artificial general intelligence, or superintelligence remain unfamiliar, as public discussion continues to revolve around long-standing divisions—capitalism versus communism, right versus left. My concern is not that change will arrive, but that when awareness finally catches up, it may do so abruptly—like a train already at full speed, driven by forces already beyond human control.

Writing, for me, is a way to reflect rather than to conclude—to observe how technology reshapes the world and how leadership responds to it. I am far from an expert in these topics, but years spent working across technology and transformation have shown me the value of reflection. Writing becomes a discipline: a way to read, to think, and to retain knowledge in a world where attention is increasingly scarce.

During the preparation of this article, the author used ChatGPT5.2 for editing assistance to improve clarity. The author reviewed and edited the output and takes full responsibility for the content.