Disruption is a norm in the world of technology. We attribute the phenomenon of big companies being disrupted by new entrants to many aspects, like advancements in technology, emerging technologies, the agility of new entrants etc. , but have we explored deeply the aspect that at the core of disruptions in the world of technology is the ability of the organization, that is getting disrupted, to empathize with its customers? Most problems in the world of technology can be addressed with the power of empathy- the ability to understand the pain, needs, wants, and emotions of other human beings. The majority of technology-related challenges like adoption, data-driven culture, designing disruptive applications and solutions, and avoiding getting disrupted by new entrants - can be addressed with the power of empathy- the ability to understand the pain, needs, wants, and emotions of other human beings. Are the giants in the technology world getting disrupted because they do not have the technical prowess to compete with new entrants? That concept to me always has been hilarious. A handful of people in any “old tech” company could have developed an application like Uber. Uber was not a disruptive technology but a disruptive idea. And the central theme of that idea was that there was a need, a pain point that provided an opportunity for leveraging a technology solution. And B2B solutions are not an exception. If new entrants are disrupting you, chances are that in terms of technology and algorithms, the new solution may not be drastically different. Still, it addresses a need that pertains to the end user's needs. And if you explore it further, that need is not always technology related at the most granular level. Take the example of no-code solutions. While on the surface, the popularity of no-code solutions may seem like a result of the ease of use of a complex technology by non-technical users, the need here is purely human. It is about employee engagement and ownership. Employees who care about their work have always wanted to get more engaged and take ownership of end-to-end aspects of their role. With solutions needing a separate team of analysts, these functional employees felt “in the dark” or dependent on getting insights into their processes or an app built to facilitate their day-to-day job. The no-code, low-code category panders to their human need to take control and be more engaged with their roles. I have been on manufacturing and warehousing shop floors during my career in industry and external consulting, looking for ways to leverage analytics and data science to alleviate bottlenecks and transform processes. At some point, I realized that irrespective of the solution I design, develop and implement, what I am essentially doing when I am on the shop floor, observing processes, is observing human behavior that is driving the bottleneck and finding out how we can leverage technology to change that behavior. Process re-engineering often needs to be done to help correct the behavior of those who work within those processes. Human behavior is the central theme of most digital transformation needs. We do not explore this sufficiently because this goes beyond our comfort zone of technology granularity into human behavior and empathy. The ability to understand pain points, needs, and wants, needs a good sense of empathy. And unfortunately, empathy has been underrated in technology for decades. Due to the monopoly of many old tech companies, technology companies for decades were hated but also leveraged extensively by those same end-users who hated the same products they used. Understanding end-users emotions was a concept unknown to the world of technology. That has changed now with a plethora of entrants. The reason these new entrants can give a hard time to old tech is attributed to many things like start-up culture, being agile, talent, etc. but at the core is the fact that someone identified a human need and built a solution that addresses that need in a much better way than existing solutions. Give me a technology disruption story, and I can tell you the exact human behavior(s) that was the driver behind the disruption. My perspective is that empathy is such a powerful tool that by leveraging it in a polymath approach, i.e, combining it with design thinking, marketing, and technology, you can address any potential disruption. Not only can it help you nip any potential disruptors in the bud, but it can also allow you to disrupt much larger players. Customers not adopting your cloud-based offering the way you wanted? Specific human behavior aspects lie buried in technical tasks that must be addressed. Want to foray into the market held by a much larger solution provider? Make the pain of getting rid of that solution easy (assuming you have a similar or better solution). Change management emerges as a consistent challenge in all SAPinsider research, including the most recent research Process Automation in Supply Chain and the upcoming research report Inventory Management and Optimization. Yet, the world of technology continues to ignore that empathy is the superpower that, if mastered, can help technology companies reign their domains for decades and decades to come.