Businesses that fail to embrace change and adopt emerging technologies risk becoming irrelevant as rapid technological advancement continues to reshape industries, customer expectations and the workplace, the Institute of Change Management (ICM) has warned.

The institute said organisations could no longer afford to rely on familiar structures and traditional processes while the business environment around them continued to evolve.

Speaking at the opening of the ICM yearly conference, themed ‘Unleashing Change: Accelerating Impact – Harnessing Transformation to Drive Business Excellence and Personal Growth’, the President/Chairman of the Governing Council, ICM, Nat Beifoh-Osewele, stressed that change had become a permanent feature of modern business rather than an occasional event.

According to him, technology, artificial intelligence (AI), changing customer behaviour and intensifying competition were creating unprecedented pressure on organisations to rethink how they operate and deliver value.

Beifoh-Osewele warned that organisations focused on protecting existing systems and processes could eventually discover that the world had moved beyond them.

He said the speed of technological disruption had made readiness a critical factor in determining which organisations would survive and thrive.

The ICM boss, however, cautioned that transformation should not be viewed purely as a technology issue, stressing that people remained at the centre of every successful organisational transformation.

He urged organisations to move beyond asking what AI could do and start considering how the technology could improve their workforce’s capabilities.

He said businesses should examine how AI could make employees more productive, improve customer service and free workers to concentrate on creativity, innovation and other higher-value responsibilities.

Beifoh-Osewele also called on business leaders and professionals to embrace continuous learning, adaptability and innovation, stressing that organisations must develop the capacity to anticipate and harness change rather than react to it.

Speaking on the conference theme, Sahara Group Managing Director, Kola Adesina, used the story of the baobab tree to illustrate how organisations can ride the wings of change to create lasting impact.

According to him, every part of the tree, one of Africa’s most enduring symbols, serves a purpose and creates economic value.

Representing the Group Head, Corporate Communications, Sahara Group, Bethel Obioma, Adesina said change would favour those who were most adaptable.

On how to build organisations capable of adapting to change at the speed of light, the Sahara Group boss urged organisations to stop waiting for perfection and instead ride on the wings of uncertainty.

According to him, transformation was not about building the future but developing the capacity to shape it.

Managing Director, Africa Prudential Plc, Catherine Nwosu, said harnessing change for sustainable growth required financial protection and strategic investment.

Representing the firm, Director of Capital Markets, Bukola James-Cole, said strategic investment could help translate transformation into business excellence and personal growth.

Nwosu, while highlighting an investing-for-impact framework and issuing a call to action, said businesses needed to embed protection into strategy, invest with discipline, build resilient, technology-enabled operations, champion transparent governance at every level, and lead change with courage and clarity.

Speaking on ‘Navigating the Nigeria Tax Act: Unlocking SME Growth, Digital Compliance and Incentivised Investments’, a former president of the Chartered Institute of Taxation of Nigeria (CITN), Samuel Agbeluyi, identified key areas for unlocking the strategic potential of small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

He urged businesses to grow with intention, comply by design and invest with foresight.