“Technology amplifies what’s already there, either clarity or chaos.”

Every few years, a new buzzword sweeps through boardrooms promising to revolutionise everything. First it was CRMs, then AI, then automation, and somewhere in between, dashboards. So many dashboards.

And yet, despite the hype, the same familiar problem keeps reappearing: Businesses aren’t struggling with technology. They’re struggling with clarity.

Because let’s be honest, tech doesn’t fix confusion. It just automates it.

The False Promise of Automation

Automation was supposed to make life easier. Fewer manual tasks, fewer human errors, more efficiency.

In theory, it’s perfect. In reality, it often looks like this:

• Three tools that don’t talk to each other.
• “Automated” emails that still need approval.
• Reports so complex they require an interpreter.
• A CRM so “smart” no one knows how to use it.

It’s not that automation doesn’t work. It’s that it’s often solving the wrong problem.

“You can’t automate clarity but  you can only automate what you understand.”

Too often, businesses automate before they align, digitise before they simplify, and scale before they stabilise. And that’s when technology stops being a tool and starts becoming a trap.

When Technology Takes the Wheel

I once worked with a client who had automated everything , from lead scoring to follow-ups, even the timing of team stand-ups (yes, seriously).

But when we looked closer, the system was chasing its own tail. Automated reminders were firing for outdated tasks. Reports were pulling duplicated data. And half the workflows had been designed by people who had long since left the company.

The result? A beautifully automated mess.

People weren’t working with the system anymore, they were working for it.

“When you spend more time managing the system than serving the customer, the system has become the customer.”

The Comfort of “Tech Theatre”

Let’s be honest, technology feels safe.

It’s neat. Quantifiable. There’s a dashboard for every doubt. It gives the comforting illusion of control.

But I’ve learned something over the years: The more we rely on technology to think for us, the less we notice when it stops making sense.

Call it Tech Theatre as everyone looks busy, the metrics look good, but no one’s actually looking up.

There’s a funny pattern I’ve seen in consulting:

• A process that used to take 30 minutes manually now takes 5 minutes automatically.
• But the report explaining the automation takes two hours to prepare.

Progress, apparently.

“Automation without intention is just a faster way to go in circles.”

The Human Side of Digital Transformation

Technology is never the hero of the story but people are.

The best digital transformations I’ve seen weren’t led by IT departments; they were led by people who understood why the technology mattered.

One of my clients, a regional services provider, had been “digitally transforming” for three years. They’d bought every platform under the sun – CRM, workflow management, chatbots, analytics tools, yet nothing felt cohesive.

When I joined, the first question I asked was:

“Who is all this automation supposed to make life easier for?”

Silence.

The project had become about the system, not the people using it.

So we flipped it.

We started by mapping where employees felt most friction, not where leadership thought it was. Then we aligned every automation step to eliminate that friction.

The result wasn’t just efficiency. It was relief.

Because when automation works, it doesn’t just save time, it helps in restoring sanity.

Why Automation Fails (and How to Fix It)

1. It’s Implemented Too Early: You can’t automate chaos. If the process isn’t working manually, automation will only multiply the confusion. Start with simplification, then add speed.
2. It’s Owned by the Wrong People: Automation projects often sit with IT, but success depends on collaboration across sales, operations, and customer success. If tools are cross-functional, ownership should be too.
3. It Ignores Human Context: Just because a process can be automated doesn’t mean it Human judgement is still the ultimate quality control.
4. It Measures the Wrong Things: Many automation initiatives are judged by output (tasks completed) rather than outcome (value created). Volume ≠ Value.
5. It Lacks a Narrative: Employees resist change when they don’t understand the
   Automation without storytelling feels like imposition, not evolution.

“If people don’t understand the purpose, they’ll always blame the process.”

The Balance Between Human and Machine

I’m not anti-automation, far from it. I’ve seen it rescue overworked teams, fix data integrity issues, and unlock visibility that was once unimaginable.

But automation only works when it enhances human capability and not replaces it.

When done right:

• It gives leaders better insight, not more dashboards.
• It gives employees more freedom, not more forms.
• It gives customers faster outcomes, not faster excuses.

In other words, it amplifies what’s already good.

“Technology should extend human thinking, not replace it.”

The CRM Example: More Than a System

CRM automation is my favourite test case as it shows exactly where clarity ends and complexity begins. A CRM should be a single source of truth, a bridge between people, data, and customer outcomes.

But too often, it becomes a bureaucratic maze.

Marketing uses it for campaigns. Sales uses it for pipeline. Operations uses it for compliance.
And the customer? They’re nowhere in the system.

At Vani Malik Consulting, we help organisations bring the human story back into CRM strategy by aligning how people use it, why they use it, and how it helps customers feel seen, not just logged.

Because if your CRM doesn’t help your team understand your customer better, it’s not a relationship manager, it’s just a very expensive Rolodex.

Automation, But Make It Human

So what does “human-centred automation” actually look like?

Here’s the framework we use with clients:

1. Start with Empathy, Not Efficiency: Ask: “What’s frustrating our people or customers the most?” Then design automation to remove that
2. Simplify Before You Systemise: Clean processes before coding them. Otherwise, you’re just memorialising inefficiency.
3. Connect Technology to Purpose: Every workflow should answer one question: How does this make life easier or value clearer?
4. Keep a Human in the Loop: Machines can spot patterns. People can spot meaning. Both matter.
5. Review Regularly: Automation isn’t “set and forget.” It’s “set, monitor, refine.”
   Because the business you automated last year may not be the one you’re running today.

“Automate intelligently — but never abdicate responsibility to the system.”

A Final Thought: Clarity Over Capability

Businesses love shiny tools because they feel like progress.
But progress isn’t about capability, it’s about clarity.

Technology will keep evolving like AI, predictive analytics, virtual assistants, and whatever acronym comes next. But your customers won’t care unless those tools make their experience simpler, smoother, and more human.

Because at the end of the day, automation doesn’t replace leadership, it reflects it.

If the organisation is thoughtful, automation magnifies that thoughtfulness.
If it’s disjointed, automation magnifies the noise.

So before you automate the next big thing, ask the simplest question in business:

“Is this helping humans or just helping the system look busy?”

At Vani Malik Consulting, we help organisations design automation that works with people, not around them, turning technology from a distraction into a differentiator.

Because in the end, clarity doesn’t come from code. It comes from courage, curiosity, and the commitment to ask, “Does this make sense?”

“The smartest system in the world can’t fix a fuzzy strategy.”