What Business Are You In?
By Carole Lawson, Co-Founder & Chief Data Officer, MarketStorm
Several years ago, I had the privilege of delivering the keynote for the Enterprise Architecture track at Oracle OpenWorld. The audience consisted primarily of technology leaders—enterprise architects, CIOs, developers, and engineers. As I looked across the room, I realized that most of them believed they were in the technology business. They weren’t.
That statement may sound strange coming from the stage of one of the largest technology conferences in the world, but it became the central theme of my presentation. Before we can talk about innovation, digital transformation, artificial intelligence, or enterprise architecture, we first have to answer a much more fundamental question: What business are we actually in? The answer to that question determines whether an organization adapts to change or ultimately becomes a victim of it.
Who does your customer think you are?
To illustrate the point, I told the story of the Railway Express Agency. For decades, it was one of the most successful package delivery companies in the United States. Its business model was remarkably intelligent. Passenger railroads traveled the country on predictable schedules, and Railway Express used the available cargo space on those trains to transport packages quickly and efficiently. Customers loved the service, and the company flourished.
Then commercial aviation emerged and transformed transportation. As airlines became the preferred method for moving people across the country, passenger rail traffic began to decline. Fewer passengers meant fewer trains, and over time the infrastructure that Railway Express depended upon slowly disappeared. Eventually, the company failed.
Most people look at that story and conclude that airplanes put Railway Express out of business. I don’t believe that’s what happened.
I believe Railway Express failed because it misunderstood its own identity. The company thought it was in the railroad delivery business when, in reality, it was in the package delivery business. Had leadership understood that distinction, the rise of commercial aviation would not have been viewed as a threat. It would have been seen as a better vehicle for achieving the same objective. The company’s purpose never changed. People still needed packages delivered. Only the technology available to accomplish that mission changed.
Start with the problems you solve
That lesson has stayed with me because I continue to see organizations making the same mistake today. Companies often define themselves by the technologies they use rather than the problems they solve. They describe themselves as SEO agencies, social media firms, Google Ads specialists, website developers, programmatic advertising companies, or increasingly, AI agencies. But those aren’t businesses. They are tactics. They are delivery mechanisms. They are today’s version of the railroad.
The danger of defining yourself by a technology is that technologies inevitably evolve. Search changed how information was discovered. Social media changed how consumers engaged with brands. Smartphones transformed customer expectations. Today, artificial intelligence is reshaping how people search for information, evaluate companies, and make purchasing decisions. Tomorrow it will be something else. If your identity is tied to a specific platform, channel, or technology, every shift becomes an existential threat. If your identity is tied to solving a customer problem, every shift becomes an opportunity.
The organizations that successfully navigate disruption ask a different question than those that struggle. They don’t ask, “How do we protect what we do today?” Instead, they ask, “How do we continue helping our customers accomplish their goals?” That difference may sound subtle, but it changes everything. When your focus remains centered on the outcome rather than the tool, innovation becomes easier to embrace. New technologies are no longer threats to be feared—they become assets that help you serve customers more effectively.
Defining your purpose
This challenge is particularly visible in the marketing industry. Many agencies have built their entire identity around the services they currently sell. Some believe they are in the SEO business. Others think of themselves as Google Ads agencies, website companies, social media firms, or programmatic advertising specialists. Those labels may describe a service offering, but they should never define a company’s purpose.
The reality is that clients don’t wake up in the morning wanting SEO. They don’t wake up wanting programmatic advertising. They don’t wake up wanting artificial intelligence. Those are simply the terms our industry has trained them to use. What clients actually want is growth. They want more customers, more revenue, stronger brands, and a clearer path to achieving their business goals. Every marketing tactic, platform, or technology is simply one possible means of delivering those outcomes.
We are in the client outcomes business
That belief has shaped MarketStorm from the very beginning. We’ve never viewed ourselves as being in the website business, the Google business, the programmatic advertising business, or now the AI business. Those are simply tools, and tools will continue to evolve. Instead, we see ourselves as being in the business growth business. We are in the client outcomes business in most cases than means new customer acquisition. Our responsibility is not to defend yesterday’s tactics. Our responsibility is to identify tomorrow’s opportunities and use whatever technologies best help our clients grow.
That perspective has allowed us to evolve alongside the internet rather than constantly chasing it from behind. Over the years, technologies have changed, platforms have risen and fallen, and consumer behavior has continued to evolve. Through all of those shifts, our focus has remained the same: helping clients understand and adapt to how people discover, evaluate, trust, and ultimately choose businesses.
It is about people not technology
After more than two decades studying the evolution of the internet, I’ve come to believe that technology doesn’t change the world by itself. People do. Every major advancement—from search engines and social media to smartphones and artificial intelligence—has succeeded because it changed human behavior. Technology is merely the catalyst. The real story is how people think, act, and make decisions differently because of it.
The organizations that recognize behavioral shifts early are often the ones that redefine industries. The organizations that focus exclusively on the technology itself frequently find themselves trying to defend a business model that is becoming increasingly irrelevant. Today we are seeing this dynamic unfold yet again as artificial intelligence reshapes search, discovery, trust, and buying behavior. The companies that thrive won’t necessarily be the ones with the newest AI tools. They will be the ones that best understand how customer behavior is changing and adapt accordingly.
Looking back, I have come to believe that the most important question a business can ask itself has very little to do with technology. In fact, it’s the same question I posed to that audience at Oracle OpenWorld years ago, and it may be even more important today than it was then.
What business are you really in?
If your answer is tied to a platform, technology, or channel, the next wave of disruption may feel threatening. If your answer is rooted in the customer problem you solve, disruption becomes an opportunity to serve customers in new and better ways.
Companies that define themselves by today’s technology eventually become prisoners of it. Companies that define themselves by customer outcomes gain the freedom to evolve.
Technology will continue to change. Human behavior will continue to evolve. The organizations that succeed won’t be the ones chasing the latest trend. They’ll be the ones that understand why behavior is changing and adapt before everyone else.
That’s the business we’re in. And in the end, it’s the business every enduring company is really in as well.
By Carole Lawson
Co-Founder & Chief Data Officer, MarketStorm