---
title: "Your product is already obsolete - The Intercom Blog"
description: "Technology products inevitably become obsolete as industries shift, and failing to adapt can kill a business faster than most founders expect. Success breeds complacency, which breeds failure, making paranoia a necessary survival trait for everyone in tech. Historical examples like satnav manufacturers gutted by the iPhone and telcos disrupted by WhatsApp show that customers will abandon an incumbent for a simpler, faster way to achieve their goals. To avoid this fate, Intercom advocates thinking of a product as a flexible system rather than a set of screens or user flows, allowing it to integrate across new mediums. This systems approach enables the product to remain relevant through multiple technology cycles by focusing on helping customers make progress in their lives."
---

# Your product is already obsolete - The Intercom Blog

[Intercom](https://yomu.fyi/company/intercom) · Oct 9, 2026

**Type:** Explainer

## Summary

Technology products inevitably become obsolete as industries shift, and failing to adapt can kill a business faster than most founders expect. Success breeds complacency, which breeds failure, making paranoia a necessary survival trait for everyone in tech. Historical examples like satnav manufacturers gutted by the iPhone and telcos disrupted by WhatsApp show that customers will abandon an incumbent for a simpler, faster way to achieve their goals. To avoid this fate, Intercom advocates thinking of a product as a flexible system rather than a set of screens or user flows, allowing it to integrate across new mediums. This systems approach enables the product to remain relevant through multiple technology cycles by focusing on helping customers make progress in their lives.

## Approach / What changed

Think of the product as a flexible system that can integrate across multiple mediums and platforms, rather than a fixed set of screens or user flows. Focus on helping customers make progress in their lives. This systems approach allows the product to adapt to new technological shifts without complete redesign.

## Takeaways

- Technological shifts can make a product obsolete asymptomatically; customers will abandon incumbents for simpler, faster alternatives without waiting for a response.
- To survive, teams must maintain a paranoid awareness of industry trends and avoid complacency, as success breeds failure according to Andy Grove.
- Products should be designed as flexible systems that integrate across mediums (e.g., Slack, Facebook Messenger) rather than as fixed interfaces, allowing adaptation without complete redesign.

## FAQ

### Why do successful technology businesses fail?

Because technological shifts make their products obsolete; customers move to newer, simpler ways to achieve their goals without waiting for the incumbent to react. The post cites satnav manufacturers devastated by the iPhone and telcos disrupted by WhatsApp as examples.

### How can a product stay relevant despite change?

By thinking of the product as a flexible system that can integrate across new mediums and platforms, and by focusing on helping customers make progress rather than on the specific interface or app.

### What is the systems thinking approach mentioned?

Instead of defining the product as a set of screens or user flows, view it as a system where inputs and outputs can come from various channels (e.g., email, Slack, Facebook), allowing integration without redesign. This prevents obsolescence as new mediums emerge.

**Tags:** [Product Management](https://yomu.fyi/topic/product-management), [Strategy](https://yomu.fyi/topic/strategy), [Systems Thinking](https://yomu.fyi/topic/systems-thinking), [Trends](https://yomu.fyi/topic/trends)

- Source: [Intercom](https://www.intercom.com/blog/your-product-is-already-obsolete)
- Source URL: https://www.intercom.com/blog/your-product-is-already-obsolete
- Ingested by Yomu: 2026-10-09T12:01:20.250Z

[Read original post](https://www.intercom.com/blog/your-product-is-already-obsolete)