In the context of the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe), thriving in the digital age requires accepting that software and digital systems are now the primary drivers of value for all industries. We have transitioned from the Industrial Age to the Age of Software and Digital. According to technological revolution theories utilized in SAFe, specifically Carlota Perez’s framework, we are at a critical "Turning Point." The technology exists, but traditional organizational structures—relics of the mass-production era—prevent companies from utilizing it effectively.

To thrive rather than become obsolete, enterprises must achieve Business Agility. This is defined as the ability to compete and thrive in the digital age by quickly responding to market changes and emerging opportunities with innovative, digitally-enabled business solutions. Old-school, siloed hierarchies are too slow and rigid for this volatile environment. Therefore, SAFe proposes a "Dual Operating System": retaining the necessary stability of the functional hierarchy while superimposing a Value Stream Network introduced by SAFe, which is optimized for speed, innovation, and flow.

Furthermore, thriving demands a shift from "Project to Product." Instead of managing work through temporary projects with fixed scopes, organizations must organize around Value Streams—long-lived teams focused on delivering continuous value to the customer. For the SAFe Agilist, this implies that Agility is no longer confined to IT. It must extend to the entire organization—including Finance, HR, and Marketing. By aligning strategy with execution and fostering a Lean-Agile culture, organizations can navigate digital disruption, reduce time-to-market, and secure their future in an increasingly complex global economy.

In the context of the Digital Age, where technological disruption is constant, traditional hierarchical organizational structures often struggle to adapt quickly. These structures are optimized for stability and efficiency but lack the necessary speed for true Business Agility. SAFe (Scaled Agile Framework) addresses this by positioning itself as a second operating system alongside the existing hierarchy, based on John Kotter’s concept of the “Dual Operating System.”

SAFe acknowledges that the functional hierarchy remains necessary for reliability, compliance, and human resource management. However, to compete in the digital era, enterprises need a complimentary system organized around Value Streams rather than functional silos. This second system is a flexible, customer-centric network of Agile Release Trains (ARTs) that cuts through bureaucracy to deliver value directly to the customer.

As an operating system for Business Agility, SAFe provides the integrated principles, practices, and seven core competencies—ranging from Lean-Agile Leadership to Agile Product Delivery—required to align strategy with execution across the entire enterprise. It harmonizes the two systems: the hierarchy manages the business (efficiency and stability), while the SAFe network changes the business (innovation and speed). This structure allows large enterprises to pivot quickly in response to market dynamics without dismantling their foundational organization. By adopting SAFe as this operating system, organizations can achieve the resilience to thrive amidst digital disruption, balancing the leverage of their scale with the entrepreneurial speed of a startup.

In the context of the Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe), Business Agility is the ability to compete and thrive in the digital age by quickly responding to market changes and emerging opportunities with innovative, business-enabled solutions. To achieve this state, SAFe defines seven Core Competencies that serve as the primary lens for understanding and implementing the framework.

1. **Lean-Agile Leadership**: This is the foundation where leaders embody the Lean-Agile mindset, leading the change by example rather than by command.

2. **Team and Technical Agility**: This describes the critical skills and Lean-Agile principles that high-performing teams use to create high-quality solutions for their customers.

3. **Agile Product Delivery**: This is a customer-centric approach to defining, building, and releasing a continuous flow of valuable products using DevOps and the Continuous Delivery Pipeline.

4. **Enterprise Solution Delivery**: This competency describes how to apply Lean-Agile principles to the specification, development, deployment, and evolution of large, complex software applications and cyber-physical systems.

5. **Lean Portfolio Management**: This aligns strategy and execution by applying Lean and systems thinking approaches to strategy and investment funding, Agile portfolio operations, and governance.

6. **Organizational Agility**: This extends Lean thinking beyond development to the rest of the organization—including HR, Finance, and Sales—enabling the enterprise to adapt its strategy and processes quickly.

7. **Continuous Learning Culture**: This represents a set of values and practices that encourage individuals—and the enterprise as a whole—to continually increase knowledge, competence, performance, and innovation.

By mastering these competencies, organizations transform traditional hierarchies into a dual operating system that balances stability with speed, essential for the Digital Age.