Disruptive innovations are working their way through the economy, leaving creative destruction in their wake. There is no way to bulletproof a business from disruption, but here are three steps you can take to adapt to and participate in it.

1. Get clear about what business you are in

Every company should define its business in terms of the tasks its target customers want to get done with its offerings, not its products, services or delivery platform.

People don’t care about our products or services; they care about accomplishing the tasks they “hired” our offerings to do. For example, people don’t want to buy a mortgage, they want to finance a home. And as we are seeing with the rise of car-sharing, many people don’t want to buy a car either — they want to enjoy the benefits of car ownership without its costs or responsibilities. Customers are not loyal to “brands” so much as they are loyal to companies and the offerings that get their tasks done well. For this reason, it is essential for companies to identify the tasks its customers are trying to get done and how they measure success. A company cannot effectively evaluate a disruptive technology, or any competitive offering, until it understands this.

As Peter Drucker wrote many years ago, what customers want to accomplish “must be accepted by management as objective fact and be taken as seriously as the reports of the salesperson and the tests of the engineer, or the figures of the accountant. And management must get answers from customers themselves rather than attempt to read her mind.”

Your customers’ needs are the North Star. Only by keeping your eyes fixed on them can you navigate through the tumultuous seas of disruption.

2. Understand the disruptor’s advantages and your own

Companies that effectively adapt to and participate in disruption know how to discern when, where, why and how the disruptor serves customers better, versus their own offerings.

Take Fifth Third Bank, for example, which operates in 12 states. The bank recently announced that it will close 100 of its 1,300 branch locations. While people used to go to branches to deposit checks, now they deposit checks with their smartphones. At the same time, however, the bank has learned that people still want to talk with a banker face-to-face for more strategic financial tasks, such as financing a home, planning for retirement and saving for college.

By understanding which tasks mobile banking can enable customers to execute better and which tasks a face-to-face conversation still facilitates better, the bank is adapting to, and participating in, the mobile technology disruption. This should lead to superior results for customers and the bank, with one caveat. The quality of service delivered via mobile banking may continue to improve and, consequently, mobile banking may continue to eat away at other branch services. Fifth Third must monitor this development and continue to adopt new technologies where they deliver superior value to customers and further differentiate the value of their face-to-face services at local branches.

3. Continually scan the environment for emerging technologies

Disruptive technologies will continue to roll through the economy. Stay alert and be prepared to let go of old ways. For many companies, the threat is not that disruptive technologies will make their offerings obsolete. Rather, the threat is that companies won’t understand the disruptor’s advantages versus their own, which will severely restrict their ability to adapt to and participate in the disruptive economy.