Innovation is a key driver of growth and success. But how do you keep your team on the cutting edge?
This article will help you understand the importance of innovation and give you some tips for maintaining it in a mid-size company.
You’ll learn about the importance of staying up-to-date on new technology trends, understanding how to leverage those trends in your business, and using digital tools to support innovation within your organization. These are just some of the topics we’ll cover in this guide. By the end of it, you’ll have a better understanding about what steps are necessary to maintain innovation in a mid-size company.
By the time you have started to expand your company, you probably won’t even notice the shift. You go from one or two clients to tens or hundreds and before you know it, you are already a mid-size company.
A midsize company is typically defined as having annual revenues between $50 million and $1 billion and a workforce between 100 and 999 employees. This captures a huge portion of companies at all stages of their development, so it can be difficult to define a mid-size company.
What if you’re a small business, or a larger business? Keep reading, because you’ll find ideas in here that will still apply to you.
The Trap
One of the common traps for a mid-size company is that growth can stall and lead to stagnation. The growth of a startup can be rocketship-level fast, and once the organization gets big enough, it needs a new strategy and direction for growth.
A small company might be able to entice new clients and drum up new business just by virtue of being new. For a mid-size company, the key to growth is innovation. Without innovation in the product or service, business development, and use of technology to streamline processes, a mid-size company is at risk of falling into the stagnation trap.
Noticing the Trap
It can be difficult to spot when exactly a company falls into the trap of stagnation because it doesn’t show up in quarterly reports. Infinite growth is essentially impossible, so even if revenues stay the same, it isn’t a bad thing.
Especially for mid-size companies that continue apace with positive numbers, it can be hard to notice when they have fallen into a period of stagnation. In most cases, it is a feeling. If you feel that your company is doing the same things over and over without trying to change them for the better, it might stagnate. If you notice every day being and feeling the same, it’s likely stagnation.
What to Do
It’s important to bring it up, and then you can move forward to find a way to get out of the stagnation trap. Your team needs to be in the loop and working out ways to innovate in their departments while contributing to the effort to dig the company out of the trap as a whole.
How to Do It
Stagnation can look like a variety of things, but once you have identified it, the solution will always hinge on one word: innovation. To innovate is to change and evolve, whether that means innovating processes, business development, or the product itself.
In a connected, digital age, innovation is best done with technology. Digital transformation is essential to innovating in a midsize business. Entrepreneurs that get this right will see their company restart the growth rates they used to chase and destroy the trap of stagnation forever.
Where to Innovate
Just telling your team to innovate isn’t good enough. You need to have focused, measurable goals so that people know exactly what to do and whether they are doing it right. Choosing the departments and areas that require digital transformation is the first step for any company setting out on this path.
Administration
The systems or processes you use to administrate your company are the base layer that protects you from the frigid cold of disorganization and stress. If everything is running smoothly, you shouldn’t have to think about your administration work. Technology is the best way to automate this area.
Make sure your company is paying attention to how much time it takes to get the recurring and repetitive work done. Are you spending too much time getting approval at every stage before moving forward? Get some project management software to handle that for you. Let everyone connect to it and follow along as the project moves from one stage of the process to the next.
If you are managing the basics manually, it is going to slow down your company and keep you from innovating. While the essentials of running a company will never disappear, they can run on autopilot, so they fade into the background.
Finance
Your mid-size company is pulling in steady revenues and doesn’t need to worry about survival. So how do you innovate in an area where you are already succeeding? Focus on the deep stats and insights that can help you innovate.
If you haven’t already, automate every part of the accounting process and let your team buy or subscribe to anything they need to. Cloud-based accounting software means your whole team can check in on their budget and adjust their finance needs.
You should be using it periodically and not just at the end of the fiscal year. Regular check-ups are valuable and can be used to catch problems that are just beginning to seep into your company’s finances.
AI-powered accounting and finance software is readily available and always on. As it combs through live data, it picks out changes and analyzes whether it might be an issue. The predictive quality of an AI-powered system means you can stop issues as they begin. Stagnation doesn’t happen all at once. If you stop it in its tracks when it begins, you can plug the leak with an innovative fix.
Marketing Part I
Have you seen a billboard lately? They are sparse except in city centers now, and physical advertising has taken a hit because of digital transformation. If your marketing budget is still physical-ad heavy, it is time for some innovation.
Digital ads reach farther and allow you to get targeted with who you serve those ads to. When you pay for a billboard, you get maximum exposure for everyone walking or driving by it. This is great for building brand recognition, but what if your brand is connected to supplying other businesses?
You need to serve your ads and brand to the companies that need your services, not consumers. Get with an advertising agency and figure out what strategy is best for you. Are social ads the best strategy, or is a targeted PPC (Pay-Per-Click) strategy on search engines more effective?
Marketing Part II
Once you have a strategy, whether it is broad or targeted, find a way to automate it. The digital transformation in online advertising is nothing short of revolutionary, and while some of the practices (being invasive) can be off-putting, there is no doubt that it works.
Hire someone who knows what they’re doing and understands generating clicks with the creation of the right ads. Maximize your budget by taking advantage of AI-powered advertising tools and campaigns with Google search campaigns.
Innovation in your marketing department doesn’t need to fall completely on the digital side, but if this isn’t already your focus, then your marketing strategy is stagnating. Entrepreneurs know that change is difficult but necessary, and making this change will help your mid-size company back into the growth rates that you like.
Business Development and CRM
The days of Excel Spreadsheets for managing your client’s needs and business development are over. Finding and developing new leads is about keeping track and staying on schedule. Make sure you’re using powerful software for this too, digital transformation has touched every area of business.
For midsize companies, generating new leads is just as important as keeping existing customers. Customers Relations Management (CRM) software is the best and most efficient way to do this.
AI-powered software can help you get the right schedule of check-ins and communication. It links up with email, calendars, and deliverable management. Automating this will save a mid-size business even more time than a small business because of the sheer volume of customers.
Innovation in this area is difficult because CRM is largely built on relationships. While it is tempting to automate away all of your business processes, some things always stay the same. It’s not a bad thing to have personal and friendly relationships with your customers. In fact, it’s often the front line of defense against incoming threats from competitors and the main reason why your customers choose to do business with you.
Product Development
Just because you know what you’re doing doesn’t mean you can’t do it better. Your midsize company already has the right product; otherwise, it wouldn’t have been able to grow as large as it has. So where do you go from here?
You need to ask yourself a few questions about digital transformation and your product:
- Is there something I can do to innovate with technology?
- How can my product become better through technology?
- Is my company leveraging everything possible to benefit the growth of the company through the improvement of our product?
If you have all of these questions answered, congratulations. Still, you might want to look into whether there’s anything more you can do to innovate when it comes to your product and its development.
Research and Development (R&D) budgets are made to be reworked, and if you can save money by using digital transformation, you should.
What is the cost of prototyping right now? It’s possible to bring that cost down by prototyping using 3D printing right from your facilities. No more outsourcing and lower wait times mean you can make adjustments and get to the production version faster.
If you have multiple product lines, how do you track their manufacturing and orders? Technology can help your midsize company grow by improving the things that are already being done well and implementing new ideas when stagnation is gripping creativity too tightly.
Are you looking for a software product development company?
Tech.us is an award-winning, full service software company that provides custom web and mobile application development services to businesses across the globe. We have worked with clients from all over the world who are passionate about their business and want to make it better than ever before. Our team of experts will work with you every step of the way to ensure your project meets your needs and exceeds expectations.
It’s not easy to find another company out there who has as much experience and passion in this industry as we do. So if you want to take your business to the next level, don’t hesitate – contact us today!
An Innovation How-To
You know that you need to harness the power of digital transformation to bring innovation to your midsize company. Now how do you do that? If you have identified the areas and specifics of where technology can help you innovate, it’s time to bring on a trusted partner to guide you along the right path.
Outside Help
It’s ok to ask for help every once in a while. After all, your accounting and law firms are doing just fine for you, aren’t they? You don’t have the time or the experience to set up a brand new tech consulting firm, but you can contract with a company that specializes in bringing digital transformation to established and midsize businesses.
Find a company that puts the control in your hands while being an independent and self-starting operator. You don’t want to hand-hold the whole time, and you don’t have the time to direct every step.
When you have a legal need, you call your law firm and get them to handle everything. They are in charge of hiring the right lawyers and paralegals, and they know how to manage legal projects. A good digital transformation and technology company will be able to interpret your needs and translate them into actionable intel and work.
By the time you have gone back to work, they will have a plan for you. All you need to do is let them implement it.
Specialization
You already do what you do best. You are the king or queen of the competition and the reigning incumbent of your industry. You don’t need outside advisors telling you how to develop new product lines or sell services. That’s your specialization.
When you want a job done right, you want someone who specializes in what they do. A digital transformation company is the best way to guarantee you’re getting the right kind of help and not an amateur learning on the fly.
A technology company knows who to hire and how to build the right team. They know what to look for in their employees’ skills and how to put together a complimentary group that works well together to implement whatever strategy the client needs.
As a service-focused business, they will be on call to advise and direct when needed and work in the background, making the job look effortless for them while making it literally effortless for you. Outsourcing specialized work like digital transformation is the best way to get it done right.
Practice Makes Perfect
Outside help when it comes to technology is the ideal option because you need to trust their experience. If all they do is implement digital transformation for companies like yours, they are in the right position. Someone who practices thousands of hours of their craft will know it inside and out.
Find someone with the experience and client list that matches what you want. If they have done similar work for midsize companies in the past, they will have no problem adjusting to your company. Of course, personality is important, so choose someone you can talk with and communicate with effectively. If you can’t help them understand your vision for your company’s digital transformation, it is going to be much harder for them to make it happen.
The Bottom Line (Specifically, Yours)
The cost savings between trying to manage a complex project like this in-house and hiring outside technology companies is huge. Not only does a specialized digital transformation company understand their business better, but they also make it more efficient.
You pay one fee, and they take care of the rest. You don’t need to figure out how to pay specialists at your own company for a job you’re not familiar with. Further, you know that the team from the outside company are incentivized to work more efficiently.
At the end of the project, an outside digital transformation company will be there to provide any follow-up you might need, including maintenance and further consulting. When you’re ready to take your technology to the next level, you can call them up again and start on your next project right away.
Step Into Your Company’s Future
Moving forward as a midsize business is a different process than for a brand-new or small business. You have the right mix of product and delivery, and your company is essentially a well-oiled machine.
It can be tempting to rest on your laurels and remain content, but who wants to be content? You want to win! The new era of digital transformation means that there is a direct correlation between technology and your win-loss ratio. The companies that adapt the fastest and most effectively end up at the top of the podium.
When stagnation sets in, it’s important to be honest about it and about where the opportunities to innovate are. By taking some insights from your own company and combining them with those of a digital transformation company, you will be able to optimize every area of your business for the digital age.
Take That First Step
Take a deep dive into your company’s processes and find the weak spots. Figure out where innovation could be most beneficial so that when you hire your outside digital transformation counsel, they know exactly where to start.
Then, you’re ready to take that first step into the digital world and supercharge your business. Get some names of the top digital transformation and technology companies, and bring them on board. Being specialists, they know exactly where and when to start, and they won’t waste any time bringing innovation to your company’s frontlines.
You’ve got a business to run. We know you don’t have time for technology that gets in the way of what you do best. That’s why we offer digital transformation and innovative technology that helps businesses scale faster, so you can focus on growing your company.
Our team is made up of tech experts who are passionate about helping companies grow through better use of technology. With our help, your business will be able to reach more customers with less effort than ever before. And when it comes to security, we take every measure possible so your data stays safe and secure at all times – no matter where it goes or how many devices access it.
If this sounds like something you need for your business, then let us show you how we can make a difference by reaching out today! We look forward to hearing from you soon!
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