By: Maureen Eugene
Everyone is an entrepreneur. One way or the other, we all do business. Or maybe businesses occur in our everyday transactions. Whatever the case may be, knowing what to do and what you need could save you a lot of stress and unnecessary expenses. As direction seems to be the key to an effective and productive business outcome. The idea of what to do and how to do what to do in business is more likely driven by innovation. Although many have argued that ideas birth innovation, yes, many have also proven that the concept could also be inverted to achieve the same result. So, what are the things you need to know as a business owner to help you rise, scale and survive? Even in the face of cutthroat competition.
Business needs innovative ideas to survive, especially in this era of new technology. Many companies, firms, establishments, and agencies around the globe are leveraging the advantages they benefit from the availability of new technologies, especially social media. The Small Development Corporation of Australia coined the concept of innovation in business as the development and implementation of new market concepts that positively changed the state or mode of business operations and geared towards achieving high business rewards. These concepts transcend a mere definition but throw more light on the areas where a business owner or an entrepreneur could capture ideas for profiting in the business market.
Business innovation is captured under the following cases:
Business Model: a comprehensive and strategic review of the business structure or strategically developing cordial relationship with the channels of distribution.
Services or products: this part of innovation touches the development of new services for your clients or a new product for your customers. Improving or enhancing the current products and services available to the clients, or the introduction of new technology.
The process: an improvement in the system of operations in the aspects like the production process, the financial system, internal approaches to business management, Human resources management, and the use of ICT.
Marketing and Supply Chain: the mode of promoting business and services to the clients and customers and the channel of distribution to facilitate ease of access to products and services.
THINGS TO KNOW AS A BUSINESS OWNER
Being a business owner requires a lot of work because new ideas need to be generated daily if the business must experience growth. Knowing what to do as a business owner is priceless and a key factor to the business’s survival. Below are a few things every business owner must know to experience growth:
Proper Utilization of Business Capital: businesses grow most of the time with solid capital. But even substantial money could be largely mismanaged when it is not adequately planned for. And the business will go back to the ground level. Creating innovative ways to manage your business capital as a business owner is key to the survival and growth of the business. The business needs both new and existing ideas. And must be carefully and strategically planned under innovations and understand the levers of the business that can impact the free flow of cash. For example, the purchase of necessary inventory, the amount of money that should be available at hand, collection of payments from clients, the length at which the clients take to pay up, your access to loans and the means of payback, and expenditures on supply whose prices are unstable in the market.
Develop a Record/Database Culture: the volume of data trackable by the business owner equals the number of strategic decisions that can be made to improve the business’s life. A business owner must look for innovative ways to track and adequately utilize business data for effective and efficient decision-making in the organization. Many small businesses fail because they fail to keep proper records of business dealings and transactions. Companies around the world today are spending heavily on databases and data scientists with the advent of data science as a new business innovation to critically collect, store, analyze and redistribute business data for business growth.
Understand the Margin Products and Services: so many businesses only understand their bottom line. They lack a clear understanding of how each product and service delivered in the market and the profits generated from these products affect the bottom line. Introducing business analytics and sophisticated business tools as an innovative idea could help the business carry out a proper evaluation on the product line to know which product is doing well in the market and draw back the profit margins of others.
Strategic Recruitment: recruitment plans and strategies are part of the leading business innovations currently shaking the business market. Businesses are no longer looking for fits for positions in organizations any longer. They now seek real talents that can transform the face of the business and drive profits in the right direction. Business owners should adopt new innovative technologies to find the right talents that match the job description and have the required skill to help the business scale.
Strategic Marketing: there are many business innovations today that have been created to drive business marketing crazy. Whatever you do as a business owner, without the right marketing, the business may never experience significant growth or increase. One such innovation is the adoption of social media as a marketing tool. Many business outlets out there have grown from nothing to something, thanks to the emergence of social media. Social media innovations give small business owners the power to compete at the same level with a company of five fortune as it exposes them to a high number of audiences and at the same time provides an avenue for marketing the increased ROI.
CONCLUSION
Any business owner looking to scale their business or take it to a higher level must be willing to accept changes and adapt to new business innovations. Innovations in business are essential to the growth of a business, and there are various ways a business owner could drive and sustain innovative ideas in their businesses. Part of the things they should know about diving and sustaining quality innovation in business is by encouraging their employees to come up with positive ideas capable of moving the business forward, rewarding innovative thinking, getting feedback from customers, and carrying out research and development activities.