Some businesses become set in their way of doing things. If something isn’t broken, why fix it? While that’s a good philosophy to live by in some respects, such as delivering a product customers want, it can become an impediment if that business becomes too resistant to change.
The world of business is ever evolving. New technologies and new systems for providing customers with products and services are constantly changing the status quo. If you become too obstinate to change, you could be left behind entirely by competitors that do choose to adapt. Innovation is important to thriving as a large business for the long term. Below are some of the reasons why innovation increases corporate success.
Innovation Creates New Products and Product Categories
One of the reasons why innovation is important to corporate success is that it can create entirely new products and even categories of products. If these new products are successful enough, they may even become the core of your business and replace older products that were never quite as successful.
Many business owners feel a bit resistant to the idea of changing their core business model. While that is a logical fear to have, you don’t have to change all at once. Try new products on a trial basis and see what kind of results you obtain. Food companies do this all the time. Doritos, for example, may run a trial for a new chip flavor in one market to gauge consumer response.
While not every new product that you experiment with will take off, it’s worth the risk to occasionally make the effort. Think for example if Apple only stuck to desktop computers. They would have never introduced the iPhone. That choice has completely transformed the business landscape in a way many people probably didn’t see coming. 77 percent of Americans now own a smartphone.
Innovation Creates Greater Efficiency
Another reason to innovate is to create new systems and ways of doing things that can increase efficiency, slash costs and increase profits. Technology is often the source of this kind of innovation. Collaboration software has allowed corporate team building to no longer be restricted to the office. Instead, different members of a team could live on different continents yet still have the ability effectively collaborate on a
The same could be said for big data and business intelligence software. It was only in recent years that businesses discovered that they could transform all of the data regarding their business transactions and processes into a valuable resource. This has allowed many companies to use data regarding things as technical as the operation of factory machinery to increase efficiency and slash overhead. This is why 53 percent of businesses are integrating big data analytics into their business models.
Innovation Creates New Ways to Sell Your Product
Innovation can also lead to new modes of selling your product that you may have not considered before. Again, this change is primarily fueled by technology. Soon, ecommerce may eclipse brick and mortar retail completely. By the year 2020, ecommerce will expand to $4 trillion in sales a year. Companies that do not have an online presence may suffer in the near
Technology is also changing how people consume entertainment. Streaming services from Netflix, Disney and others will likely eclipse satellite TV and cable TV services in the near future. While this may be bad for cable companies, it has allowed content producers such as movie studios to market their films and TV series to far more consumers than they would have otherwise. Overall, evolving with the times is often a requirement to survive the changing business
Change is the norm in the business world as opposed to the exception. It’s just part of doing business. Don’t be resistant to change. Change can increase your profits, increase efficiency and allow you to reach more consumers than ever before.