Small and midsized businesses (SMBs) have a number of unique opportunities to leverage their size and innovation to drive growth and strengthen their organizations. In fact, SMBs are uniquely positioned to think and act beyond the constraints of their immediate surroundings and regulatory obligations. They can use their resources and skillsets to innovate and drive growth. Instead of relying on external factors to drive growth, SMBs must look within themselves and seek out new opportunities to evolve and strengthen their organizations.
If you’re a small or midsized business that wants to develop your innovation strategy, these strategies from XtraBold Agency are perfect for you!
Incorporate Data and User Testing
Data is the new oil of the business world. It helps organizations understand their customers and stakeholders, and it also provides information on how to serve those customers better.
CareerFoundry notes that user testing is one way to incorporate data into your innovation programs. You’ll want to find ways to use data in your decision-making and planning processes. This will allow you to make better decisions and take better action. You’ll also want to find ways to incorporate those data insights into your innovation programs.
User testing is one way to do this. You’ll want to partner with your customers and stakeholders to find ways to incorporate data into your programs. You can also find ways to make data available to the team members who are actually executing those initiatives. To better communicate such concepts with employees, create quick at-a-glance guides for your team members to help them visually see new internal process improvements by making infographics clearly explaining processes to staff. You can get started with an infographic template to create a customized infographic to help articulate processes. Once you choose a template, you can personalize it by adding your own text, colors, background, and design elements.
Embrace Digital Technology
Digital technology is the best way to be competitive in your industry. Best of all, there are a multitude of opportunities to implement digital technology into your small to midsized business. Some of these opportunities include:
● Time-management tools
● AI & machine-learning
● Remote employees
● Big-data analysis
● Cloud computing
● Digital marketing
● Mobile apps
It’s important to optimize processes so employees have confidence in the systems they use; it also helps to reduce or negate the need to perform redundant or repetitive tasks. This is where process mining comes in, a discipline that centers on the mapping and optimization of process flows. Process mining captures data and uses it for discovering, validating, and improving workflows that benefit your whole business. Not only can you improve efficiency and employee satisfaction, but process mining can also help you increase sales, manage risk, and help you find hidden opportunities. For starters, identify potential data sources and key stakeholders, and create a timeline.
Please note that before you invest in any new technology, you first need to make sure that there is help and support for it. You can do this by contacting your IT department or support division. They can tell you whether they can provide assistance in the event that there are problems with the new technology.
Create a Network
Another way to find an edge is by finding ways for your organization to collaborate with external partners. Collaboration involves working together with external partners to achieve specific results that benefit both companies.
Tycoonstory points out that one collaboration you might consider is a network collaboration. A network collaboration involves working with existing networks to achieve a result. For example, a charity might collaborate with a company that has a product that might solve a particular social issue.
This collaboration allows the organization to leverage partners’ strengths in a way that allows it to achieve its goals more effectively.
Incorporate User-Driven Testing
One of the best ways to leverage internal innovation is to incorporate user-driven testing. By using your talent pool, you can create a team that can help inform your decision-making and create innovative products and services.
If you’re a business that offers user-facing products or services, it can be very impactful. By incorporating user-driven testing, your team can test your innovative ideas and get feedback from users on what works and what needs improvement.
By leveraging the expertise of your team and the real-world experience of your customers, you can create truly innovative products and services. Anything that serves to improve the life of your clients is innovative by proxy.
XtraBold Agency creates and launches highly successful start-ups, as well as helping brands create exceptional customer experiences, from branding and packaging to digital moments that connect with people on an emotional level. If you’d like to work together, let us know!
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