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We live in a world where we are seeing the constant turnover of companies as they are replaced with newer, more dynamic business models and service offerings that put the customer at their centre.
The key to remaining relevant and profitable amidst rapid change is to keep innovating. While it is overused and in some ways has lost its true meaning, innovation - real innovation that adds value to customers - is the differentiator when it comes to success and longevity. Small and medium enterprises, or SMEs, are well-equipped to stay ahead of the curve because of their ability to adapt quickly.
Keeping pace with the rate of change
Only 12.2 per cent of the Fortune 500 companies in 1955 were still on the list in 2014. And almost all of today's Fortune 500 companies will be replaced by new companies in new industries over the next 59 years. In fact, whereas 50 years ago the life expectancy of a company was 75 years, today it's less than 15 years. This speaks to the dynamism and innovation that characterises a vibrant consumer-oriented market economy - and this is a space ripe for the SME picking.
For businesses wanting to create the same sort of dynamism within their organisations and outlive this short predicted lifespan, it's about not riding on the success of one product or service, but rather continuing to invest in finding new ways to add value to evolving customer needs. While defending your monopoly in a particular market might have been sustainable for longer in the past, with the rapid rate of change, and the shift in power from buyer to seller, the need for innovation and adaptation is greater than ever.
Laying the groundwork for innovation
To ensure that the rate of change within your enterprise exceeds external change, you need to lay the groundwork for innovation and avoid having competitors capitalise on your inefficiencies. The best way to do this is to make it easy for your employees to build networks by talking to their peers, sharing ideas and collaborating - working together in a modern workplace.
In this context, modern refers to the ubiquity of the cloud. This shifts us from a world of individual creation, to real-time, anytime, anywhere collaboration and collective creation, without the need for a big investment in infrastructure. The cloud is also fundamental to powering devices and the mobile world. With this ubiquity and potential for collaboration comes the introduction of modern content creation through the use of tools like Microsoft's private social network, Yammer; cloud storage and file hosting service, OneDrive; modern and secure meeting platform, Skype for Business; and interactive whiteboard, Surface Hub.
Yammer and OneDrive, as well as other features like co-authoring, allow for idea generation and crowdsourcing to take place in real time. Working on the cloud also changes the way you interact with documents and means you can be productive wherever you are. Surface Hub and Skype for Business enable a new kind of meeting where you can join scheduled and ad-hoc meetings with one tap, taking advantage of HD video and audio, as well as whiteboard capabilities for an interactive experience regardless of where team members are located. All of this sees a shift in focus from individual abilities to empowering social productivity, which is breeding ground for innovation.
Tools like these enable businesses to operate effectively in the modern workplace. They assist in increasing productivity, as well as enhancing visualisation and mobility, business intelligence and global scalability. They are the tools that foster collaboration, creativity and, as a result, innovation.
Evolving customer experience
It is also worth bearing in mind that beyond innovating when it comes to products and services, it is essential to step back and think about your customers, and how these tools can play a role here too. Customers are changing and their expectations are changing - and you need to change the experience you give them. Many businesses focus on innovating when it comes to their products and services, but if you can be innovative in the customer experience you create, the majority of customers will forgo the latest product and service advancements your competitors might be offering.
Innovation for development and longevity
In a bid to survive and thrive in a highly competitive marketplace, SMEs are at the forefront of innovation, tapping into it to transform operations and infrastructures and engage employees and customers. To take this to the next level, it is important to leverage your current IT infrastructure and build on it - and adopting the cloud is a great starting point.
Innovation may be an overused term, but real innovation means empowering every person and every organisation on the planet to achieve more. It is critical for a business's longevity and a country's economic development and keeping pace in today's rapidly changing world.
The writer is the SMB director at Microsoft Gulf. Views expressed are his own and do not reflect the newspaper's policy.
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