The Change In Doing Business

The old way of doing business in running a successful venture used in the last century seems to fail with today's rapidly changing society. Technology has expanded rapidly at an exponential rate that many, including businesses, are unable to keep up with. Now that Millennials are outnumbering the Baby Boomers businesses are forced to become more tech-savvy to connect with their customers. There have been many companies and software recently created to help with the technicality of connecting with the new consumers without the hassle. WebStamp is such a publication helping local small businesses to succeed in today's business market.

Just “selling a product and making a profit” business model that has evolved over the last 100 years is failing many, including large corporations. Recently Sears has folded, also Target and Zellers, showing that no-one is immune to collapsing if they don’t keep up with the times. Kodak, who invented the digital photo, didn’t adapt to the change in social behaviour and ceased to exist.

The management of a company has been to move men and material efficiently and make a profit to be successful. In the Business Model Innovation Factory book, Saul Kaplan points out that this is no longer applicable to today's business. Clayton Christensen took an unusual approach to study why companies fail when he first became a professor at Harvard Business School. Instead of looking at any company, he studied formerly highly successful ones, discovering that although they followed all the best business practices they still folded by not keeping up with current trends.

For a small business to succeed today it needs to embrace technology. The problem is that many business owners haven’t got a clue on how to implement a successful integration with social media. Businesses today have to rely on other businesses to help them fulfill their customer obligations.

Recently many companies have arisen, run mostly by Millennials, geared toward helping other businesses connect with the web and social media. A small company cannot take care of all the requirements to connect with its customers in this new age. Businesses need to collaborate together and let each excel in their expertise contributing to a successful business venture.

Today’s consumer was raised with technology, enjoy “living in the moment” and have the most money to spend with fewer financial obligations. They would rather do research and buy through their electronic devices than going somewhere physically when not necessary. Businesses have to connect with social media and today’s shoppers and encourage them to come and visit or buy locally online. In today’s economy, the consumer wants more than just the product or service, but also value.

As a printer technician for Sharpline Canada Inc. I add value to every service call by providing additional information on how the customer can improve the efficiency of their document flow and run their equipment more efficiently. In this information age, any business appreciates being informed and getting additional value above and beyond what they were expecting. Adding additional value can also save your customer money and complications. A customer could possibly buy, for example, a printer, cheaper elsewhere, but by adding free setup and installation it could be less expensive with less hassle than having additionally to find and hire someone to connect it. 

Not only has technology changed the way business has to operate to be successful but the way society deals with running a business. Dr. Ivan Misner’s Business Plan B Initiative outlines that businesses have a responsibility to take people, the planet, and profit in consideration as opposed to managing towards just generating profit. We can’t rely on the procrastinating government to keep up with the exponentially expanding technology in solving our social and business issues. We have seen, as with Google, providing employees and the local communities with a social, responsible environment leads to a more productive work environment and employees, but also a more vibrant fruitful community.   

Today for a business to be successful it needs to adapt quickly to the rapidly changing trends, become more socially connected, provide additional value and benefits to its customers and employees, be more responsible with our diminishing resources, and connect with the community.