A lot of business studies and articles point out that to be competitive and stay on top of the industry today, companies have to continuously learn and evolve. Staying innovative does not necessarily mean constantly creating new products. In fact, especially with small enterprises, innovations are considered a riskier choice from the consumer’s side. Being innovative is also about finding new features and uses of old technology. How to keep up with industry trends and develop products on time? Before everything, invest in R&D (research & development).
Identify the need for your business
Ambition is great, but coming up with new ideas on tech development just because it is hip or looks cool will not create a profit. In order for the business to be successful, it has to address real customer needs: think about the target audience and the challenges it may face. Sometimes, it is as easy as looking at your neighbor or colleague.
Why do you need R&D?
Amazon is the greatest company that constantly elevates its services and products to the next level, enabling themselves to stay on top. But Amazon does not have profits? Yes, because they invest all of it in R&D. Intel is another example of a tech company that has built leadership because of R&D. They understand that R&D is crucial for their ongoing processes as it helps Intel develop new knowledge and technology. These companies treat R&D as a whole organizational capability that feeds into the knowledge base and turns leads into new products.
Your greatest investment
Of course, conducting research and creating new ideas cannot be possible without a team of professionals. How to maintain team’s capabilities? People responsible for research and development should always be current in the fields of their expertise — this is their own task that proves their professionalism. From the company’s side, training on innovation, innovative thinking and knowledge creation could be done. And most importantly, the organization’s environment should support innovation: where ideas are heard, discussed, moderated and brought to development.
Training and creation of innovative company culture take time and a lot of resources that, at first, you might think it is better to invest in something that brings faster returns. These do tend to win, but the long-term investments are what stimulates the company’s sustainability and puts it forward.
