Whether you run a local mom and pop shop or manage a Fortune 500 company, you can only evolve by staying on top of current business trends. Process-driven tactics, gamification and other expanding trends can give your business a competitive edge, so make sure your company is keeping up.
Process Driven
Oracle explains that process-driven management is a response to increasing competitive pressure and evolving customer needs. In other words, businesses develop a set of intertwined tasks to promote a positive business outcome. By establishing collective steps, a business creates a value chain within the organization to focus on customers, both internally and externally.
Process driven is the basis for cross-training platforms and online chat options. One person has the ability to handle any situation, whether it is tech-related, financial, purchasing, or customer service. Companies rely on software to model processes that are focused and efficient. Liquid Holding Group, for example, develops integrated solutions for a variety of models. Brian Ferdinand at Liquid Holdings states the goal is to revolutionize business with innovative technology.
Gamification
Gamification is a buzzword that puts game thinking into non-game situations to increase competition. Keep in mind those kids from the 1990s born with a joystick in their hands are the consumers of today. Gamification takes advantage of that mentality to sell products, market services and generally push people toward any task. According to Mashable, by the year 2015, more than 50 percent of organizations will include gamification in their business model.
Get the game going by offering a points system to help customers meet goals. Health Month, for example, awards points to users who meet their weekly exercise goals. Use gamification platforms such as Badgeville or Big Door to get started.
Strategic Scenario Building
Strategic scenario building analyzes projected trends to anticipate outcomes influential to a business. It’s a practice used in sustainability planning. For example, when considering sustainability practices of the company, how will the shift in climate affect production down the road?
Strategic scenario building takes any concept, analyzes trends that might affect it, builds scenarios based on uncertain factors, (if this changes what will happen?), and then defines strategies based on the scenarios. The idea is to develop a system that progresses a company into forward thinking.
Businesses can turn to technology to develop this process as well. Fm:System offers a scenario planning module that helps businesses stay proactive regarding their physical space. It considers reorganization, growth potential and unexpected disasters.
BYOD
Mobile connectivity isn’t as much a business trend as it is a necessity. Forbes anticipates that 7.4 billion mobile devices will be on the market by 2015. Companies can take advantage of the fact that employees already own personal devices they can use for business, so there is no need to provide one.
Mobile device management platforms, such as Blackberry or Apple, provide administrative support that links different devices and operating systems together for business purposes, which makes a BYOD policy a practical option.