Don’t Risk Extinction: The Road to Reinvention

“As leaders, we must embrace the responsibility of reinvention…to ensure sustainable growth and success.” – Josh Linkner, author of The Road to Reinvention and IT Nation 2014 Keynote Speaker.

We’ve all heard of the saying ‘adapt or die.’ While typically used when talking about a living species, the saying also applies to businesses. However, unlike a living species that innately evolves and adapts to the world around it, a business cannot evolve on its own; it needs you to recognize catalysts in the market and leverage them to grow.

We refer to this type of business evolution as reinvention. Companies that choose to stand still instead of embracing a culture of continuous change will find themselves at the bottom of the industry food chain.

In this article, I’ll explain some of the ways that we tackle reinvention in our company, and share some tips so you can apply the same methods in your own business.

Create a Portfolio of Services

We bring together a collection of diverse and innovative products and services that work together to provide unique value to our partners that is not easily replicated by the competition. In your business, you do the same for your clients by offering a variety of services from basic remote monitoring and management to antivirus, backup, and email protection. The key is for all the solutions you offer to have a common foundation and commitment to each other to ensure that integrations work seamlessly and create end-to-end processes.

is a jumping off point to create new integration possibilities and become a conduit for your clients’ success. Creating a strategy based on this philosophy will enable you to continually reinvent your IT service solutions to ensure they stay innovative, relevant, and in demand.

Gather Great Minds

To ensure we don’t fall victim to the status quo, creativity powers the heartbeat of our business. Creativity is something that can never be outsourced and should be the sole driver of your reinvention. Take advantage of peer groups, talk to industry experts and technology enthusiasts, and listen to your own entrepreneurial spirit. Make sure your team is constantly evolving to keep up with varying industry trends to ensure they are armed with the knowledge and assets needed to keep clients up-to-date with value-add technologies.

Let Clients Drive Innovation

Another key to reinvention as a growth strategy is allowing clients to direct new idea development. We suggest the follow me home approach, where you observe your clients in their own work environment to better understand their concerns and problems when using your products and services. Use this feedback as the driver for your entire service design process. Give clients influence over new and improved features and services and they will keep coming back for more.

Stay Relevant

In our industry, as you know, many companies have changed leadership, been acquired, or simply gone out of business. We’ve remained successful simply by not resting on our laurels. As leaders you must develop a heightened awareness of change and a willingness to strike not when the iron is hot, but when it is just warming up. Don’t coast on the momentum of your previous successes. Reinvent early and proactively, while you are still in a position of strength.

Focus on Values

A series of unified core values should be the heart of your reinvention. Each one of our core values are lived every day, but one in particular serves as a constant reminder for reinvention – Breathe Innovation. A core value focused on reinventing yourself as a business should be central to everything you do. Don’t just write it down to put on the wall; build it into your company DNA.

To start down the road to reinvention, ask yourself if any of the things I’ve mentioned here ring true in your own business. If not, focus there first. Provide frequent opportunities for client feedback and brainstorming. Make sure you’re always looking forward to stay ahead of the next industry shift. Change early, leverage your position of strength, and reap the many benefits that come from being an industry leader.

This is by no means an all-encompassing list of reinventions strategies, so we’d love to hear your thoughts. What are some of your catalysts for reinvention? In what ways have you reinvented your business? Start the conversation now by commenting below.