“Innovative,” “resilient,” and “disruptive” all describe major companies such as Amazon, Google, or Apple. These and similar players always seem to make a splash—but they don’t have to be the only ones making waves. You don’t have to follow their rulebooks, either. We believe in Agile for all, and your organization can be a change agent.
By taking the right steps, you can meet your consumers where they are. Explore the value of innovation and Agility—and why every company can be just like a giant tech company.
Technology Extends Beyond the Tech Industry
It’s easy to look at tech and say, “I’m not one of the top tech companies, so it isn’t a priority.” Organizations often feel this way because they believe they’re too small and don’t have the same resources as large corporations. But here’s a secret: Using seamless technology to interact with and problem-solve for customers is important no matter your size or business focus. Your organization needs to remain Agile to keep up with your customer base.
Meet Customers Where They Are
What do your customers need? Staying Agile helps you and your teams develop and implement new ways to serve them by taking their feedback and being responsive and adaptive to their needs.
This often comes down to technology. It might mean designing and developing a better-functioning website, a new mobile app, or any platform or feature that customers expect when they interact with your business. Companies that can do this gain a competitive advantage, no matter their product or industry.
Take our experience with Harvest, for example. Debit and credit cards make payments easy for customers, but their fees create a hardship for businesses! When Aaron reached out to them to discuss disabling the feature, a “nice-to-have” became a feature for all users in what seemed like the blink of an eye.
The bottom line is to strive to meet customer needs. By knowing your audience and by adapting business practices to meet their demands, you can earn their trust and deliver the most from your products and services.
“Every Company Is a Tech Company ... Yours Just Might Sell Shoes.”
Your organization is like a fingerprint—different from any other out there. You have your own unique processes, markets, and ideal prospects. So it might seem strange to think of Agile for all companies, especially when we usually think of Agility as a technology industry concept.
But all companies are like technology companies because there’s always new ground to explore and opportunities to grow. And to that end, there are common threads across every organization:
Continuous Improvement
If you’ve become too comfortable, you could miss out on a world of opportunity. Listening to your customers helps your business evaluate its processes and refine its products and services. How are you getting market feedback?
Customer Experience
Think beyond products and services. In addition to those basic nuts and bolts, it’s vital to improve customer experience. That could mean offering support, engaging with and implementing customer feedback, or providing one or more of the user-friendly tech tools we mentioned earlier.
Internal Processes
You want to find what works to streamline for the future. Companies often rely on “best practices,” but collaborative problem-solving is more effective to maintain resilience. This means working across teams to refine repeatable processes and solicit feedback to improve. Organizations should encourage cross-team collaboration to uncover impediments and opportunities, making changes as they go.
Propel Your Organization’s Agility
The Amazons and Googles of the world don’t have to be the ones writing the book on growth and success. Your organization can flex to be more effective and provide value to customers, and Agility could be the way forward. So when you ask whether Agile is for you, remember: Agile for all!
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