Innovation: Is It a Key Driver in Your Business?
By Lisa Purichia,
Partner and Director of Entrepreneurial Services

Digging ourselves out of the depths of the current economic slumber is a challenge we all struggle with daily.

Many of the surviving business entrepreneurs have done so by doing things differently from their competitors. They utilize measures others would never have thought of implementing, all in a quest to make it through another day so they can fight on tomorrow.

In my experience, the entrepreneurs who have been most successful have one trait in common: they continually challenge the status quo. They do not fear trying new things – but they do fear their products or services becoming irrelevant to their customers.

Innovation is what makes American business great. I would challenge leaders who have built a successful company to shift those energies employed to survive into innovating, and turn their good business into a great one.

If you are using processes and procedures the same way you were five years ago, you are risking becoming irrelevant in the marketplace. The breakneck pace of technological changes in of itself challenges us on a continual basis.

Ask yourself: what significant enhancements have I made to my product or service in the past three years? Areas to consider for innovating new concepts and ideas include:

1. Your basic product or service – measure its relevance
2. How you communicate with your customers and vendors
3. How you communicate with your employees and key stakeholders
4. Compensation system
5. Sales and marketing
6. Financial reporting

If your company had a Chief Innovative Officer (CIO), who would it be? How often do you focus on long-term strategy and how to implement it? Have you shifted from a "survival mode” of operation to a focused strategy for growth through innovation by ensuring your product or service is much more beneficial to the user than that of your competitors?

If you are in a service business, are you delivering a commodity or a value-added enhancement to your clients’ operations? When was the last time you physically sat down with your customers and asked them what they thought of your product or service, or what improvements you should make?

Are your customers merely satisfied with your product/service, or are they a raving fan? If they are merely satisfied, statistics show you risk losing them to a competitor who will work harder to earn not just their business but their devotion.

Yes, these are a lot of questions to ponder. But that is where innovation begins – not only with seeking the solutions to problems others are not willing to tackle, but asking the questions they have not even considered.

Be different. Be bold. Be relevant. And be passionate about your business – it is your future.

At Sponsel CPA Group, we are excited about the future of American enterprise. There are many opportunities ... but not for the faint of heart. Drive the spirit of innovation into your business, in all of its many facets. Listen to your customers and employees. Your customers will tell you how to improve your delivery, and your employees will be a source of ideas to improve your production methods.

At Sponsel CPA Group, we refer to ourselves as "A New Kind of CPA Firm" because we respect the need for continuous improvement, the need to innovate to stay relevant to our clients and the need to deliver innovative solutions to their business needs.

If we can be of any assistance with helping your business drive innovation, please call Lisa Purichia in our Entrepreneurial Services department at (317) 608-6693 or email [email protected].