lateral thinking « Armaghan Saqib

Archive for the ‘lateral thinking’ Category

What happens when every business has access to the best tools, people and customers?

Yes, it is already happening:

It is becoming easier and cheaper to get the best possible office automation tools to run your business.
Information has become a commodity, thanks to Internet and Google.
Communication cost (phone, email) has become negligible (compared to past) for everyone.
The networking tools allow you to find the best possible people who can work for you.
Everyone knows about everyone else’s customers, thanks to social media.
Any business can afford the cost of reaching customers through a web site or a blog.
Cost cutting campaigns have cut all the fat and every one is done.

So what can we do to stay ahead of our competitors?

Perhaps creativity and simplicity.

Things don’t get done if there is no one responsible. Just wishing is not enough. We need to do some conscious effort every day or assign appropriate people who work on creativity and simplicity.

It is almost always possible to do anything in a simpler way.

Just detach yourself from your busy routine, sit down and relax for 10 minutes. Now allow your mind to look for any possible simpler ways to accomplish whatever you are trying to do right now.

Some experiences

In a particular consulting assignment a client thought that appropriate staff training would be enough to make up for the complexities of a newly implemented software. Unfortunately this aim could never be achieved. After few years of un-successful implementation efforts, we finally had to simplify the system itself.

In an other instance I offered a client to implement a highly effective but simple CRM solution in 10 days. Client wanted all sort of bells and whistles and this proposal was declined. They are still struggling for the last 2 year to get started with a new elaborate system.

A lot of marketers and companies are struggling to get ahead with use of social media tools. You could buy books, attend expensive seminars or hire consultants to use all possible tools for your social media presence. Or you could just concentrate on a single tool (perhaps blogging or twitter) for a year or two. The second simple approach can give you better results without much fuss.

A large number of companies struggle with over-complicated or custom made CMS solutions for their websites. They could save a lot of time, resources and money by using wordpress; a free, simple to install and easier to learn CMS solution.