One of the biggest challenges that companies in the IT market have to face is to leave their comfort zone and adopt a strategy that seeks innovation. As much as your company has some stability, with a consolidated client list, if it does not follow the natural evolution of the sector, it will run the market risk in the medium and long term.
By treating the business landscape flat, without worrying about innovating and standing out, your company will run the risk of being overtaken even by competitors that you do not consider a threat to your business.
A good example of this is Netflix. The darling of series lovers was never a real threat to Blockbuster until it identified the potential of streaming video streams and forecasted broadband capacity growth in the medium term.
In a few years, it overthrew what was until then the largest video rental network in the world, taking its place as top of mind when it came to movies and series.
So that your IT company doesn’t run this risk, we made this text with five tips so you can start mapping, identifying innovation opportunities, and continuing the path of success. Check out.
1. Be a pioneer
You must be wondering: how can I become a pioneer in such a competitive market? Know that you don’t have to create something from scratch or reinvent the wheel to be a pioneer in the IT market.
Your company could be the pioneer in the way of using a certain tool or applying a new work model. The pioneering spirit will be in the differential of the way you work or in procedures that increase productivity or customer revenue that direct competitors do not identify.
It will be up to you to identify these pioneering opportunities.
2. Have a team committed to innovation
For your company to be able to innovate and seek a pioneering spirit, it will need to seek external and internal references. The external ones should be based on market analysis, competition, and new technologies that appear every day. Internal insights should start by identifying what can be improved in your current structure and metrics in relation to internal processes.
For all this to be possible, you will need to have a team that is 100% aligned with your innovation strategy. Create incentive programs so that all your team members are motivated to give suggestions for innovation and improvements. After all, no one is as immersed in your company’s problems and tools as they are.
Don’t forget to give feedback on their suggestions, including those that can’t be implemented, explaining the reasons why they don’t get discouraged.
Want to find out how your team is engaged with innovation?
Open your text editor or grab a pen and paper, and make a checklist with specific questions such as:
- Is my team aware of new technological trends?
- Is it more focused on operational support or customer satisfaction?
- How can I enable it to pursue innovations that contribute to customer success?
- Do I have a method or tool to collect and evaluate my team’s innovation suggestions?
- Does my budget allow for the creation of a team that is responsible for innovation and continuous improvement?
Finally, choose the questions that are most relevant to your current moment and then create an action plan.
3. Invest in digital marketing
In the current scenario, it is almost impossible to stand out and innovate in the IT market without a digital marketing strategy. If your company still doesn’t have a strong online presence, know that your competitors do.
Consumers are more demanding and active, they do not rely on traditional media to learn about or choose a product or service, they look for solutions on their own on the internet. They give preference to companies that offer relevant content and are authorities in their areas of expertise.
Among the main digital marketing strategies and tools are:
Blog
In it, you should post relevant content to solve problems for your target audience and prospect leads, and potential customers.
E-mail marketing
To get closer to the lead, educate and guide them to conversion, whether it’s a product sale or a service.
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Techniques to improve the ranking of your blog or website, with the aim of placing it on the first page of search engines.
Paid ads on social networks
When you identify the social network your target audience is on, you can create ads to promote your services and boost your page, or some specific content.
By betting on digital marketing, you will spend less than you would on traditional media, you will be found by people more likely to do business with you and you will be able to measure the results of each strategy accurately.
4. Sell an experience, not just a product
One of the biggest mistakes of IT professionals is to focus only on the product or service, without worrying about the goals of the client’s company. This performance is increasingly outdated, as innovative IT companies are those whose processes go beyond the provision of services, aiming at the core of the client’s business, at its success.
It is necessary to strengthen this relationship so that the customer does not see the IT professional only as a “necessary evil”, but as one of the pillars for the success of their business, contributing to the improvement of production and quality teams.
The best way to achieve this goal is to shift the service model from reactive to proactive.
5. Modernize your service delivery model
Despite being outdated, many companies in the IT market still work in a reactive way, that is, they only act after a problem occurs.
As much as you feel comfortable working this way and have loyal customers, if you don’t change the way you work, you will have a great chance of losing your market to companies and professionals who work with the managed services model.
While reactive professionals are problem solvers, who only arrive after production has stopped, MSPs (Managed Service providers or managed service providers) act before the problem happens, keeping customers productive, and working proactively and preventively. . Do you still have doubts about which is the path of innovation?
There is no magic formula — innovation has to start with a predisposition, followed by the identification of opportunities, planning, and attitude. The growth of the IT market is exponential, and it will be up to you and your team to define your company’s role in this path towards innovation.
