Business Agility

Does your business have the agility to react quickly?

Business Agility allows a company to react quickly to external forces or the marketplace. This can result in minimizing damage from competitive threats or to enjoy the benefits of responding to new opportunities.

The marketplace changes much faster now and a company that is successful and stays on top characteristically reacts quickly. Identifying new trends and creating a product or service to satisfy consumers can produce very large benefits both in short term profits and long term market share advantages. Expansion with new product can lead to a new segment or direction for the business.

Companies that are proactive rather than reactive generally are the industry leaders.

Agile companies remain reactive rather than fixating on long, efficient production runs and standard brands. Rather than bloating with long inventories efficiently made, a nimble company may be better able to deal with changing markets, client needs and competition.

It is important to understand the strengths the business has that can be leveraged as a competitive advantage. The strengths can be products, processes, key personnel or a network than can be used to enhance the business. Understand how to turn the advantage into profit.

Simplifying operations where possible increases flexibility and increases agility or response time to market changes. Organizations that monitor and manage costs without sacrificing quality are in an improved position to change direction when necessary.

Part of simplifying operations is reducing unneeded administrative overhead and information reporting. It is useful to continuously review processes for improvement and to eliminate out-dated procedures. This requires a continued monitoring of internal and external environments to ensure policy are updated. Information needed for strategic reasons should not be eliminated but enhanced to ensure vitality is improved.

Market intelligence becomes a key factor and should be an area of focus to drive the organization and keep it on its toes.

These steps can keep the business highly energized and exciting as it maintains a position of responsiveness to the market, customers, and competition.