Successful Businesses Focus On Innovating

from the spend-your-energy-wisely dept

One of the most common challenges for any company is developing new directions that contribute to the bottom line. For small businesses, it's difficult to find the "20% time" to work on projects that may have no immediate benefit. For tight budgets and resources, even justifying an unpaid intern can be a difficulty. But realistically, innovation takes time and effort. The myth of a flash of genius resulting in a revolutionary new product is a widespread fiction, especially considering the history of innovation shows that truly significant new ideas require dedication and persistence in order to pay off.

Anyone working at a small company has likely experienced the time distractions of playing phone tag and chasing down late payments. These diversions can drain enthusiasm and energy that could otherwise be put to better use. Given this common problem, we're on the lookout for how others in small businesses are creating innovative projects. Software as a service offerings are often cited as examples for saving time -- allowing small companies to focus on their own tasks, rather than dealing with maintaining IT resources and installing software packages.

If you're already a member of the Insight Community, you can contribute your thoughts on encouraging innovation. If you're not already a member, you can join now. And, along these lines, we're also still looking for insights into how small businesses are more innovatively handling "mundane" tasks, such as invoicing. All too often, these kinds of necessary tasks can get in the way of actually focusing on the core task of innovating.

Filed Under: innovation, small business