Every person and business has the opportunity to change, but the current business climate may make you hesitant. Two areas that always have payoff, however, are worth considering: seeing what you can learn from your competitors, and reviewing how your work flows - or doesn't!

Learning From Competitors

One way to improve your value and that of your business is to review what your competitors are doing. In doing competitive intelligence work for over 20 years, we have found again and again that people think they know their competitors and their strategy and tactics, but don’t. It can through a full competitive analysis, or be as simple as reviewing the competitors’ press releases regularly. And don’t forget Google Alerts, a simple way to have new information on the Internet containing the name of your competitors sent to your inbox. Small efforts can help ensure you don’t have a narrow or fossilized world view that could blindside you or make you miss opportunities for meaningful improvement.

It is easy to miss who the competitors are. It is best to consider a broader view than the traditional one of who the competitors are. Thinking ought to be expanded to include non-traditional competitors that might be able to move into the business’s sandbox if they chose to. A tremendous amount of value can be added to a company when thoughtful and broad based competitive analysis is done. Remember the proverb: well stolen is half done!

Business Process Improvements Large and Small

Overall, business process improvements help to reduce waste and overhead, and increase focus on the core business. They can reduce the cycle time and complexity of business operations and create standards that help the business run smoothly and consistently. Frequently investing in improving processes pays off via improved responsiveness and client satisfaction, and cost savings and avoidance. A thorough analysis may even drive considering outsourcing solutions.

Business processes can be sprints or marathons. These work flow improvement initiatives can encompass large teams, sophisticated software and long timeframes, but do not have to. For very simple and small projects, post-it notes and a wall to stick them on can do the trick. The effort can be as large or small as you want to make it. The key concept is to create a visual representation of the process. In doing so, opportunities for improvements can be spotted more easily.

The effort undertaken depends on the the state of the business and the willingness to make change. On the one end of the spectrum are long term initiatives of 18 to 36 months that target radical change for strategic core processes. On the other end are quick hit projects of days or weeks that address tactical problems immediately. In the middle are either a portfolio of quick hit projects, or a project of 1 to 18 months focused on streamlining existing processes or implementing best practices. You must decide how much time and resources to commit for a desirable return on investment.

Whether a large or small effort, a business can benefit from smart investments in making it more valuable. When in a recession, take advantage of maximizing the value of the business in every way that you can.