Could disruptive tech help you capitalise on growing your business? In our helpful article, we explore the business transformation benefits of disruptive tech adoption for SMEs.

Why smart SMEs adopt disruptive tech - and why you should too

Disruptive tech is a buzzword across the world of business transformation and growth. But what does it actually mean for your business’s potential?

The common misconception is that disruptive tech is about harnessing the power of new technologies to accelerate your business’s growth. That’s a possibility, but more commonly, disruptive tech is about implementing existing technologies in different ways.

Why? To revolutionise your business’s functions and processes. Disruptive tech changes your workflows and processes to transform the way you undertake and provide your services.

And with these changes, you’ll see huge benefits such as cost savings, additional revenue channels and the flexibility to exploit opportunities in the marketplace. Let’s explore how.

 

Disruptively efficient: streamlining processes and reducing costs

We begin with a simple example: a business reliant on paper-based products to coordinate their processes, such as job sheets.

The business issues the job sheet to their staff, who attend a site and manually complete the information on paper. They take photos and videos to evidence their work, using another channel such as WhatsApp.

Meanwhile, the business waits for the engineer to return to the central hub to hand over the paper job sheets, which are manually reviewed. From this, the customer is invoiced.

It’s here that we find the bottleneck in the business’s workflow. The delay between the data collected on the job sheet and the receipt of the data by the business means that invoices are generated with a significant time lag.

Disruptive tech looks at this problem and uses an existing technology to provide a solution. In this case, it’s as simple as a mobile app.

We all have them, and we all use them on a daily basis, so this technology is familiar and almost overlooked. But in fact, the results include:

• Ability of field staff to complete their job sheets online - immediately. That means invoice creation takes minutes, not days.
• Time savings in reviewing paperwork and collating it with images and videos shared through other sources.
• Reduced costs in staffing hours - and resources such as paper and printing.
• Improved cash flow - as invoices are generated automatically and simultaneously.

By using existing tech in a new and - critically - bespoke way, the business sees huge increases in efficiency.

 

Disruptively profitable: generating further revenue

As a business, new revenue channels are always an exciting prospect for growth and increased profitability. Let’s take another look at our example, but with a focus on how the same mobile app can convert your team’s knowledge into sales, fast.

Your staff are out on site, and their well-trained eye immediately looks for other defects or challenges that your business can help your client overcome. This is a great sales opportunity. But to convert this information into a sale, time is of the essence.

By capturing this information via their mobile app, your central hub is immediately alerted to new revenue streams. Quotes can be generated quickly for recommended works or add-on sales. And by being first to deliver to your client, you’re putting your best foot forward at turning leads into cold hard profit.

This simple application of the same disruptive tech has increased the speed - and ease - on which your team can capitalise on sales opportunities. And that has a big impact on your sales revenue, and your profits.

 

Disruptively flexible: rapidly exploit changes in the marketplace

The 2020 pandemic taught the business world a lot. Not least, that things can change in an instant. New markets opened up, practically overnight. But without flexible, disruptive tech available, businesses couldn’t move quickly enough to take advantage of these unexpected opportunities.

Here at Creative Intelligence, we worked with a client in the branded workwear market. In the early days of the pandemic, they unexpectedly found themselves with a huge drop in order numbers. They needed to pivot their business’s approach to survive - and fast.

How? They needed changes to their tech systems, and waiting six months down the line absolutely wasn’t going to cut it. In order to ensure their survival, they had to act now. 

Of course, as our clients, they could do just that. By flexing their tech, it became disruptive, allowing them to access their market in new ways. In a rapidly changing business world, disruptive tech allows your business to grasp new opportunities and run with them - faster than your competitors.

 

Disruptive tech for desirable business outcomes

Whether it's opportunities for cost–savings, flexibility or increasing your revenue streams, the possibilities offered by disruptive tech are vast.

By using your existing tech in creative and intelligent ways, your business can explore new opportunities and experience rapid transformation and growth.

Our team at Creative Intelligence have the expertise to guide you in disrupting your tech and transforming your business, proactively and profitably. Get in touch to find out more.

Plus, you can read more in our latest blog article: How to keep your business up to speed in an ever-changing world.