One of the biggest challenges faced by startups is growth. Once your fledgling business is established, building on this and achieving efficient progression is vital for your success. A stagnant business is likely to flounder.
Manage Data
The majority of businesses must find ways to collect, manage and process data effectively. For some businesses, this may be as simple as collecting and analysing user activity on their website. The information will allow those businesses to build on successes and adapt where needed. Other businesses handling large volumes of data or ‘big data’ must process information quickly in order to be responsive and competitive. This is where spark streaming and stream processing come in. Spark streaming allows data to be managed in batches and stream processing deals with data on a record-by-record basis. The specific process your company adopts will depend on your function.
We are living in a data environment. This is constantly growing and evolving. Therefore, the manner in which we collect, process and analyze data must also evolve.
Too Much Focus On Day-To-Day Activities
One of the pitfalls that many entrepreneurs fall into is that they spend too much time caught up in the day-to-day operations. This is understandable, given that you have spent a considerable amount of time and money, establishing your venture. It’s your baby, and it’s difficult to let go of that. But this can be detrimental in the long-term. If you’re working ‘in’ your business, then there’s no-one working ‘on’ it to achieve growth and progression.
There are several steps you can take to resolve this. The obvious approach would be to hire staff to fulfill some of the functions for you. If this is not viable at present, consider outsourcing some of the operations. It is paramount to your success that you work with the right people. Hiring or working with the wrong people can have a detrimental effect.
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Focusing On The Customer
In the early stages of your business, you carried out extensive market research and were able to pay close attention to your customers. However, as time has gone on this has become challenging. A larger volume of customers means that more time has to be spent. Therefore, your response times are slower, and it takes longer to process all the orders. etc. These are just the obvious issues that you’re aware of. What business owners often forget is that customers change. Their needs, habits, and behaviors change over time. This is often in response to changes in the marketplace, new products emerging, etc. In order to grow your business, you need to adapt to these changing needs and respond accordingly. Therefore, it is important to keep your customers at the forefront of your business. Ensure that they remain your focus. Keep conversations open and build communities. Stay in touch with their requirements and find ways to fulfill them.
Customers change. New markets open up every day. Political, economic and social factors all impact on how businesses operate. Your job as a business owner is to monitor these changes and predict them wherever possible to stay ahead of the trends. You must then adapt your business to evolve with them in order to survive.
