If your business took a major hit, could it survive? With today's rapid changes in both markets and technology, that's a question a lot of businesses are asking. What it boils down to is this: Is your business future-proof?
While future-proofing a business might sound like something for enterprise corporations and global industry, any organization of any size can apply the basic principles of future-proofing to significantly increase its chance of surviving a major crisis.
Start by downloading our free business survival toolkit, with 5 clear steps you can take today to build a resilient foundation for your business.
Then, read on to discover the 17 principles that define a future-proof business.
Future-proofing—meaning
In general, future-proofing is exactly what it sounds like—preparing to weather the inevitable surprises that lie somewhere in the future, often beyond the horizon of what we can see today.
What is future-proofing in business?
Future-proofing your business means preparing for the unexpected—any possible trouble or threat that might arise. Needless to say, that's a tall order. How do you prepare for literally anything?
Instead of taking specific steps against a specific threat, future-proof businesses implement a series of best practices designed to help any successful business adapt and survive, meeting future needs and industry developments no matter what lies ahead.
What is future-proofing technology?
Future-proofing technology is any technology that can help you apply future-proofing business best practices in your organization. Those practices may vary from industry to industry and market to market, but there are a few key characteristics that future-proofing technology often shares:
- Automation—handling manual, routine tasks to free your time for more strategic work
- Integration—syncing with other technology in your tech stack
- Scalability—helping you scale operations up (or down) quickly and easily
- Agility—helping your company respond more quickly to changing conditions
Why is it important to future-proof your business?
Why is future-proofing important? Take a case like video rentals. Traditional video rental companies depended heavily on a single service (video rentals) in a single format (local brick-and-mortar stores). With the introduction of mail-order rentals and then streaming services, the impact on traditional companies was devastating.
That disruptive technology changed customer behavior, and the old business strategy couldn’t compete anymore, sending it into obsolescence.
But how do you plan for truly disruptive scenarios? How can you develop strategies and effectively prepare for the possibility that everything you know today might change tomorrow?
How to future-proof your business
The truth is, no one can predict all the future events that might come along. What you can do, though, is apply the following 17 principles to future-proof your company's success by making your organization streamlined, responsive, automated, and scalable.
And don't forget to download your free guide to future-proofing any business, with 5 immediate steps you can take to build a more resilient foundation.
1. Continuous learning and employee development
No business can stay relevant without learning and adapting. Regular training and employee development help ensure that your company has the right skills to handle future challenges. From attending industry conferences to hiring professional trainers and consultants, embracing new technologies, systems, and ideas is critical.
2. Fostering innovation
Encourage a culture of innovation in your company. This means rewarding creative ideas and risk-taking—and providing space and resources for your employees to experiment with new ideas. An innovative culture will help you stay ahead of the curve and adapt to changing market needs.
3. Adopting flexible work models
The future of work is flexible—consider providing flexible hours or even allowing fully remote work. Flexible work models help attract and retain top talent, making your business more resilient to changes in the future.
4. Employee retention strategies
Your employees are a valuable asset—develop strategies to retain them with competitive salaries, enticing benefits, and a positive work environment. Regular employee engagement surveys and job satisfaction surveys can provide insight into how your workforce is feeling about your company culture.
5. Diversification
Depending too heavily on a single product, service, or market is incredibly risky, especially in the new era of market disruption. Diversify your offerings and target different customer segments to mitigate this risk. Diversification can also help protect your business against market fluctuations, new sources of competition, and changes in consumer trends.
6. Regular market research
Stay informed about market trends and track customer behavior through regular research. This can help you anticipate changes and adapt your business accordingly. Market research can be as simple as sending out customer surveys or as complex as hiring a professional research agency.
7. Strategic partnerships
Building alliances with other companies can make your business more resilient, providing new opportunities and increasing your resources. Look for partners that can expand your capabilities, broaden your reach, extend into new markets, and integrate all the products and features your customers want into a single source.
8. Customer feedback and engagement
Listening to your customers can provide valuable insights into their wants, needs, and preferences—not to mention identifying customer pain points. Regularly seek feedback and engage with your customers to direct your research and development budget toward the initiatives that will provide the most value.
9. Investing in customer experience
Prioritizing your customers means more than just excellent customer service. It's about paying attention to the details at every step of the customer journey—ensuring high-quality products and making every transaction easy and convenient. Great experiences can improve customer retention and turn your current customer base into a powerful marketing engine through word-of-mouth advertising.
10. Product and service improvement
This key aspect of the customer experience merits particular attention—regularly updating and improving your products or services. This keeps your offerings fresh and relevant, attracting new customers while keeping your existing ones happy.
11. Digital marketing
Today's customers are online, and your business should be too. Use digital marketing strategies to reach your customers where they are. This includes social media engagement, search engine optimization, email marketing, and embracing technology to personalize the customer experience.
12. Embracing e-commerce
More and more customers are shopping online. Even service industries that are location-dependent, such as restaurants, are finding ways to reach the online market with digital technology—delivery apps, customer loyalty apps, e-commerce merchandising, and more. This helps businesses reach a larger customer base and makes shopping more convenient for your customers.
13. Business continuity planning
Prepare for the unexpected with a business continuity plan that outlines how your business will continue operations during emergencies or unforeseen events. This can minimize losses and make sure your business can quickly recover from just about any challenge, whether it's a natural disaster or a major market disruption.
14. Data security
Cyber threats represent a significant risk to businesses today. Invest in strong data security measures to protect your customers' information and your own business data. This includes educating your employees about potential threats and making sure your tech stack adheres to industry best practices when it comes to cyber security.
15. Staying legally compliant
Laws and regulations are constantly changing. Make sure your business is staying on top of legal trends and watching the horizon to avoid potential issues. This means staying informed about changes in laws and regulations, seeking legal advice, and adding internal controls to your business processes to ensure ongoing compliance.
16. Internal financial controls
Protect your company financially with strong internal controls, especially when it comes to your finances. This includes maintaining the separation of duties, developing and following written policies and procedures, and staying on top of your own best practices with routine monitoring and automatic audit trails.
17. Investing in future-proof technology
In the digital age, staying ahead means investing in the right technology. This can mean:
- Adopting artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), and other emerging technologies for automation
- Utilizing cloud computing to increase efficiency and effectiveness for your teams
- Employing data analytics for better decision-making
Embracing digital transformation is a critical way for a future-proof business to stay future-ready.
Future-proofing your business with BILL
From helping accounting firms move into the future with bill pay services to helping organizations streamline their accounts payable, accounts receivable, spend, and expense management, BILL helps companies integrate and automate their financial operations.
Explore BILL today and spend 50% less time on your accounts payable process.
