{"id":17828,"date":"2020-01-03T11:27:55","date_gmt":"2020-01-03T10:27:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/timoelliott.com\/blog\/?p=17828"},"modified":"2020-01-03T11:27:55","modified_gmt":"2020-01-03T10:27:55","slug":"the-start-of-a-new-golden-age-for-mid-size-businesses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/timoelliott.com\/blog\/2020\/01\/the-start-of-a-new-golden-age-for-mid-size-businesses.html","title":{"rendered":"The Start of a New Golden Age for Mid-Size Businesses"},"content":{"rendered":"

This is a copy of a blog post that appeared in Digitalist Magazine<\/a>, ably assisted by Shelly Dutton<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Among the world\u2019s small and midsize companies, millions of multi-generational family businesses underpin many economies. They have proven their staying power by defeating the overwhelming odds of not surviving past the second generation of ownership. And they likely accomplished that distinction while dealing with changes that range from fluctuating revenue and various sales strategies to evolving ideas about hiring and succession.<\/p>\n

Not known for rash decision-making, these family businesses tend to think about the long term. But unfortunately, this mindset can make them reluctant to invest in emerging technology until they\u2019ve been proven elsewhere \u2013 especially by a competitor.<\/p>\n

Why do I say \u201cunfortunately\u201d? If any lessons were learned over the last decade, one of them is undoubtedly that technology innovation has leveled the playing field for businesses of all sizes. As we head into 2020, I foresee many more small and midsize companies reaching new customer segments, expanding into new markets, and achieving market leadership \u2013 without the traditional challenges of \u201cnot being big enough\u201d getting in the way.<\/p>\n

Beginning a new era of competitive growth<\/h3>\n

The bottom line about technology adoption is the delivery of two capabilities that are meaningful to every customer, employee, and business partner: operational agility and an empathetic focus on experiences.<\/p>\n

Larger enterprises indeed have more access to resources, notably the latest technologies and teams of people, to deliver on these promises. But this reality is no longer a guarantee that they will have the winning hand every time. Innovations such as\u00a0predictive analytics<\/a>,\u00a0machine learning, and artificial intelligence<\/a>\u00a0have allowed companies as small as five employees to access the same computing power as their larger competitors \u2013 only to take action faster and better.<\/p>\n

Debra Chin, the founder of\u00a0MotoChic<\/a>, knows this reality well. Frustrated with the lack of practical, yet fashionable, motorcycle gear available for women, she turned to Kickstarter to create a company. But Chin was still missing the real-time data necessary to make informed decisions about her business model, product design, marketing, and production. By adopting\u00a0experience management analytics<\/a>, she acquired the right data, at the right time, from the right audience to guide her strategy and to keep design and production costs down.<\/p>\n

For businesses like MotoChic, such a customer-focused, agile move is rocket fuel for their growth. But perhaps more surprising is their ability to be at the forefront of their industry\u2019s digital transformation. Unlike larger organizations, their strategy isn\u2019t based on corporate key performance indicators handed\u00a0down by faceless executives. It\u2019s based on a deeply held, unwavering commitment to providing the best possible customer experience, aided by in-depth personal knowledge of employee experiences.<\/p>\n

Small, family-owned companies (even those that are centuries old) understand that new technologies don\u2019t change business strategy. They embrace digital investments as tools that enable them to double-down on what they do best: serving more customers and empowering their staff to work better with fewer resources.<\/p>\n

Take, for example,\u00a0Swinkels Family Brewers<\/a>\u00a0(formerly Bavaria Brewery). The 300-year-old family-owned brewery produces a staggering 2.2 billion bottles of beer a year across 26 brands \u2013 none of which would be possible without its 1,500 employees. With an eye on continued and strategic growth, the business reinvigorated its customer experience by adopting a\u00a0single customer experience platform<\/a>. The technology leverages machine learning capabilities to capture, process, and analyze personal, behavioral, and product-related data from its customers.<\/p>\n

A 2020 outlook of amplified agility, adaptability, and flexibility<\/h3>\n

Traditionally, midsize businesses that are multi-generationally family-owned do not have easy access to IT departments and expertise. But now, computing power and expert applications are available on demand, at a reasonable price, with no infrastructure or dedicated staff required.<\/p>\n

So as you look ahead into 2020, know this: the next decade will undoubtedly bring expectations that are different than anything you\u2019ve experienced before. And when you choose a path like Swinkles\u2019 and MotoChic\u2019s, your business will become more agile than your larger competitors as you adapt faster to change, pivot processes with precision, and seize every opportunity to grow.<\/p>\n

See IDC\u2019s list of top trends for small and midsize businesses in the 2020s. Download the IDC infographic, sponsored by SAP, \u201cThe Roaring 2020s \u2013 Six Trends Midsize Companies in the Next Decade<\/a>.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/em>And we invite you to join our upcoming webinar for a deeper dive into each of these trends and what you can do now to take advantage of them.\u00a0 Register for \u201cWinning in the 2020s: Six Trends Every Midsize Company Needs to Know<\/a>.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I believe it’s the start of a new golden decade of opportunity for midsize businesses — here’s why… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17829,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[14],"tags":[1177,1388,1428,1426,1427],"class_list":["post-17828","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-thoughts","tag-ai","tag-artificialintelligence","tag-midsize","tag-smb","tag-sme"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/timoelliott.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/eiffel-tower-dawn-by-timo-elliott.jpg?fit=2000%2C1500&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3X9RF-4Dy","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/timoelliott.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17828","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/timoelliott.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/timoelliott.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timoelliott.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timoelliott.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17828"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/timoelliott.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17828\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timoelliott.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17829"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/timoelliott.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17828"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timoelliott.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17828"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/timoelliott.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}