2023-08-05 13:00:40
Technology is an important enabler for innovation, but it must be taken into account that an innovation does not always have to be technological, explains Tigo Business Guatemala.
Among the current models, incremental innovation is mentioned, which is considered the closest model to a company’s traditional business, and refers to the optimization of existing products and services to be more efficient and effective. In these cases, the new generation of a vehicle or the most recent animated film (for companies that are already dedicated to it) can be mentioned as an example.
Substantial innovation is a model that is beginning to move away from traditional business and represents a greater challenge than the one mentioned above, but its impact is also greater. New platforms, products, services, materials and processes expanded in new contexts can be classified here. He cites examples such as fiber optic connectivity in telecommunications companies or vaccines in the medical sector.
And disruptive innovation, which is the furthest from traditional business and the one that represents greater challenges than the two previous ones because it breaks the conventional scheme. Here unproven technologies or approaches are mentioned, as well as new bets and challenges, such as vegetarian meat for fast food restaurants or Tesla with its autonomous robots. In several of these process models it is necessary to use technology or adapt it to the new step that is being taken.
The closest
Regarding the current trends and technologies that can help the business or the business and entrepreneurial ecosystem, Luis Pedro Hernández Balconi, Senior Innovation Strategist at Tigo Business Guatemala, mentions that currently one that is booming is artificial intelligence (AI) that It not only impacts large companies, but also enables many things to be done in small ones.
For example, you can have better marketing efforts, better segment campaigns on social networks or use the ChatGPT tool that can create reports or others like Dalí, which generates images through text and can help companies generate content. .
To take advantage of technology efficiently and also reliably, the entrepreneur or company must start researching and learning about these trends and the application they could have. Something important is that if there is no budget to pay for an advisor, information can be found online, which is publicly accessible and free.
“Entrepreneurs can search for this information, which also helps to be self-taught and train in these new tools to start using them through trial and error, to experiment if it works in the line of business and business model they have.”
Among the technological advances that could be most useful for entrepreneurs is the ecommercefor which they can use platforms that already exist on the Internet such as Shopify or the different marketplaces in which they themselves can assemble their products, manage inventories, make promotions and everything in an easy way, in addition to automating some actions.
“When managing the online store, you could set a three-month period to operate it, every week or every month and review how it has gone, to make the changes you deem necessary to improve.”
Various tips
Another key is to seek strategic allies to help you in the process of digital transformation, innovation or experimentation in the business. “At Tigo Business there are different services or solutions for this, ranging from the best known such as connectivity, data, cellular telephony, Internet, Wi-Fi, which are now vital for the development of any business,” he adds.
And in advanced solutions he mentions Cloud or storage in the cloud so as not to depend on a physical server to store the information, so that it is more versatile, more secure and can be accessed at any time. “Another key is to be protected against any threat from hackers, since there have been cases of small companies or businesses that would think that they are not exposed to this type of cybersecurity risk, but it does happen,” he explained.
The use of the appropriate option of services or solutions does not only depend on what phase they are in in the venture or company, the line of business, type of products or the industry in which it is developed. To do this, the maturity stage of the company can be evaluated and an adequate proposal developed, because it is useless to have a large storage capacity in the cloud, if the company is at a very early stage, the executive mentions, while indicate that a diagnosis would be necessary.
“Two diagnoses are made, one on cybersecurity, which is how mature the implementation of these issues is; and one of cloud, about the maturity in adoption of solutions of this type that have been implemented”.
And he explained that if the company is at an early stage, it can start with something basic in the cloud such as data storage and scale, according to its needs, to more complex solutions until it reaches other aspects such as artificial intelligence or data analytics, or issues that are a little more complex.
Before the diagnoses, a strategic workshop is held with the client in order to understand the business needs in communications, needs, location for services that must be at home or a POS for collection and online billing. “Many ventures start with digital channels and may require support in the development of a chatbot”, she exemplified.
In summary, he said that among the technological solutions for a company or small business are connectivity such as Fiber Tec fiber optic internet and private links. In Voice or data, there is the communications manager that centralizes the control and management of minutes, data, messages and roaming in real time, with corporate mobile plans. In addition, advanced solutions such as POS known as Tigo POS for card payments, and Chat 4 Business.
#suitable #models #entrepreneurs