It hasn’t been too hard to put together an interesting business vision proposal in the past few decades. Pay some lip service to how you’re modernizing the brand, aligning yourself with online norms, synergizing and connecting to the cloud, or adapting to the pandemic, and most of your team will have looked at you with confidence.
But what about in 2024? The future is uncertain. Most of us are unsure when AI is going to be a routine integration that renders certain types of labor obsolete, or if it’s just going to be a helpful tool to rocket fuel productivity (and innovation for that matter).
No matter who you are, defining a helpful vision for the future might seem like an effort to predict it, which most reasonable people would avoid doing. In these times, it can paradoxically be worthwhile to look at the timeless considerations of your business purpose and use those to help structure your forward approach.
In this post, we hope to help you make those decisions more capably as time goes on. Without further ado, please consider:
Innovation & Disruption
It’s easy to think of a business growing in a linear form, first, they grow a little, then they might invest profit back into the business, then they develop and consolidate their position, perhaps moving into new markets. But any business leader will tell you that there’s no guaranteed timeline here, nor a stock formula to follow.
Moreover, sometimes a vision can disrupt the current approach more than anything else. That’s not to say you have to destroy or start from scratch, but it does mean being open to all possibilities. You might decide to merge departments, streamline other work roles, expand where needed, or even put in a plan to acquire another local company. What matters is thinking outside of the box, and working hard on research to substantiate your plan.
Sustainability & Social Responsibility As Standard
Much has been said about “modern consumers” and what they’re looking for. The truth is that no market is going to be comprised of individuals who all think the same way, and yes, you can’t please everyone. For some, making sure your processes are more sustainable and increasing the cost slightly will be acceptable, for others, it won’t be.
That being said, general trends indicate that more consumers care about sustainability and social responsibility, and they know they can vote with their wallets as far as that’s concerned. As such, designing a compelling narrative about why you’re taking steps toward a better tomorrow can be helpful.
Note that you don’t have to integrate the best possible operations in your own business. If you’re a company that sells managed IT services, it’s not as if you’re going to be planting trees in your off-time. But you can donate a certain amount of your proceeds to charitable causes and gain an official partner badge as part of that.
As you can see, sometimes even outsourcing your helpful approach can make a big difference. So don’t be afraid to talk about it and move forward with that in mind.
Understanding New Technologies, Like IoT
The Internet of Things (IoT) is transforming how we interact with systems and services in our world, and many firms are integrating this methodology into their business strategy. If you integrate technologies like IoT (as a profound example) into your business, you can unlock new levels of efficiency, create better customer experiences, and open up new revenue streams. But how does that work in practice?
Well, your products that house the IoT can track customer use and data, manage your security updates, and understand the trends in utility that move forward. With this, you can move towards newer implementations such as Industry 4.0 technologies that promise to shape the market of tomorrow and also set a helpful standardized process for how you understand and manage those newer technologies.
Refining Your Talent & Appealing To Industry-Leading Professionals
No business vision is complete without the people who sustain and add vibrancy to your brand and all it tries to achieve. If your business vision isn’t capable of retaining the best possible talent in your market, well, you’re always going to be second best.
For this reason, it’s important to know what staff look for in the modern workplace, and what benefits or virtues they mostly appreciate. Sure, remote work is an example, but flexible working, collaborative tools, correct task management, good managing approaches, and a brand narrative they can agree upon and feel included in will all make a difference.
You might even take steps toward refining your hiring strategy from this point on. For example, you could feel inspired by hiring straight out of graduate university programs, gaining fresh professionals who can be easily molded into the kind of highly effective employees your company needs. Over time, this can signal a real investment in your people.
Reviewing Pricing Models & Structures
Evaluating how you price your products or services is crucial for staying competitive and profitable, that much is obvious. But it’s important to note that sometimes, a thorough change can indicate a willingness to benefit and develop your brand for future realities. For example, many people decry how Adobe, a cutting-edge company selling one of the best creative suites around, still has an archaic pricing model with high cancellation fees. Change requires understanding what your customers are willing to pay and what makes sense financially for your business.
This will mean doing research to know what similar products or services are priced at, and considering your costs. It also involves exploring different ways of pricing, like charging a subscription fee or offering different price levels.
Perhaps you’ll operate at a loss for a little while to once again become the market leader with a new pricing structure, and then manage your revenue streams from there. A bold new direction with modern perspectives is required for many firms, but make sure that this is relevant to your brand.
With these measures combined, we believe you’ll curate a cutting-edge business vision in 2024 and beyond. We wish you the best of luck.