Swiftly altering times. It is the reality of the present generation, and it is never more apparent than in a business. There was a time that marketing consisted only of ads printed in magazines and newspapers. Today, without the web and social media platforms a company is akin to being a quadriplegic. Every entrepreneur has to be at the top of the game. They have to utilise new technologies and keep with current human resources if they want to survive. In this article, we peel the curtain back and look at the five challenges the sector faces.
• The biggest hurdle is that no one person can become an expert in every field of a business due to constant evolutions in technology. Thinking a CEO can handle all the aspects of a company is not a smart thought. Therefore, companies need to hire consultants who are qualified in their field. Their expertise should be utilised to address different problems and issues that may arise in the organisation.
• The second obstacle businesses face head-on is the copious amounts of data that is being generated. In the last few years, we have created almost 90% of the data we have currently. While there is a positive side to the terabytes of data floating in the ether, the problem is extracting insights from it. Furthermore, it needs to be managed and kept safe from harmful use. Every company requires a professional who can achieve all three functions.
• The future is uncertain. That is the only certainty. It means that customer trends, market future and the economic climate are in a continuous state of flux. Ergo, the next challenge corporations will have to overcome is predicting those changes and then creating strategies that lead to profit and growth.
• The fourth difficulty that entrepreneurs need to resolve is the most obvious one. Technology is transforming faster than we can keep up. Any business who doesn’t innovate or adapt to the technology is going to be left behind. Things like cloud computing and app development has become run of the mill instead of being blue moons.
• The last barrier a company has to break is regulation and compliance. With markets altering and innovation shift, the rules and regulations that control them also necessitate changes. When compliances vary every few years, it becomes hard for a business to follow them accurately which can lead to fines or worse punishments. Therefore, an organisation has to be on top of these deviations, at all times.
Change is constant. Challenges come hand in hand with it. The decision is when to accept those variations. Should a business be an early adopter and take a significant risk or enter the game later on with a safety net? Remember not every new thing is good for entrepreneurship. But eschewing change will turn even the most profitable company obsolete. The advice is to be ready to embrace any challenge as and when it comes.