{"id":12563,"date":"2014-12-30T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-12-30T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/centricconsulting.com\/post\/consumers-insatiable-need-speed-continues-drive-business-execution\/"},"modified":"2023-08-31T10:18:54","modified_gmt":"2023-08-31T14:18:54","slug":"consumers-insatiable-need-speed-continues-drive-business-execution","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/centricconsulting.com\/blog\/consumers-insatiable-need-speed-continues-drive-business-execution\/","title":{"rendered":"Consumers’ Insatiable Need for Speed Continues to Drive Business Execution"},"content":{"rendered":"

Speed<\/strong> is the driver for athletes in both the marathon and<\/em> the sprint. And we’ve seen speed become further pronounced as a driver in business.<\/h2>\n

The women\u2019s marathon world record has dropped almost 20 minutes since 1977, now standing at 2:15:25. Usain Bolt\u2019s 100m world record speed of 9.58 seconds marks the twelfth time during that same period, since 1977, that the record has improved.\u00a0Firms are challenged to deliver\u00a0when<\/em> their customers want and, as a result, have to evolve and enhance\u00a0their ability to achieve speed in\u00a0both business operations and technology innovation.<\/p>\n

Business Operations<\/h2>\n

Strategy is an essential element of business operations, as it defines both short- and long-term objectives. Strategy, however, needs to be acted upon (quickly) to bring success – the best strategies don’t serve customers, create culture, generate profits or fulfill employee needs from the PowerPoint slides they are printed on.<\/p>\n

Spending inordinate time on strategy can be a drag on achieving speed. Suppose you are responsible for answering, “what\u2019s our social media strategy<\/em>?” Get back to me in six months and guess what\u2019s happened in the meantime? Two new social media offerings have emerged and countless other\u00a0new platforms have started to gain traction that you need to account for. Kathleen Murphy, the president of Personal Investing\u00a0at Fidelity Investments, underscores this idea in her recent article, “Patience – A Waste of Time?<\/a>”<\/p>\n

The point is that shortening the planning cycles and becoming more flexible with strategic planning endeavors makes sense. Consider allowing for strategy to evolve, if you\u2019re not already doing so. Embracing principles and concepts that align with the right execution approach for your firm can help. And concepts such as failing fast and continually learning (from the Lean StartUp<\/a>) can create an environment optimized to achieve the desired speed<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Technology Innovation<\/h2>\n

Some of the major business-based tech trends of the past several years \u2013 big data, agile development, and mobile technologies – can all draw direct lines to the need for speed:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Big Data<\/a> provides scientific analysis to offer\u00a0insights across the business spectrum \u2013 consumer habits, business operations and future market trends. The insight gained allows companies to serve customers more intelligently, optimize operations, and take advantage of opportunities quickly or in real-time.<\/p>\n

Agile<\/a> development continues to be embraced throughout the business world, even in large enterprise settings. What remains clear is that successful adoption and execution doesn\u2019t mean that a firm will get an entire pre-envision<\/em> product faster. Iterative development and testing, appropriate variation from the initial vision, and an approach to incorporate change allows a firm to get the right<\/em> product faster.<\/p>\n

Mobile<\/a> has, by its very nature, created a hyper-connected environment. \u00a0The speed with which we can connect to content, people, or our work has been exponentially increased over the past decade+. And because mobile is ubiquitous in both personal and professional lives, businesses in all industries are held to the same standards (innovation from a player like Google is compared to financial services innovation at a large bank or brokerage when business cases are being drawn up). We are now right in the middle of the age where mobile is being optimized by every firm to take advantage of and maximize speed.<\/p>\n

As you step into 2015, you may want to reflect and ask a couple of key questions:<\/p>\n