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When I founded Appfire in 2005, hardware reigned supreme, and corporations like Dell, IBM, and HP were leaders and innovators in all areas of technology. Enterprises relied heavily on hardware to power their IT infrastructure, and the idea of the cloud gave the impression of a utopian dream. My partner and I built our company to support traditional hardware-centric models, and it was a system that worked well in those early years.
In 2010, I found myself at a crossroads as cloud computing was slowly shifting its focus to virtual environments, and we were deep in the development phase to implement recent collaboration software on a hardware platform. VMware entered the scene, making virtual software a hit. Hardware evaporated almost overnight.
As a business leader, I had a tough decision to make: Should I take my team and company in a direction that might essentially abandon all the work we had put into our hardware-based product and jump on the virtualization bandwagon along with the remainder of the market and our competitors? Or should we stay the course, pushing our product that was built on a hardware platform? After careful consideration, we decided not to invest in virtualization immediately because it wasn’t the right time for us.
I am reminded of this anecdote, as the AI boom continues and shows no signs of slowing down. Just look at Nvidia’s Latest Earnings or Atlassian Rovo IntroductionAI assistant. One day, when we glance back at the history books, this era can be marked by the incredible rush and shift we saw in corporations of all sizes to integrate AI into their offerings. This goes beyond just delivering AI-based solutions. Companies are rebranding, restructuring, and transforming themselves into AI-centric corporations to attract investment, talent, and market share.
As business leaders, we are consistently challenged whether we, too, should follow the latest trend. Do we follow the herd and change our entire strategy and product roadmap, or do we stay on our current path?
Throughout my own journey growing and scaling a leading software company from $10 million to over $200 million in annual revenue in 4 years, I have identified three guidelines that can assist leaders determine whether to follow the trend or stay the course.
1. Make sure the change is in line with customer expectations
Don’t lose sight of your customers’ wants and needs in times of change. It’s more vital to do right for your customers than to be right. Tests found that over 90% of individuals consider that corporations should listen to customers to drive innovation. Even if you, as a business leader, are eager to incorporate AI into your endpoint model, if it’s not vital to your customers, you’ll fail and not make a profit.
There are several ways to get this feedback from your customer base. Implementing customer surveys, implementing a customer advisory board, and meeting with customers in person are great ways to understand whether what you’re building makes sense for your customers. If your company has a strong channel program, often talk to your partners about what they’re hearing from customers
2. Determine if you have adequate resources
It could be tempting to jump on a bandwagon, especially when the market demands it and competitors are already on board. In 2010, one of the fundamental reasons we decided not to quickly move from our hardware platform strategy to virtualization was because we didn’t have the people with the right skill sets. Because of that, we knew we wouldn’t succeed in virtualization in a way that might have an immediate impact on our customers.
When there is a drastic change in the market, as an alternative of jumping on the bandwagon, put effort and resources into training your staff. Many are willing and eager to expand their skill set – in fact one study shows that nearly 75% of employees are willing to learn recent skills. Then, when you have the right people with the right skills who can assist you make an impact, you possibly can focus on innovation. When employees get the right training to gain the skills they need, the business itself(*4*) I will see the advantages.
3. Stay true to your core values
Remember the core values you established when you founded your company and use them as principles when making decisions. Almost all employees We agree that a work culture based on core values plays a key role in achieving long-term success.
If the latest trend aligns with your mission, vision, and purpose, it may well be a helpful addition to your strategy. However, if it doesn’t, executing on it could not help your small business in the future. Staying true to your core principles ensures that your small business stays focused, authentic, and purpose-driven amidst changing market dynamics.
When a recent trend disrupts a market, it may well be difficult to find a way forward. Consider the approach Atlassian took with Rovo. While others rushed to bring an AI assistant to market last yr, Atlassian was deliberate and strategic. It was more vital to them to release a tool that aligned with their mission of creating teams more practical than to be “first.”
Remember, it’s more vital to do it right for the customer than to conform. Often, blindly following the crowd without critical pondering can lead to conformity and lack of progressive pondering. Don’t lose sight of your mission, vision, and purpose. These values likely attracted employees and customers to your organization in the first place and will retain them long after the trend has passed.