{"id":308682,"date":"2019-04-03T07:48:46","date_gmt":"2019-04-03T05:48:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=308682"},"modified":"2019-04-03T07:48:46","modified_gmt":"2019-04-03T05:48:46","slug":"investing-in-the-future-pays-off-for-midsize-companies-in-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/industry-news\/308682\/investing-in-the-future-pays-off-for-midsize-companies-in-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"Investing in the future pays off for midsize companies in 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Don Gordon<\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s stunning how much can change in just one year. From the rise of voice-activated digital assistants, to the advent of online data privacy legislation, to the well-documented struggles of retail, the rules that govern the consumer products industry have seemingly been upended.<\/p>\n

Amid all this turmoil, consumer products companies of all sizes continue to look to digital transformation to provide the strongest foundation for the future.<\/p>\n

As a 2018\u00a0Oxford Economics<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0executive study points out, \u201cdigital transformation promises to change the competitive landscape for small and midsize companies, allowing them to enter new markets and challenge larger companies more effectively.\u201d Benefits of this shift in focus include \u201cthe development of new products and services, the effectiveness of various parts of the business, and overall business performance.\u201d<\/p>\n

A new year, a new edge<\/h3>\n

In the past, growing businesses generally tried to emulate what their larger rivals were doing. But in an interesting reversal, larger companies are reacting to the success of their smaller contenders \u2013 more so now than ever before.<\/p>\n

But what gives midsize businesses this distinct edge over their larger competitors has less to do with quirky branding or product quality than you might think. Instead, the edge comes from the comparative ease with which growing companies can strategically pivot their operations and respond to demand shifts and volatile market dynamics\u00a0while keeping consumers at the center of everything they do.<\/p>\n

The ability to establish and maintain a deep relationship with a specific set of consumers is a powerful foundation for just about any business. Larger companies are trying to balance individual consumer needs with executing at an ever-expanding scale.<\/p>\n

This is where midsize companies equipped with meaningful data-driven insight can shine: segmenting and targeting consumers based on well-understood needs. It\u2019s this type of approach that makes sense in a consumer products marketplace that is transitioning from selling products to delivering specific outcomes and experiences.<\/p>\n

Take, for example, the number of large companies that are trying to crack the code on direct-to-consumer models.<\/p>\n

Companies, such as the rising startup in personal care\u00a0Harry\u2019s<\/a><\/strong>,<\/u>\u00a0are simplifying and optimizing their processes while connecting every touchpoint of its disparate data sources.<\/p>\n

With the help of a centralized core of business information, they can match inventory levels to demand with swift responsiveness and agility, while ensuring their cost models remain profitable.<\/p>\n

The right digital foundation magnifies the opportunities ahead<\/h3>\n

Brands that understand these opportunities are adopting\u00a0newer, bolder, and game-winning strategies<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

They are executing along the continuum from pure e-commerce to and brick-and-mortar, continually gaining increased consumer insight to pursue new innovations and opportunities.<\/p>\n

And these brands will continue to adapt and improve consumer engagement, as they further explore emerging technologies such as augmented reality and\u00a0machine learning<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

But it all starts with the right digital foundation. One thing successful midsize companies are learning is that the right technology investments can serve as building blocks for long-term growth and market leadership.<\/p>\n

Explore how your growing company can prepare for 2019 with strong technology to continually improve operations, processes, and products, and services. Read the Oxford Economic executive study, \u201c<\/em>The Transformation Imperative for Small and Midsize Companies<\/em><\/a><\/strong>.\u201d\u00a0 And take a look at \u201c<\/em>The Transformation Imperative for Small and Midsize Consumer Products Firms<\/em><\/a><\/strong>\u201d for industry-specific insights.<\/em><\/p>\n

Download the IDC Infobrief: How Do you Become a Best-Run Midsize Business<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

About Don Gordon<\/h3>\n

Don Gordon leads global Consumer Products industry marketing for SAP. Previously he led global Retail industry marketing for IBM. He lives in Philadelphia, considered by many to be the finest city on earth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One thing successful midsize companies are learning is that the right technology investments can serve as building blocks for long-term growth and market leadership.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":57,"featured_media":308684,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10459],"tags":[26,1073],"class_list":["post-308682","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-industry-news","tag-headline","tag-sap"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308682","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/57"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=308682"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308682\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":308686,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/308682\/revisions\/308686"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/308684"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=308682"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=308682"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=308682"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}