Disruptor or disrupted?

In a previous post, I talked about a few ways small businesses can be disruptors by taking advantage of opportunities in the digital space. Today I wanted to explore a trickier subject, but one I know is on the minds of a lot of small businesses, particularly the more established and traditional ones – how can you avoid being disrupted?

After all, it stands to reason that for every disruptor there is a disrupted and we’ve seen it happen time and time again. There is no room for complacency, and the ongoing disruption to the financial industry illustrates this perhaps better than any. While big banks may have seemed formidable, the recent launch of new banking options targeting the might of small business such as Atom Bank have shown that no sector is immune to disruption.

It’s been fascinating to see the ‘old guard’ react and I think Goldman Sach’s recent announcement of “small business friendly” online banking with low fees and generous interest payments shows how acute they are to the potential long term loss.

At least they have sprung into action, and no doubt the complacency of others before has been a lesson. Uber’s biggest fear, when launching in London, was that rival Addison Lee would “throw a million pounds at the problem” to eradicate the gap Uber were aiming to fill, which Addison Lee could very easily have done. But they didn’t, and the rest is history as they say, with 30,000 people in London downloading the Uber app every week and ordering their first ride.

Having said that, there’s no benefit to sinking into a state of paranoia and constant fear that your business is on the brink of being permanently usurped by unseen forces. My advice to business owners is to always strive to find that balance between being laser-focused on your business goals and horizon-scanning to spot future trends without letting either take over.

I know, from speaking to Sage customers, how hard small and medium business owners work day in, day out to keep the business running, but it’s important to carve out time to take a step back and spot opportunities before your rival does. Make time to test new ideas – it doesn’t have to be perfect and it doesn’t need to be big, because you can refine as you go and take the lessons with you. It means your business will be in the most robust position for many years to come.

And this needn’t require huge investment - I’m a firm believer that for small businesses, on many aspects of digital experimentation in particular it’s more a matter of knowledge than money—once you know what to do, the sky is really the limit.

A great example I read recently was the Artillery Arms pub in East London that was broken into by thieves. Rather than being disheartened, the manager displayed a signboard out the front that day with the message: “This pub is so good that someone tried to get in eight hours before we open!”. But he didn’t stop there – he also took a photo and posted it onto the pub’s Facebook page and explained what had happened. Media outlets quickly picked up the story, and it has been lauded as an example of great advertising – for zero outlay and mere minutes of the manager’s time.

Finally, my last advice on the topic is to always listen to your customers, as I know every small business does, but also look outside your industry. True innovation happens on the fringes, and disruption rarely comes from within. After all, if Henry Ford had asked his customers, they would have told him they want a faster horse.