Keep it Simple, Not Stagnant

Simplicity is often a key for small businesses.  Keep It Simple is the famous mantra.  And for good reason; small businesses tend to be under-resourced and the impact of needless complexity can be swift and painful.  "Simple" tends to go hand-in-hand with lower cost.

Simplicity is an admirable, efficient goal.  But small business owners must guard against rejecting change in the name of simplicity.  The pace of business is increasingly fast, and yesterday's solution, simple and elegant as it may be, can prove insufficient in the face of new competitors and more sophisticated demands from customers.  Staying alert to new, lower-cost capabilities than can help a small business, such as marketing with social media and leveraging the IT power of the Cloud, are good examples of this type of change.

One risk for a small business owner lies in judging the capabilities of the new solution against the old simplicity/complexity (and cost) criteria.  Imagine having never heard of email marketing and trying to assess "producing and sending" a newsletter every month.  Suppose a company website conjures images of expensive web development and maintenance.  What if a company-wide email and shared information network immediately brings to mind thousands of dollars worth of computer servers and special facilities?  Without the proper knowledge, the small business owner would fail to grasp that these capabilities are now simple and inexpensive, and well within the reach of every small business. 

Another risk for a small business owner lies in the relative speed with which the customers and competition grasp that these capabilities are within their reach as well.  If the customers come to expect their suppliers to have these capabilities, and competitors are quick to introduce them, the market shifts.  And the impact of a market shift can also be swift and painful.