Will your business disrupt or be disrupted? Three crucial signs

The last few years have seen an exponential rise in “entrepreneur speak”, innovation and constant coverage of the Silicon Valley Unicorns that are changing the way many companies do business.

The innovation revolution is here and the future has never been harder to predict. Businesses and industries that always seemed safe and predictable are struggling to stay ahead. The Ubers, the AirBnBs and Brickx of the world will continue to evolve established models and disrupt industries.

You invest in R&D

R&D doesn’t need to be a costly long-term investment or a phrase to be feared. R&D can be easy and the impacts on your business could be huge. Government R&D tax incentives exist to encourage businesses to research and invest in their future. Although we’re not expert accountants you can find out more about the incentives here.

You have a partner

WA may have a reputation for being less than cutting-edge, but our researchers are world-class. In labs across the state our smartest people are at the forefront of scientific development. Organisations such as iPrep will (for a reasonable cost) give you three PhD graduates to help answer an important question for your business. This gives them a vital connection to industry and can assist you with any numbers of problems, questions, or research based projects. iPrep isn’t alone either, organisations such as CERI, Atomic Sky and countless hackathons could be the partner your business needs to move forward.

You are intrapreneur-friendly

Let your staff be free to imagine and look ahead. Encourage them to be an intrapreneur, an internal innovator. Businesses can sometimes be so focused on the here and now there’s no opportunity to pause and consider the future. Staff should be empowered to share their innovative ideas, and if you’re not connected to them, that new game changer might never see the light of day. Or find its way into the hands of a competitor.

Innovation, disruption, and the language of entrepreneurship can be overused. The buzzwords of the day can be hard to take seriously, but organisations should embrace the future and implement strategies to disrupt rather than be disrupted. The future is always coming our way, so businesses should make the time to position themselves now, before it’s too late.Invest in R&D, encourage your staff to be innovative intrapreneurs and look around for organisations that can support you as you look towards the future and all it has in store.