“The greatest thing in this world is not so much where we stand as in what direction we are moving.”– Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, writer/statesman on future proofing.
The future is always something to look forward to for businesses. New opportunities give way to growth and expansion.
It can also be a challenge, however, with all the uncertainties coming their way.
Luckily, outsourcing can be a great solution to help companies prepare.
Why Future-Proofing Should Matter To Your Business
To better understand why future-proofing is a must, companies need to understand what it is.
At its simplest, future-proofing is strengthening your business for eventual developments, including:
- New technological leaps
- Sudden economic downturns
- Geopolitical changes
- Natural/manmade disaster
But there is more to it than just preparing for the impact of these future events. Future-proofing is also about preparing your business to turn these events into opportunities.
Future-proofing has several key benefits.
Maximizing Return On Investment
For many businesses, recovering their initial investment can often take years. In those years, many things can affect their ROI. Future-proofing helps lessen that negative impact and helps them get more out of the initial investment.
Future-proofing does this by ensuring that whatever implementations companies put into place will not be obsolete (or at least take longer to be so). This helps them generate long-term returns and maximize current and future investments.
Keeping Up With Customer Expectations
Customer expectations shape how a business is going to be. It defines what products are to be developed and how services are rendered. Customer expectations can even influence internal processes.
But the thing is, those expectations can change a lot. What they want now will differ from what they want in the next few years.
Future-proofing helps companies in several ways when keeping up with customer expectations.
First is ensuring that the business strategies they put into place would still be viable to meet future expectations. Second, future-proofing also helps them foster and strengthen long-term relationships with customers.
Promoting Innovation
Ultimately, future-proofing helps foster innovation within a company. It does this by encouraging a more forward-thinking mindset. Through future-proofing, companies are more confident in embracing these innovations since they are better prepared.
Future-proofing also encourages companies to pursue innovations of their own. This again stems from the sense of security it brings. Future-proofing helps provide better risk management. This provides them with better support for bringing forth that innovation.
The Challenges Of Future Proofing
That said, future-proofing is not a walk in the park. Companies will encounter several challenges that affect how they bring it to fruition.
Anticipating Trends
Adaptability to incoming industry trends is at the core of future-proofing efforts. However, anticipating those trends is the first challenge companies will face. The main issue lies on how far companies can predict them.
With enough data, companies can readily predict potential trends for at least the next two years. However, they need to continuously gather and refine that data to create accurate trend predictions.
And there is ultimately a limit to this approach. There will come a point where the available data isn’t enough to provide a clear picture of the possible trends. In this case, companies need to rely on educated guesses from experts to create their future-proofing plans.
Addressing Business Complexities
One thing worth pointing out with future-proofing is that it is a complex endeavor. Businesses need to tackle multiple operational areas like:
- Supply chain management
- Workforce management
- Technology use
Each of these areas adds a new layer to the task at hand, and a change in one of these areas will significantly affect the others.
For instance, the fast pace of technological development can influence how other relevant areas operate. Companies should be ready to anticipate these influences and create strategies to adapt to them effectively.
Anticipating External Upheavals
Beyond industry developments, external upheavals can also influence a business’ future outlook. These can range from something simple like legislation changes to more significant events like major geopolitical developments or global health crises.
Image from Uva Darden.
The COVID-19 pandemic stands as the biggest example in recent memory. Its rapid escalation into a global pandemic forced businesses to significantly alter their operations to stay afloat. Lockdowns have also led to the emergence of new business models that opened new opportunities. Even after the pandemic, the changes brought lasting effect in the business landscape.
The unpredictability of these events impacts future-proofing efforts significantly. As a result, companies need to shift to a more strategic foresight. They will now have to plan for a wide range of scenarios.
Bringing In The Right Talent
An integral component of effective future-proofing is having the right talent ready. The Harvard Business Review notes that current employees can fill 60% of future needs. But the challenge is how companies can prepare them to take on those needs.
This is confounded by the fact that these needs will likely change as time passes. Thus, businesses might need a completely new set of talents. They should account for talent they might not know they will need yet.
How Outsourcing Can Help Future-Proof Businesses
When future-proofing, companies utilize various strategies for strengthening their firms. One such strategy to explore is outsourcing. It brings in several benefits such as the following.
Greater Sustainability
The first benefit is sustainability. Outsourcing does this by improving business operations. These improved processes boosts the efficiency of the business and helps to continue serving customers. That greater efficiency also helps lessen its environmental impact.
Another way that outsourcing increases business sustainability is through greater adaptability to these changes.
When future developments come in, companies may need to change their business approach.
For instance, future legislative changes may require companies to implement new processes such as remote working. Companies can turn to outsourcing to quickly put these processes in place and ensure continued compliance.
With outsourcing, it becomes easier to implement these improvements. Companies can work with providers to quickly modify teams as needed, whether it’s scaling up or down. These providers can also help in developing new processes the company needs.
Better Adoption Of New Technology
Technological developments can significantly affect future business landscapes. Effectively tapping into these tech developments is a vital step for companies. Outsourcing offers an interesting benefit for this situation in that it makes it easier for companies to bring in these tech.
Providers like Virtua invest heavily in new technology to help them deliver better service. With their effort, clients can also take advantage of these pieces of tech without needing to invest on their own.
These outsourcing firms also have experts that can help companies better understand these new technologies. They help decrease adoption time and ensure full integration into the business processes.
Better Risk Management
Outsourcing also helps mitigate future risks that companies will likely encounter. It does this first by having the provider share the operational responsibilities. This ensures continuity in the instance of internal or external changes.
Companies can also utilize the strategy for a more direct approach to risk management. By forming a long-term partnership with providers, they can work more closely to develop future recruitment and operational strategies that evolve with the company.
Outsourcing The Right Way
Before companies can fully tap outsourcing for future prepping, they need a clear idea of where they are going. Creating a business roadmap helps here. It determines the major milestones the company expects to achieve and the time frame.
With these future trends and milestones identified, companies can determine what role outsourcing will play. For instance, outsourcing may play a significant role in future recruitment efforts.
To better identify these roles, businesses can consult with outsourcing providers. They can provide such insights as part of the initial process. Providers can also help identify possible future scenarios never considered before.
Future Proofing With Providers
When selecting providers, companies also need to know their future-proofing strategies. This is critical as it lets companies gauge how these will fit into their efforts. When they have a shortlist, companies should gather more details about how these providers plan to implement these strategies.
Once companies have selected a provider, they should discuss long-term business partnerships as early as possible. This will help them better see the extent of the provider’s future-proofing effort.
One thing both sides should tackle in these talks is how to align their respective business roadmaps. This might require changes in business processes for both down the line. The two sides should create a plan for these changes and other future developments.
Get Ready For The Future With Outsourcing
When done right, outsourcing can help companies create a more solid foundation for their operations. This will strengthen their ability to take on future challenges and achieve milestones.
But to make that happen, they need the right partner.
Virtua Solutions is here to be that partner.
\We will provide clients with a long-term source of talent that will match their changing needs. Our team can also help in your operations with our managed services.
Connect with us and let’s get ready for the future.