Identifying ‘Whitepace Opportunities’ In Your Industry
Today, the opportunities for mid-tier localised businesses to transform into global providers has never been in such easy reach. A simple rethink and methodology can help realise your business’s innovation goldmine, rapidly and confidently.
Global Distributors of Disruptive Innovations
Operating in the ‘innovation and commercialisation’ space has given Advivo ICP a unique opportunity to see (and project manage) transformative innovations being created by everyday businesses. And in many cases, it is those businesses who are identifying “whitespace opportunities” (the concept of creating offerings where no or very few incumbents exist) in their own industry sector that is allowing them to expand their vision to be global distributors of their disruptive innovations.
Specific Market Industry Disruption Innovators (SMIDI’s)
Firstly, it is vital to understand the type of transformation these businesses embark on. Given our research, analysis and learning of disruption theory, we at Advivo ICP (Advivo Innovation and Commercialisation Partners) have categorized these type of businesses as “SMIDI’s” – Specific Market Industry Disruption Innovators. They are organisations who competitively operate within a specific industry sector. They identify and respond to industry-wide problems they themselves experience daily by creating a solution that not only solves the problem for their own business, but for ALL their competitors worldwide. And at the heart of their global transformation they become “supplier” to their competitors; instead of fighting for a small piece of the pie, they expand the pie and become a dependent supplier to the entire market. Here are a few examples:
- The engineering firm who develops an automated design feature that saves 60% in costs and shares this innovation with its competitors
- The pipe fabrication company who automates the procurement of pipes and fittings, saving themselves hundreds of thousands of dollars and now offering this software to competitors, creating new revenue streams
- The construction industry wholesaler who invented an innovative product, distributing it through their competitor network
- The freight forwarders who developed a platform for the automated procurement of shipping
- The medical supply company who identified a need for a piece of specific medical equipment in a niche market
- And the list goes on and on.
So, what is at the core of them identifying the innovation goldmine that they sit on?
These businesses “experience” the problems first-hand and therefore are able to innovate, develop prototypes and apply the solution within their own operations, allowing themselves to develop a minimum viable product (MVP) to a sufficient level of commercialization where industry competitors see the value in purchasing the solution. From there, investment confidence escalates whereby global market opportunities can be triggered. In almost all scenarios, the fact that their market in their core business has been local, the transformation comes from the knowledge that similar businesses globally all have a need for their solution. The result is that their innovation becomes a larger and more profitable operation than their original core business.
Think of it this way – your current business competes locally in a market size that may be for example 1,000 potential customers. How many businesses, just like yours are there globally? In one of the examples above, global competitors of their core business is estimated to be 750,000; imagine just capturing 10% of your competitor market by offering a solution that increases their bottom line performance.
Transformation or Change Management
Transformation or change management (two different things) can take many forms. You can transform to be more competitive in your current business offering and continue fighting in an ever increasing competitive market, however by looking at the industry that you know very well and identifying an industry wide problem, sometimes, just sometimes, you can transform your business from being a competitor from within, to a supplier globally.
These innovations can take many shapes. The following are broad examples of categories where businesses just like yours could be struggling with the same sort of frustrations you are;
- Workflow processes; is there a more efficient automated way to do things? Are there software applications that could be developed that makes managing your business more efficient and profitable?
- Products; is there an opportunity to innovate a product that is more efficient, more environmentally friendly, saves money in its application, produces better results and outcomes?
- Is there an opportunity to create robotic applications; automation but through physical applications?
- Is there a need for more knowledge, data collection? The ability to capture data and turn this into efficient decision-making tools is in global demand
- Is there a more effective way to procure customers, manage distribution, reduce costs?
The bottom line is that IF your core business can benefit from your identification of a problem and development of a solution, then there is a possibility that your competitors will also value your innovation.
The next step is to “validate” your idea and that is where Advivo ICP can help. Firstly, using our access to a proprietary data and science-driven validation methodology, we statistically evaluate the idea and then map the commercialisation pathway to enable you to confidently assess the true business case of investing in becoming a SMIDI (Specific Market Industry Disruption Innovator).
In so many cases, there are businesses sitting on an innovation goldmine, they just haven’t seen it yet!
Rethink your thinking and who knows what precious gold you’ll find.
Get in touch with us at ADVIVO if you want to learn more about Innovation and Commercialisation. Our expert team of accountants and business advisors will listen to you and take a hands-on approach to managing your business and individual financial needs.
Call us on 07 3226 1800 or send us a message. Located in Brisbane, we’ll take your business to the next level!