You don’t have to be a mad math scientist to know that 1+1=2. However, there are some exceptions to this equation. One of them is synergy, where 1+1 are now > than 2. Speaking from a business point of view, this means that by carefully managing your business and its different entities, you are creating a value much greater than those same entities would have created on their own. Of course, there is also the opposite result – anergy, where 1+1 are < than 2, and you wouldn’t want to go that way.
It can take you a lot of time and effort, but the end result is more than creating value. Not only will you be able to optimize all of your activities, but also use all of your resources more wisely for maximum outcome. This will also boost your capacity to innovate and provide you with new ways of reinventing yourself and staying ahead. No matter your goal, growing market share or higher profit, synergy, if done right, can bring unimaginable benefits to your business.
Strategy – Creating a game plan for achieving synergy
Achieving synergy should be one of your main focuses when creating any kind of strategy, whether it’s your business strategy, innovation strategy, marketing strategy, you name it. Maximizing efficiency on all levels and capitalizing on the effect you’ve created will certainly provide you with a competitive advantage. Whenever you create a strategy of any kind, your goal is to carefully analyze your present state and define all activities, resources and initiatives needed to achieve a future goal/objective. That being said, there are some activities, or entities, that you might not consider at first, because if you only look at them, they seem like a poor choice for your strategy. Some investments might seem like a waste of money as well. So why bother? That is where synergy steps in - carefully creating a strategy where all of its parts are working together in sync to create a value way greater than they could produce on their own. This leads to maximum outcome with minimum resources. Synergy leads not only to creating value but cost reduction at the same time.
People – Brilliant diverse minds work wonders together
One of your greatest resources is your people, your team. And maybe one of the best examples of how synergy works. One brilliant mind can achieve just a fraction of what two brilliant minds could do together. One idea can be improved and brought to perfection by collective effort and collaboration. People of different skills and capabilities can work wonders together. Diversity of your workforce is important on so many levels and synergy is just one of them. Sharing ideas, know-how, and experiences amongst your team will create a whole lot more opportunities and creative solutions than any person alone would have ever done. This is of great importance in your innovation process as well, and an important aspect to consider when creating your innovation strategy.
Innovation portfolio – Does the shoe fit?
As an innovative company, one of your main objectives is to continuously innovate. Even if you have one great idea after the other, you still have to pay attention to how that affects your overall business. You wouldn’t want to create anergy, and that bad kind of cannibalism that we have already discussed. This means that you have to take into account the joint effects of your whole innovation portfolio once you’ve introduced a new innovation. Will this new product or service be in line with your innovation portfolio? Will this big investment of time and money pay off? Even if it seems lucrative, how will it affect your overall business strategy? Analyzing cannibalism effects one innovation could have on your innovation portfolio could steer you in the right direction in achieving synergy.
Partner up
Synergizing is also partnering up with the right people. And who better to partner up with than with Innovation Cloud. We are more than an innovation platform. Thanks to Innovation Cloud’s machine learning and the ability to connect with your existing ERP, you will be able not only to define a better strategy but also to track its progress in real-time. Metrics Innovation Cloud provides will make sure that everything is on track and, if not, inform you if certain actions need to be taken. Thanks to our unique design, everyone from your organization is encouraged to participate in any initiative and campaign you wish to have. Our user-centric approach motivates your team members to collaborate on different levels and subjects and even offers your customers a way to join in through the Innovation Cloud’s VoC solution (Crowdsourcing). This all leads to maximum efficiency and achieving synergy effects with more ease. Why wait any longer when you can start synergizing today with Innovation Cloud.
