Speed-Building Businesses

A recent cover of Business Week magazine asked a pressing question: “Is your company fast enough?” The issue’s main story is about speed-to-market as the ultimate competitive advantage.

In a business world that is now flat and operating on Internet time, many business models can be conceptualized, implemented, tested and rolled out in what seems to be the blink of an eye. Assuming a company has its supply chain equation worked out, a new e-business can launch and expose its product(s) to a Web market as large as one billion, or to a specific niche that is far down the Long Tail.  Anybody who peruses the business press can’t help but take note of the quickening pace of new start-ups that seem to appear out of nowhere.

Similar to any business era, some start-ups are quickly destined to the scrapeheap of not-ready-for-prime-time ideas, while others seem to soar like a rocket into the business stratosphere—Flikr, Del.icio.us, MySpace, and YouTube—just to name a few.

This speed-to-market scenario not only applies to companies, but also to brand extensions. It seems every month Google is rolling out some new service that broadens its dominance. Also,  Signals37 has launched new products in rapid succession building on its “less is more” philosophy.

An excellent Unisys white paper titled, “How to Speed Time to Market in a Next-Generation World,” has an interesting discussion on this subject as it relates to the telecommunications industry. However, the discussion is applicable to a wide range of industries.

Ideas and new angles on commerce are fragile in today’s accelerated business environment. Given the nature of technology and the interconnectedness of the global economy, it appears speed-to-market will become a key determinant in the success (or failure) of many new businesses. Got a great idea? Now it’s not only can you make it happen, but also how fast. Speed can be a dangerous thing. While we continue to hear about great new companies that burst on the scene, you can bet there will be many other companies and ideas that just plain burst. This is not territory for the faint of heart.