SubscribeInnovation: a new way of doing something.
Today’s tough market conditions shouldn’t stop your company from innovating. All recessions come to an end and when they do your company needs to be prepared. Companies need to use this time to innovate so that they can accelerate past their competitors.
For example: Sprint, the nation’s #3 wireless provider in the US, while struggling financially and losing customers to both AT&T and Verizon, still continues to innovate and reinvent itself. While both AT&T and Verizon have chosen to go with LTE (Long Term Evolution ) for their next generation of mobile broadband, Sprint has decided to form a joint venture with Clearwire to build a nationwide mobile WiMax network. By 2010, Sprint anticipates their WiMax network to reach 120 million to 140 million possible customers; in comparison Verizon will only have launched their LTE network in to 20-30 markets by mid-2010. Verizon doesn’t anticipate having a “nationwide build-out complete in 2013 to early 2014,” according to Verizon Wireless CEO Lowell McAdam. AT&T also is rolling out their LTE next generation wireless network in 2011. In the interim, AT&T will upgrade their existing HSPA network to support speeds of 7.2Mbps, double of the current theoretical limit of 3.6Mbps.
With technology constantly changing, a 2-3 year head start can seem like a lifetime and could be the difference between Sprint not only surviving but creating the standard for wireless broadband. By not redefining themselves, they very easily could become another wireless carrier to succumb and disappear in their fiercely competitive market. As Dan Hesse, CEO of Sprint, said, “The winning companies are those that innovate during turbulent times.”
This same methodology should be applied to all businesses today as we watch the globally economy contract at rates not seen since The Great Depression. Now more than ever, in order to survive and win, it’s important to innovate!