It's the Age of Doing More With Less
When the financial meltdown happened, the economy went from operating at a fevered pitch to a mere murmur in what many business people would say was the "blink of an eye." One would have to wonder if, in the years running up to the meltdown we just got mesmerized by the twinkling of all the gold that was being thrown around. In may ways we became inefficient and wasteful. Common sense was anything but common and resources were consumed as if the party would never end. Even when some thoughtful business people asked the questions of, why: "Why do we need this or that? Why can't we do it this way instead?" They were drowned out by the clanging of the gold falling from the sky. But as with all things, it came to an end.
This time though the speed and severity of the collapse and the explosion of technology actually gave birth to a new era with the mantra "do more with less and leave no stone unturned." As the hangover of the collapse dissipated and business moved from survival mode to taking the first tentative steps of growth, every aspect of an organization's operation came under the microscope. The question of why now proceeds every discussion on spending and if the answer isn't good enough, the spending won't happen. The age old answer of "we've always done it this way" is no longer an acceptable answer in most organizations.
Doing more with less is not just about internal spending either. Many companies are asking the same questions about their own products and services so they aren't cut when their customers set budgets. Organizations with a weak value proposition for their clients risk being cut by the budget knife, not necessarily because their product or service is suspect, but because they don't add enough value beyond their core offering.
Customers now expect more for less (notice I didn't say they expect the lowest price or to pay nothing, because it isn't a race to the bottom it's a fight to quality and value). Businesses can hold their prices and even raise them by adding some peripheral value-added extras that when all combined provide more value for less money to their customers.
Every organization should ask the question, "How can we add more value to our products or services to help our clients be competitive?" Delivering some extra tangible and measurable value beyond the core offering will strengthen the relationship with the client.
Businesses always have to spend money. In tough economies they just do so smarter and more carefully than they do in a robust economy. The more a business does to help its customers do more with less the more their products or services will remain an important part of their operations, even when the economy stumbles.
