Predicting Your Downfall Can Help You Avoid It
I know that first headline sounds pretty dark. But it’s actually the best way to ensure a bright future for your company and its people. If those buggy whip manufacturers in the 1890’s had followed this advice, they might be working on electric cars today.
I recently came across an insightful Forbes article about this (more on that in a moment). But let’s just say I now realize even more strongly the importance of helping our customers stay a step ahead of whatever is coming their way. Tools and technologies like our supply chain management process are critical to doing that.
Factor In the Future
The Forbes article leads with the fact that Amazon’s Jeff Bezos recently “predicted” that one day the company would fail. And several threats or “risk factors” to Amazon are described. But it’s safe to say that with Amazon’s progressive leader, they will be addressed, and that failure will be pushed far into the future.
The article also credits Dunkin’ Brands Executive Chairman of the Board Nigel Travis with developing an exercise called “defining your demise.” (And as a former president and CEO of Blockbuster, he knows that territory well.) That experience trained him to imagine how the future might develop in ways that would disrupt the company or throw it off balance.
100 Years of Looking Out for Speed Bumps
I’m proud of the way Superior has thrived for nearly 100 years. Many larger companies would love that kind of track record. I believe we’ve done it by looking ahead and “around corners” for the speed bumps that could thrown our business off-track. In response, we have pioneered new technologies and perfected systems that help ensure the value of our expertise and demonstrate our relevance.
Honestly, I’m even more proud of how we have helped our customers do the same thing in their industries. Our processes, including our Corporate Kiosk™ technology, automate print and promotional product sourcing and fulfillment. That gives our customers the most up-to-date capabilities available. That makes them more agile, and more able to spend their time more productively.
How to Define (and Derail) Your Demise
Want to help protect your business from the obstacles that could take it down? You couldn’t enlist a better ally than Superior, with nearly a century of experience in helping businesses work more efficiently. We’ve helped them evolve from tedious double copying of orders to using carbon paper which was unheard of in sales order books at the time and was a big advantage.
But over the decades, we have continued to empower our customers with more sophisticated printing technologies and digital capabilities that save them time and money. Don’t let the cliché fool you. Our products and services will save you and your co-workers time in your workday and add money to your bottom line.
Our ISO 9001:2015 certification is a virtual guarantee that our services and systems assist customers as consistently and effectively as possible. Our customers have added their endorsement by honoring us with two consecutive Best of Print and Digital awards.
Contact Superior today for a free print and promotional product supply chain audit. We’ll work to sharpen your vision so you can identify threats and survive them. We weren’t around quite early enough to help those buggy-whip manufacturers. But we’re here in plenty of time to help you.
