Despite popular belief, the most successful entrepreneurs haven't always had a secret formula to building their empires. For the most part, it's a matter of trial and error. The goal of a startup is to create a business model that is both scalable and repeatable. In order to accomplish this, you have to be ready to take decisive action in the face of changing events or crisis. When it comes to conducting business in the digital age, quick decision making is crucial to success.


The digital age has triggered an explosion of information. As a result, people are being bombarded by massive amounts of data. For businesses, this is amplified tenfold. Although big data is an intangible assets, it has a direct financial impact on business, and companies that are capable of utilizing large amounts of information in a timely manner can improve efficiency and insight into customer behavior. However, making sense of big data analytics can be a challenging task for startups lacking the budget of an established corporation.

Big data helps to assess performance, but only if you know what to look for. To prevent being overwhelmed by the sheer volume of information, it's important to have a clearly defined set of objectives from the beginning. What kind of insight are you looking to receive? Ideally, data should be used for identifying factors that fuel growth, and then organized for streamlined decision making.

Being Agile

Many classic business strategies have been rendered obsolete by the advancement of technology, and with that comes the inability to make quick business decisions. For this reason, entrepreneurs can gain a lot of wisdom from software developers who employ agile strategies. The concept of agile development has revolutionized the software industry and is now transforming corporate landscapes around the globe. Companies are incorporating agile processes into their overall business strategy, and as a result, they are able to react quickly to changing environments, enabling employees to make necessary decisions without the red tape.

The Agile Manifesto emphasizes people and interactions over processes and tools. Practically speaking, this means communicating across teams, within teams, and with clients regularly, as well as doing things like daily scrum meetings. This allows the whole team to be looped in on the activities of its members. This creates regular space for feedback that enables teams to adjust based on what customers, beta testers, and the market is saying, which creates an environment primed for quick business decisions.

Pivoting

After data has been organized and agile processes are implemented, pivoting then becomes possible. Pivoting, in essence, is quick decision making turned into a practical business model.

Pivoting involves fundamentally changing a core element of your business to meet the demands of fresh data. A pivot can consist of changing prices to compensate for a lack of revenue, totally repackaging a product to satisfy a growing consumer demand, or advertising to an entirely different demographic. Obviously, this requires a smooth operation that effectively organizes data and is capable of integrating new information into core business strategies. Once an issue has been identified as a hindrance to progress, agile businesses immediately take corrective action. For this reason, pivoting is a fundamental part of turning a small startup into a major success story.

Although this buzzword has gained widespread praise and press coverage, there are many critics that are quick to point out the negative aspects. Pivoting can help save a failing startup, but it also can lead to a more painful demise. In the end, it all boils down to the data.

Organizing big data effectively, creating an agile business environment, and possessing a deep understanding of pivoting helps to prevent executives from being bogged down with needless details. This allows entrepreneurs to focus on what's important and opens up room for autonomous, exponential growth.

Author Bio
Rob Toledo is a Seattleite who matches the usual stereotypes. Loves coffee, the rain, and prefers dogs to cats. When not rambling about marketing and web design, he can be found in the mountains either climbing or hiking.