{"id":1264,"date":"2021-12-08T20:40:00","date_gmt":"2023-09-04T20:40:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/?p=1264"},"modified":"2024-02-23T14:06:36","modified_gmt":"2024-02-23T14:06:36","slug":"innovation-drives-productivity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.salesforce.com\/eu\/blog\/innovation-drives-productivity\/","title":{"rendered":"The Link Between Productivity and Innovation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Small businesses need to maximise their resources in order to reach their potential and be the best version of themselves. But how can small businesses drive productivity<\/a> to grow bigger, better, and faster in a time of uncertainty? The answer is simple: innovation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s have a look at some ways that innovation can help small businesses drive productivity and get the most out of their technologies and workforces.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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5 Productivity Tips Every Small Business Needs to Know<\/span><\/h2>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Our latest guide offers five simple tips to stay efficient and productive. You will learn how choosing the right tools will empower your business.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

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Innovation starts when a problem arises<\/b><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In a time when anyone can create an app simply by dragging and dropping components<\/a>, innovation has been democratised. Everyone in the workforce now has the potential to be their own IT department. If a problem arises, it no longer takes a highly trained team to tackle it \u2013 it only takes a single person with a creative idea for a solution<\/a>. And solutions are where true innovation starts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Innovation\u2019 has become something of a catch-all term in an age of blue-sky thinkers and bespoke technologies, being used to describe anything new. But innovation is most effective when it\u2019s directed at solving a problem. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

After all, it doesn\u2019t take a Steve Jobs or Thomas Edison to innovate, it only takes someone on the customer service team who sees a way to leverage a technology or processes to remove a bottleneck and deliver better service. Or a sales rep who realises that new sales tools<\/a> can be more effective than in-person meetings, enabling them to book twice as many face-to-face. Or a retailer that responds to store closures by imagining a virtual changing-room app that allows customers to try on looks from home; and then just click-and-collect what they want, contact-free and worry-free.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyone can be a problem-solver, which is why it\u2019s so important for small businesses to create a culture of innovation to boost productivity.<\/a> But innovation can be ephemeral, hard to define and even harder to measure. So how can small businesses successfully build a foundation for innovation <\/a>and productivity in the digital age?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The importance of innovation is clear, but execution is lacking<\/b><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019re in a unique moment. A McKinsey report<\/a> shows that:<\/p>\n\n\n\n