The High Risk of a 'Wait and See' Approach - Big Think - 0 views
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On the surface, taking a “wait and see” approach seems to make sense
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In the past, when we were going through rapid change (not massive transformation like we’re seeing today), a company could use a “wait and see” approach because it was harder for competitors to develop and deploy new offerings quickly, and it was harder for established competitors to change the game or redefine completely
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Anyone, at any time, can quickly become more relevant than you because the barriers to entry are low and the ability to scale is fast
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deciding to “wait and see”—can quickly put you on a path of increasing irrelevancy or a rapid demise.
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you can see how detrimental a “wait and see” approach can be—how you’re actually missing major new opportunities for sales and growth
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This year, many forward-looking school districts across the country are moving away from textbooks and issuing tablets filled with ebooks to students
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The way you can design for mobile users, engage visitors, increase sales, track people, and improve your rankings with search engine optimization are changing so rapidly that if your site is two years old, it’s obsolet
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Today, new competitors can emerge rapidly, and they can even be from another part of the world. Geography is increasingly less of a hindrance
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deciding to “wait and see”—can quickly put you on a path of increasing irrelevancy or a rapid demise.
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We’re transforming all of these things plus more, and if you don’t initiate the transformation, someone else will.
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To see the difference between mere change and game-changing transformation, consider these examples: Barnes & Noble may have changed bookselling by creating the super bookstore, but Amazon transformed how we buy books and so much more
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Therefore, you have to evaluate what you’re saying “no” to in terms of potential lost opportunity, because what you could gain by saying “yes” will often outweigh the perceived risk and expense.
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Because technology is increasing so fast and because we are in a period of rapid transformation are the exact reasons why you can no longer “wait and see” what will happen.
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This article discussed the importance of being ahead of the curve and why the 'wait and see' approach is not beneficial in most cases. If you 'wait and see' you can become irrelevant very quickly as there are many others out there, in many cases other parts of the world, making new inventions and discoveries daily. This article gave a great example where a school system implemented tables and the amount of money they saved was $25k/year. There are many benefits to staying ahead of the curve and as the article states "If you don't do it, someone else will".
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A "wait and see" approach has a higher risk than it being avoided. One of the cons is that it can pave the way to a company no longer being relevant. New opportunities for sales and growth may be missed if a company does not begin to evolve quickly.