A lack of innovation can kill a business, but resources must be put into the right areas, according to George Chirwa, head of digital and mobile at Nedbank, South Africa.
Chirwa’s talk at the Mobile Money World Africa 2013 conference, in Sandton, Johannesburg, was called ‘How to add momentum to your growth strategy’.
The Nedbank chief highlighted the example of music and DVD retailers HMV, which at the peak of its powers was turning over £1 billion (US$1.5 billion), but went into administration last year after losing out to iTunes and online downloads.
Chirwa said innovation does not always have to be revolutionary to continue driving growth in your business. He said “taking the tried and tested model and applying technology to it” is often ideal.
He added: “It is not in the sexy new tech that businesses make their money. It is the everyday tech.
“Your transformation technology will become your bread and butter in a short time and bring in money. The cutting edge technology will have the potential to transform your business, but not in the short to medium term.”
Chirwa sad where many companies fail is they either do not innovate at all or they throw all their resources at one innovation and forget about other channels.
He added: “The challenge is to have that continuous innovation. As you kill products you have to have new ones ready to step in.
“In the banking industry there is no shortage of technology. The challenge is always going to be identifying the right tech based on your product portfolio.”
