Gaining a competitive edge; that’s an expression we hear so much about in business circles — often with regard to services provided by Brebners and project management software — but what exactly does it mean; moreover, what does achieving a ‘competitive edge’ actually entail?
According to Wiki Answers, gaining a competitive edge is “the ability of an organisation to produce goods and services more effectively than competitors do, thereby outperforming them”, whilst Investopedia defines a competitive edge as “An advantage that a firm has over its competitors, allowing it to generate greater sales or margins and/or retain more customers than its competition.”
Whilst that’s what ‘gaining a competitive edge’ means, what does it entail?
It would therefore involve working towards possessing an advantage over the competition. For example, utilising financial advice and tax planning services to structure finances in an advantageous manner, as well as project management software that effectively enhance their project management capabilities by aiding collaborative efforts in such a way that they’re provided with a means to outperform their competitors and gain a greater share of the market — hence the competitive edge.
Working towards gaining a competitive edge right from the beginning
Start-ups are afforded some distinct advantages over more established businesses in many regards. This isn’t to say that they’ll necessarily be able to gain a competitive edge — established business currently have the competitive edge because they’re already established — but more so that they’re presented with some remarkable opportunities to decrease the divide and overtake them due to the fact that:
- Management is generally younger, more open-minded and interested in exploring their options concerning, amongst other things, business plans and planning, the way that their business is structured and the software they use
- They’re yet (hopefully) to make mistakes that have alienated potential clients and customers and they can access informed advice to aid them in avoiding making mistakes, for example failing to utilise state-of-the-art project management software
- They can access the advice and the support (professional and software) they require to effectively compete — with their small and often streamlined organisations — on the same stage as larger, better established businesses
These are three of many reasons why you shouldn’t — with the right products and services including accounting advice and assistance, project management software, etc. — underestimate your start-up’s capabilities and therefore its ability to compete on the same scale as larger, well-established business organisations.
Moreover, as many business experts, entrepreneurs and start-up founders know well, the right products and services aren’t just what are often described as ‘enablers’, they’re also in many regards ‘equalisers’; tools that empower a levelling of the ‘business playing field’ and provide start-ups with the means to effectively compete as equals with the ‘big boys in business’.
As a start-up founder, you’re undoubtedly on the lookout for means and methods, i.e. tools, which enable you to level the playing field and services provided by Brebners and state-of-the-art project management software that enables easy-to-use collaboration functionalities could be the tools you’ve been looking for.