Article by David Glusman, Advisory Services Partner, "Striving For Innovation Is Never A Wasted Effort" Featured in Region’s Business

Excerpt:

Innovation is defined as the application of better solutions that meet new requirements, inarticulate needs, or existing market needs. That’s what Wikipedia says. When looking at businesses, innovation is really taking an idea or thought about how to improve a process, product, way of life or otherwise make things better than they are today, while achieving profitability and sustaining growth.

In our business working with emerging and middle market companies, we observe innovation in many different forms.

For example, one client was able to double their profit margin from 10% to over 20% by refining the application of engineering technology to certain aspects of their manufacturing process.

Another client, a software provider to the banking industry, was able to look forward in time and see additional applications for their software. They recruited expensive talent with specialized computer programming capabilities, invested several million dollars in software upgrades and began realizing 40 percent-plus gross profits as well as substantially increased sales.

This all stemmed from a visionary leader willing to provide capital and allow the technical leadership enough time to provide a state-of-the-art enhanced product.

One healthcare professional I advise has virtually built an empire by constantly innovating new ways to connect with his patients. His ingenuity, creativity and talent has won him national acclaim, but at the heart of his enterprise is the genuine desire to leave the world a better place than when he entered it. That passion is the driving motivator behind his continued success in a very competitive marketplace.

Also on the healthcare front are those medical entrepreneurs who have embraced changes in technology, the advent of the Affordable Care Act, the economic realities of the managed care system to transform aspects of healthcare in order to provide more cost-effective, improved patient outcomes.