Modern technology moves at a brisk and exciting pace. If you try to do today what succeeded yesterday, you’ll get left behind. The leading innovators provide today what consumers want tomorrow.
There’s a kind of paradox at work: how do you create a replicable blueprint for something constantly new and in flux? If there were a universal path towards innovation, everyone would do it. However, there are a few underlying traits innovators tend to share.
Data Solves Real Problems
Most modern devices rely on computer processing that can churn more data faster than ever. Sometimes tech platforms look sleek and slick, but underneath, processing data is their real value.
Innovator Regan McGee, for one, built the real estate technology platform Nobul that computes thousands of real estate data points, putting valuable insights and listings into the palms of users’ hands they’d never get otherwise. All users need to do is list their budget and describe what they’re looking for in a property, and the algorithm works tirelessly in the background to serve them the perfect listings on a silver platter.
There’s a lot of marketing hype over “innovation” in tech, but the point isn’t to simply do something new or different. If you substantially improve on an existing service, your product will become popular, especially in industries like real estate, where people make the biggest purchase of their life. Useless innovation doesn’t benefit anybody.
Transparency Matters
Innovators must be upfront with users and show that they have nothing to hide. Any time a new, sleek service comes into existence, people may get skeptical and wonder what the catch is. Show them there is none.Now company leaders can swiftly adjust their workflows and goals while responding to problems with confidence based on a position of accurate data to support what they have decided.And with more advanced analytics, such as data commercialisation, company executives learn more about the potential of their data assets and how to use them.
For example, the most innovative real estate technology flips the script by incentivizing agents to contact buyers rather than the reverse. Homebuyers are free to peruse the agents’ key indicators, including their rates, experience levels, and verified user reviews.
Nobul doesn’t let agents pay money to get listed or ranked higher. The most innovative platforms need reliable data, so users feel confident.
Security and Privacy Are Essential
Sadly, technology can cut both ways. The most advanced platforms might deliver services that seem to border on magic. The most impressive, innovative tech falls apart the moment it threatens people’s privacy.
A data breach can end a company, as it’s hard or even impossible to recover from it. Data breaches cause a loss of consumer trust in the product and company and may lead to devastating lawsuits or reputational damage.
Nip this in the bud by not sharing user data with third-party marketers or anybody at all. In Nobul’s case, they never share the user’s phone number with the real estate agents.
There cannot be one universal approach to something that’s by definition singular and new, but remember to keep your eye on the big picture. Don’t be different merely to be “innovative.” Instead, leverage new technology to solve an old problem without creating new ones, and you’ll be well on your way.
