When organizations grow, they need to find ways to keep their size or their customer expectations from overwhelming the initial business model. If you aren't careful, you'll fail to meet demand or face runaway cost structures. To grow more efficiently, strategic partnerships open a multitude of potential pathways to success. Finding the right partner can not only help you grow but also stabilize your organization for a long and prosperous future. Here are several ways they can accomplish that.
Use Already-Built Infrastructures
If 2020 taught us anything, it is that organizations must be nimble. The pandemic hit more than just personal health; it hit businesses hard if they were not equipped to adapt to unknown risks. One way to avoid these kinds of pitfalls is to identify business partners that are already built to do what you need.
“Don’t reinvent the wheel, choose a strategic partner with a proven and stable infrastructure. This will allow you to reduce risk, compliance costs and go to market much quicker than building it yourself,” states Marc Beauchamp, author of Survive and Thrive in the Merchant Services Industry.
If you need to scale up shipping to meet new demand, find ways around production delays, or expand your customer service team, a partnership can help you get quickly to the levels you need to reach. Identify companies with infrastructures you can rely on to keep your business lean and make it more efficient.
Cut Your Costs
New staff, supplies, and equipment cost money. When your business is growing, these can be necessary expenses to absorb. If you are in a boom period, though, you may not be ready to scale up fully, in case demand declines again. Even if you are confident the need will continue, sometimes taking on the burden of expansion from solely within your organization builds too much overhead for you to remain competitive. Here, again, a strong strategic partnership can provide answers. Growing intelligently sometimes means bringing on an organization that already has what you need. If the partner's pricing comes in under what you would have to expend, it makes sense to consider the opportunity carefully.
Expand Your Expertise
Finally, any time you provide a new capability or product for your customers, you face a learning curve. When you are going it alone, you can ultimately reach your goal and serve your customers well, but the growing pains you endure can create problems—both within your organization and with the customers who rely on you. Partners with expertise in areas like payment processing and logistics can shorten the curve and have your new capabilities competitive more quickly. Instead of struggling to catch up, you can stay ahead of your needs.
Every growth model looks different. If you already have the structure and expertise needed to grow in new directions, you may not need to take on a partner. If not, finding the right strategic partner helps you rein in costs and keep providing the expert service your customers will continue to demand. As you move forward into 2021 and beyond, consider partnership opportunities that will help you be efficient and effective.
