Optimized Practices: What Legacy Businesses Can Learn From Tech Culture

The tech industry in general operates very differently from many legacy businesses, but that is not necessarily a bad thing. In fact, there are quite a few unique practices that would benefit any company that wants to innovate and grow. In this article, we discuss a few key ways that any legacy business can modernize the workplace and continuously improve by drawing on lessons from tech culture.

Modernizing the Workplace

Optimizing Workflows

A common feature of tech companies is optimized workflows, which are universal enough to apply to any legacy business. Following preset guidelines for when and how work should be completed is unnecessary when thinking outside the box can improve efficiency and ultimately reduce costs.

For example, many tech companies have shifted their workflow culture away from strict, segmented schedules and daily meetings that clog calendars. Instead, legacy businesses can adopt more flexible workflows that actually fit how each employee works best. On top of that basic solution, you should also consider investing in better healthcare and various wellness habits or benefits that will improve employee engagement as they optimize their workflows. 

Encourage your employees to be part of the process as you find new ways to get the same work done more sustainably and efficiently. They know better than anyone which parts of the current system work best and which parts might actually be getting in the way.

Embracing Automation

In the era of AI, more and more tech companies are revealing the benefits of embracing automation. Many legacy business leaders might worry that emerging technologies will lead to job losses or system disruptions, but neither has to be true. AI tools are designed to automate routine tasks that take up too much valuable time and energy.

Once certain low-value tasks are fully automated, your employees can spend more of their workday figuring out high-value tasks that absolutely require human workers. Your company should explore ways that AI and other technologies can automate both general tasks and industry-specific tasks as well. The amount and type of automation available will naturally vary based on what your company does.

Supporting Innovation

Tech culture is driven by new and exciting ideas, and any legacy business will grow if it can support innovation in a similar way. Many markets have become increasingly competitive because so many brands offer either the same product or very similar products at the same scale. Even legacy businesses need to think creatively to stand out in such a landscape.

One of the most basic ways that tech companies support innovation is by encouraging staff to stay on top of emerging trends. Specific workflows, or parts of workflows, should be dedicated to staying on top of the newest and most exciting ideas in your industry. Senior staff should also be encouraged to hear out new employees when they propose ideas to innovate even the most standard practices in your business.

Committing to a Faster Pace

Consistently moving at a fast pace is another crucial part of tech culture that legacy businesses should adopt where applicable. Long buying cycles and other elements of your business may require a minimum amount of time to perform well, but many parts of your model can likely be sped up.

Many traditional businesses only focus on one issue at a time and pause less serious issues until they become high-priority. Take a lesson from tech culture: treat every customer concern or technical issue with the most prompt attention and response. Treating each issue as it arises will help your company get everything done faster and more efficiently as workflows are optimized.

Continuous Improvement

Customer-Centric Strategies

One of the easiest ways to continuously improve your legacy business is by always centering the customer. The tech industry conducts extensive customer research for every part of the development process and then uses that data to personalize their customer service. Your company can also continuously collect information from customers and use it to improve their experience.

To get the most effective feedback from your customers, create a feedback system (e.g., digital complaint form, review board) so that you are always hearing their thoughts on current products and services. Ask them which locations gave them the best experience and which ones delivered subpar service. Collect both quantitative and qualitative information and use it to regularly update your business model, ranging anywhere from your base product to your social media presence.

Product Testing

Tech culture also continuously improves and perfects their products through constant testing. Legacy businesses tend to be resistant to such models because it is easier to continuously test and perfect technological devices. However, the same basic principle can be applied to almost any product or service.

The first step to building a testing culture into your business is by breaking down product development into stages. Create new products and new versions of your old products and release them to trusted beta testers whose feedback can then be used to perfect the final product. The exact process will look different based on what your company does or makes, but the basic idea remains the same: keep testing and perfecting as you operate.

Data-Driven Decisions

Tech companies are often able to continuously improve by focusing primarily on data-driven decisions. Intuition and qualitative information certainly have their place, but number-based facts will lead to smarter and more effective strategies across any sector of your legacy business.

Sales numbers are key pieces of data that any modern business will have, but there is also data on customer searches, transaction information, and online engagement that can be collected as well. Once you’ve collected enough on the most important sectors of your business (e.g., sales, marketing, customer service), use analytics software and AI tools to point out trends your business can capitalize on.

Key Takeaways

If you want to grow your legacy brand, it might be time to optimize business models in new and exciting ways. By optimizing workflows, embracing automation, supporting innovation, and committing to a faster pace, your workplace can be brought into the modern era. It can also be continuously improved through customer-centric strategies, product testing, and data-driven decisions. Legacy businesses that want to grow at a new scale need a new model inspired by the hustle and drive of the tech industry.

Author Bio

Author Name: Sherjan Husainie

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sherjan

Author Bio: Sherjan Husainie is the Founder of KIRO,  the world’s most advanced chiropractic brand. He studied Aerospace Engineering at the University of Toronto and Financial Engineering at UCLA Anderson. Before founding KIRO, Sherjan worked at Google and was a Vice President in Investment Banking at Morgan Stanley. His mission is to make modern, accessible chiropractic care available to 100 million members globally.