In times of real-time communications, companies have to have lightning-fast servers and systems that make the large amounts of data transparent and usable. In fact, experts believe that rapid scaling, combined with the proper use of IT across all industries, celebrates a triumph today, because cheap computing power, sensors and web applications, accelerate business models and their communication enormously. Particularly for the middle class, there is huge untapped potential. Cloud computing, performance optimization and digital channels that ensure simple, quick, and intuitive interaction (both within the company, as well as with the customers) are no longer just for corporations central success factors.

There are no cookie cutter solutions

In rapidly scalable business models, IT infrastructure and processes grow analog with the requirements of the company, so there is no modular system by the numbers. Instead, every business needs custom solutions that are lasting and scalable. The scalability of an application is due to a flexible infrastructure that is adapted to the requirements and consistently designed for further expansion. This can be, for example, the use of cloud computing, virtualization or outsourcing. The goal is to ensure a good mix of new approaches and proven technologies to achieve high operational reliability. Finally yet importantly, the sustainable consideration of safety, legal frameworks and avoiding critical external dependencies, complete a good IT concept. Understandably, the complexity of the digitization challenges decision-makers extremely, because competition and existing market positions radically change by the digital transformation. Business-, digital-, and IT strategies are inseparable and critical for business success and a company’s long-term existence.

Checklist on how to make your business quickly scalable:

• Know your applications and processes: In order to ensure rapid scalability of your business, you must first measure and evaluate the status: How long does it take to call up your website? Is my checkout process user-friendly? How fast are customer queries answered? Etc.
• Select cloud computing as a solution: Both private and public cloud offer flexible usage and IT structures that you need for scaling. Define your individual needs and choose the right system accordingly.
• With the reliable performance of the computing infrastructure, you can quickly respond to queries of your users. Latencies are minimized by means of consistent CPU, storage, and disk performance, even direct response to fluctuating traffic is possible. The advantage of scalable models is clearly that you only pay for what you really use.
• Ensure real-time communication: Today, users expect to be able to communicate with a company in the social web. Therefore, it is important to provide and manage this kind of communication in real-time. By using social media monitoring, you can influence your business communication in real-time and gain competitive advantages.
• Convert data into usable information: Real smart data usage makes business models quickly scalable; however, a high-quality database is still the basis for an individualized approach in the customer journey. Whoever wants to go from Big Data to Smart Data should evaluate the data collected even more intensely in the future in order to develop specific actions and successful campaigns. A well-structured database is a prerequisite for this.
• Fast upgrade is essential: Remember how digitization has changed the book business, Amazon the retail industry, and the Cloud our work processes: Technologies and a changed user behavior require flexibly actions and networked business models.M2M and the Internet of Things (IoT) play directly into this flexibility of business models and call for a rethink in all areas. Companies that pin their hopes on high scalability create new rules on the market and push the digitization forward. The best example is Google, for instance, who makes the search as relevant as possible by examining steadily the number of searches on its platform and drawing conclusions for its algorithms.

Digital innovations turn business models inside out

Summing up, the advantages of fast-scalable business models are, providing:

• a quick response to market,- and competitive situation;
• hardware-based, high-performance cluster driven business models;
• flexible reaction on resulting market opportunities;
• so that no costly and time-consuming retrofitting of IT required;
• that processes are optimized and standardized;
• quick and efficient processing of orders and customer inquiries

WhatsApp, Twitter and Co. are used by millions of users on a daily basis and are increasingly outshining traditional business models. Especially the Asian market, with its trendsetting Alibaba, has an obvious pioneer at work. However, investments in personnel, technology, and processes are needed to create and use platforms that push the own business model, whereby quick-scalable business models achieve a solid operating performance. Process automation and algorithms enable companies like Amazon and Google to manage billions of transactions and spread targeted product recommendations.

Learn from these big players and draw conclusions for your own business. By scaling financial benefits such as sales, profits and market capitalization per employee, the overall performance can be recorded sustainably.

By Daniela La Marca