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How curious businesses stay ahead of the curve

Susie Stokes

In our fast-paced modern world, with the next ‘new’ start-up continually challenging the norm, innovation is key to keeping pace, and standing still, means you get left behind.

So, how do businesses keep pace?

The answer is simple, curiosity. Curiosity is an important driver of creativity, but unlike creativity which is about solving problems, curiosity is about exploration and expansion.

One way for businesses to stay relevant and ahead of the curve using curiosity, is to look for early evidence of emerging trends; these can be ambiguous, fleeting and often isolated from wider trends. Rackspace, a leading provider of IT-as-a-service in today’s multi-cloud world has conducted research around these early indicators and trends called “weak signals”. When it comes to curiosity, a person’s inclination to be curious has a direct relationship to how sensitive they are to identify and interpret these weak signals.

The benefits that await if these signals can be correctly interpreted and used with business outcomes in mind include product, service or operational innovations, and productivity improvements, all driving business success.

In business, being curious increases your chances of detecting these early signs or “weak signals” of the next big trend. It can mean, not only not getting left behind but potentially staying ahead of the pack and setting industry pace.

So, armed with this advanced knowledge, you get time (giving you competitive agility) to make new developments and improvements of your own, ensuring you’re ready to react as the next big trend is breaking.

By learning, exploring and investigating business challenges you ensure it thrives now and in the future.

Be curious, it’s good for business.

Photo credit: Teddy Kelley

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