Is Your Business Obsessed With Innovation

Is Your Business Obsessed With Innovation

Every successful businesses has a special formula; they’re obsessed with innovation – it’s in their DNA.

They’re conditioned to continually seek something that helps them grow the business even more. They thrive on new ideas that grow market share, turnover, customer numbers and, most importantly  grow profit.

Businesses that continually innovate are seeking the ‘silver bullet; the innovation that will change the world. Whilst it’s unlikely they’ll find it, they’re not deterred; they keep on innovating and reaping the rewards.

Often their innovation drives incremental change; turning ideas into workable solutions that help growth.

Radical innovation is rare, but incremental innovation is available to everyone. We all recognise the power of 1%. British Cycling used this magic number to take them from three bronze medals in Atlanta Olympics to a golden haul at London 2012. Everything they did found itself under the 1% microscope.

The question they asked was ‘where can we find the next 1% gain?’ What could they change by 1% that would make the riders go 1% faster? – a bike 1% lighter & quicker, an athlete 1% fitter or with 1% more stamina or strength or sprint capability? These questions delivered some unexpected innovations; a better pillow helped riders sleep more soundly and so perform better. Each 1% improvement added up to big improvement; 1 + 1 = lots!

Innovation is all about doing something different and making money BUT doing the right something is the crucial point.

Innovation happens when everyone can be creative; coming up with solutions to the problems that they face daily. Innovation isn’t just about products; anyone can have a good idea about anything – any idea could be a good idea so make sure you keep an open mind and collect ideas from everywhere.

As Andrew Warren, vice president of Cap Gemini Ernst & Young, said “Good businesses obsess about innovation constantly. Great businesses obsess about it constantly and do something about it.”

Here at Friend & Grant we can assist you firstly with your planning- helping to create your strategic plan or budgets and forecasts. We can also implement proper management reporting systems through cloud accounting and provide a quasi “FD” role if you would like far more proactive support in growing your business.

We can also introduce you to Innovate UK a government body which might be able to help you through the Innovate to Succeed (I2S) coaching program. They help companies maximise opportunities from innovation. They help businesses to learn what innovation is and how to develop an innovation culture. But their real skill is helping people turn good ideas into reality, whether that’s bringing a new product to market, changing processes and systems to improve user experience, efficiencies & cost savings, introducing a new service or accessing a new markets at home or abroad. If you’d like some help give us a call and we’ll connect you to the innovation team.

We can also advise on numerous tax planning opportunities. Here are 5 great tax efficient schemes we  have used to help drive innovative firms:

1. If you want to attract a specific investor, then EIS and SEIS (Enterprise Investment Scheme and Seed Enterprise Investment Scheme) are specialist tax schemes designed to incentivise individuals to invest in qualifying companies. If you’re considering investing in a business yourself then these 2 schemes are important for you.
2. Lots has been said about Research & Development Tax Relief and Tax Credits. It’s a brilliant scheme that rewards companies who invest in R&D even if the project fails. Here are 2 case studies from our clients, Asbestos First and Total Machining, demonstrating their value.
3. Considering offering shares to your key employees? We’ve implemented a number of share option schemes for clients through the Enterprise Management Incentive (EMI), including one for a software development company who need to keep 2 key software developers on board.
4. Patent Box rewards businesses with lower tax on profits when those profits are generated by products where there are patents in place.
5. There’s even a special tax incentive for video game development companies!

All of these schemes offer business owners great opportunities to take advantage of tax breaks. Give Mark, Andrew or your client manager a call on 01634 731390 or email Mark@friendandgrant.co.uk if you’d like to investigate how we can help you more.

The content in this blog is correct as at 29/07/2019. See terms and conditions.