Christian Beck, InfoTrack’s founder and EY Entrepreneur of the Year, is a driving force behind InfoTrack’s continued growth. We’ve learnt a lot of lessons from him which we like to call the ‘Beck Principles’ and they are vital to our innovation process. Over the last couple of weeks, our Exec team have been sharing what ‘Beck principle’ they attribute to great entrepreneurship.
Lee Bailie – GM Products and Innovation
Hone in on opportunities that no one else sees
While successful entrepreneurs come from various backgrounds, upbringings and economic status, one thing they all have in common is the ability to hone in on opportunities where others see problems. Richard Branson founded Virgin Airlines after being frustrated with cancelled flights. Travis Kalanick and Garret Camp founded Uber after they had trouble hailing a cab. And Christian Beck founded LEAP and InfoTrack after seeing his father deal with the hassle of managing a legal practice.
Innovation doesn’t have to be super complex, it can start by simply identifying a pain point and then working from there to come up with solutions. Viewing problems and setbacks as an opportunity, as opposed to a burden, has been critical to InfoTrack’s success. Firstly, it conceptualizes the problem; allowing the mind to think about the effects and potential responses to the problem make analysing easier. Secondly, by constantly adapting and improving you’ll be encouraging business growth. Finally, it reinforces a positive cycle; once you’ve solved one problem, fixing other problems in the future becomes much easier.
Daniel Ryding – Chief Technology Officer
From concept to creation – developing products
Vision or the ability to see and bring to life the image in your head is imperative for entrepreneurial success. It’s what makes you dare; to explore, challenge, push and ultimately succeed.
New products and services are the lifelines of every business, so having a vision is essential in the building and developing stage. However, this doesn’t come without risk. One of the greatest lessons I’ve learned in my entrepreneurial journey is how fundamental listening is to learning and creating clarity in product development plans. If you’re speaking, you’re not learning. Stay curious, ask questions and really listen to the answers.
Tony Ghiazza – Chief Financial Officer
The role of finance in innovation
One of the biggest workplace misconceptions is undoubtedly the thought that finance teams are in the office to solely count numbers and crunch data. This couldn’t be further from the truth. For companies to really herald innovation, finance needs to be healthily integrated.
Rather than just caring for company data, innovative finance teams need to learn how to analyse information. This is vital in monitoring and keeping on top of consumer trends. Understanding consumer behaviours and the driving force behind them is necessary for predicting where your business will be in the future, helping you to spend where needed. Finance is best positioned to see the bigger picture as they know what is going on across the business so that they can spot opportunities early on.
Kim Phillips – Head of Operations
Combining a positive customer service experience with innovation
The word ‘innovation’ is used a lot. Depending on who you’re talking to, its definition can vary as well. With regards to customer service though, I’d describe ‘innovation’ as breaking boundaries; transforming the way in which customers interact with a service.
At InfoTrack, we provide a customer support experience like no other. By giving our clients control over their experience and more transparency in the process helps us to ensure that they are always kept in the loop. It’s a more innovative way of servicing customers that don’t just leave them waiting around for answers. While innovation and customer service aren’t usually linked, giving your customers the tools that allow them to create their own experience can be a win-win for all parties involved.