NEVER STAND STILL
BUSINESS
Words by Rachel Zammit Cutajar
Innovation strategy now sits with commercial planning, marketing, sustainability, and HR management as key elements in the success of a business. Multi-year plans with clearly defined objectives and barometers of progress ensure that innovation is plotted and appraised meticulously. Johan Strand, the new CEO at Zimpler, believes that the company needs to be constantly on the move to create pioneering products that will allow them to retain market share, and keep the company growing from strength to strength.
Failure to innovate is among the biggest threats to any organisation, and this resonates clearly for any tech company. If the prize of successful innovation is demonstrated by companies such as Facebook, Google, Netflix and Apple, the lessons of failure lie in the companies that are left in their wake. Blackberry once boasted half of the world’s smartphone market, and now struggles to achieve less than 1%. Meanwhile, Blockbuster turned down the opportunity to buy plucky start-up Netflix for a mere $50 million; it is now defunct. Innovation in fintech companies is allowing organisations to service customers in new and unexpected ways. With experimentation in automation, predictive analytics, new delivery platforms, digital-only banking, blockchain and more, companies in the fintech industry need to be one step ahead to remain relevant. “Five years ago, we could have not conceived the idea of the products we’re offering today, let alone build them. To think that what we can get by with the products we have today in five years would be sheer lunacy. In order for us to thrive, we need to be challenging the status quo, and fostering a culture of innovation.”
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Johan’s management style - refusing to stand still by taking any challenge that comes his way - is reflected in his personal life. In 2012, he founded the uphill race Stockholm’s Brantaste (translated as Stockholm’s Steepest), a gruelling 3.3km run up Stockholm’s highest hill. “We wanted to create something that hasn’t been done before. Something challenging. This was the first mountain run in Sweden, and has been successful for six years.” Though the race is short, the terrain is tough, with runners averaging their 5k pace throughout the race. “It takes a certain kind of runner to get involved in something of this nature, where every step is a challenge. You need to have a bold and innovative mindset to make it to the top.” This attitude is reflected in the company culture at Zimpler. When recruiting, they’re looking for people who don’t step back from a challenge, who see something that hasn’t been done before and jump right in, finding the most efficient solutions to the task at hand.
