In our on-demand society instant business is an expectation

There's a growing demand for instant access plug and play solutions from startups, says Sean Harrison Smith

The growing appetite for on-demand services and instant fulfilment is spilling over from the world of the consumer into the business world. While we're just about willing to wait 24-hours for next day delivery, the perks of living in a technologically connected society such as streaming any song instantly on Spotify without requesting it from the radio station, consuming binge-worthy content on Netflix or Hulu and reading stories as they break on social media, have made us expectant of instant gratification.

Our patience is diminishing and while one generation moves towards retirement and is replaced by the next, changes must be made. Regardless of the fact that the pace of business is rapidly becoming faster than ever before, services still aren't delivered on a similar timescale.

As a product of an on-demand society, the Netflix generation is not as good at waiting and is nowhere near as tolerant of delays. To an older IT director free of these expectations, it would be quite acceptable for an integration project to drag on for over a year or more. Yet with competitors at their heels, they often don't have a choice but to attempt to speed up their operations.

In many respects, the cloud has helped this situation, enabling businesses to download applications whenever and wherever they want on a subscription basis rather than having to make a large capital outlay on software. Together with the forward-looking attitude of some software vendors such as Salesforce who have opened up their APIs to encourage the development of third party plug-ins to complement their product, the open movement has also been responsible for progress.

We work with many startups looking for plug-in options, open APIs and simple plug and play solutions. They want - and need - the capability immediately. Without the burden of legacy systems representing heavy investments which still need to show some return, they are better placed than many to take advantage of running a low-overhead operation.

Indeed, it's never been easier to open up a business anywhere in the world with nothing more than a laptop and a phone.

Yet, businesses grow and what worked for a maverick start-up may not apply to a mainstream enterprise. For example, one of our clients - a technology provider - started out with just two people and within a year had turned over several million and was working towards an IPO. It started with one Saleforce module and kept adding them throughout that year.

So what would be our recommendations on making plug and play work for your business?

• Keep it simple. The most powerful solutions are usually the least complicated. Why did the iPhone win out? Because of its streamlined design. Twitter? Because it restricted our word count. When it comes to software, look at the accountancy tool Xero, one of the fastest growing in the world but its completely open system means the plug and play options are exceptional.
• Make sure anything you choose is true plug and play and can be easily swapped. Technology advances so quickly and you must make sure you are prepared for the future, that your chosen solution will scale up - and your IT architecture too.
• Is there a minimum length of subscription or can you just turn it off after three months if you want to scale up? How easy is this to do? It may have looked good on paper, but you don't want to be lumbered with expensive get-out costs.
• Decide whether your business is in the middle or fast lane for growth. Both have their advantages, but, these days, fast lane growth could depend on plug and play.

Plug and play solutions are ideal for small businesses planning on growth because of their modularity and flexibility. Yet, the agility they provide will mean larger companies will be looking over their shoulder too - and may find that they work for them too.

Sean Harrison Smith is managing director of Ceterna

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