The key to business success revealed…

Ok so not exactly, but it did catch your attention!

I’ve been thinking about what every successful business has in common, as a business studies student and a bit of a wannabe entrepreneur this was of great interest to me so I came up with one very obvious idea.

KISS = Keep It Simple Stupid

Most successful businesses start with one Very simple idea! Lets take Sir Alan Sugar for example. When he started Amstrad his main aim was not to the push development of his target area but to beat and undercut everyone of his competitors products prices.

So what was his Solution?
It’s very simple, all of his competitors at the time were producing separate units for each of the HI-FI systems they were selling. But… each of those units which were put together to make a complete HI-FI system were using the same duplicate components. So… by making one complete unit and only using one of each of the components required he could greatly reduce the costs to produce the unit! ISN’T THAT SIMPLE!

This can also be applied to situations such as Programming.

Lets now take Apple as an example. Once you have switched on an Apple Mac it has been designed as such that even a 5 year old could use it! The dock menu system is Simple the icons are self explanatory, their purpose is instantly obvious and pleasing to the eye. Program installation is easy simply download and drag to the location you wish to access the program from!

So… What two points can we take from apple to make a successful business or application?

A Five Year Old should be able to use your product or you should be able to explain how it works to one!

And…

It Just Works! should be your motto.

Now… I truly believe the open source community and programmers could take a leaf from some of the tactics the companies mentioned have used.

• Don’t make programs complicated, Keep Them Simple Stupid!
• It should be so nice and aesthetically pleasing a Five Year Old, will want and will instantly know how to use it!
• You shouldn’t need to install or configure other programs to get it to work, you should be able to label your program with a big bright yellow star saying: “It Just Works!“

I really do think the Open Source movement is moving in the right direction, but if these suggestions were implemented in every thing which is created (where appropriate) we would see growth in leaps and bounds!