In the heads of successful entrepreneurs, but also in that of the most rampant freelancers, there is a fixed thought: how to maintain your competitive advantage. This is because once you reach the goal, another challenge begins, perhaps even more difficult, and that is to stay on the crest of the wave.

Threats are around every corner, and recently Mark Zuckerberg demonstrated this in a crystal clear way when Facebook betrayed the privacy of its subscribers. The Palo Alto giant has taken the hit, but will have to work hard to regain user trust.

Let's take some practical examples:

a period of recession that brings problems to suppliers forcing them to close leaving us suddenly without raw materials,

the birth of an innovative super startup that threatens a business model that has been consolidated for years (think of the Uber affair for the taxi market),

New laws suddenly complicate the regulation of the sector and to which we must adapt (condominium administrators know something about it).

The truth is, you never win in the business world. There never comes that time when you can sit on your laurels and continue to be successful without doing anything to hold that position.

Since this is the case, it becomes essential to learn to recognize risks before they arise, and therefore to know how to deal with them.

"Knowledge is power"

By borrowing an agée aphorism, we can begin to think of risk reduction as an investment in our future: the more we know about the risks our business runs, the more ready we will be to avoid them. Let's look at the three most common threats that could jeopardize our success.

Lack of human capital

We may have the perception that, due to the high unemployment rate, the job market is a magic hat from which to bring out the professional figure we need, at any time. In reality, we have to admit that not all people have the same skills and knowledge, so there are some professional skills that are more in demand. The war of talents exists and those with certain skills are more popular, as well as more paid. Consequently, some figures are very difficult to find and consequently their "cost" is higher.

To cope with the possible lack of human capital, there are two ways to go, possibly in parallel: recruit and update. Insisting on recruiting even in times of abundance allows your company to be ready if this risk becomes a reality. Should the need arise, the work can be outsourced to an external professional until we find the right person for our company.

At the same time, however, it is important to strengthen the existing workforce by offering opportunities for updating and education. A good idea is to ask them what they would like to learn and then make it available. There are many online portals that offer courses, even at low cost (for example Udemy). This will allow us to have more and more qualified employees, who perceive our willingness to help them reach their maximum potential.

Accelerate digital transformation.

Who is ready to face digital transformations?

According to recent research, less than a third of companies. Indeed, innovations in this field are almost on the agenda. To prepare in advance, you need to be clear about what works well in the company and what can be improved, so we address every possible digital opportunity to create endless progress.

This doesn't mean that we need to embrace every new digital marketplace, but rather be ready to recognize what can really make sense in our business and adopt it. What practical example? The many who had invested in management software well before the entry into force of electronic invoicing have undoubtedly: first of all they enjoyed for a long time the practical advantage of having professional invoicing software and secondly they experienced the arrival of mandatory electronic invoice with greater peace of mind.

Regulatory barriers

We have already given the example of new laws being introduced in particular sectors as a possible threat. To be even clearer, let's recall the still fresh issue of the GDPR, the recently introduced European legislation on data management and privacy. The issue is important because it concerns internal business processes, which must be managed correctly to avoid sanctions, in case of violation.

It is necessary to create a culture focused on good data administration because we are still talking about information that, once violated, can cost us the trust of our users and collaborators.

These three types of risk can endanger the lives of many companies, including ours, but if we remain vigilant and pay attention to the threats that can affect our company, developing adequate responses, we will not lose our competitive advantage.