One of the things we often hear from people who attend our presentations is: “I hear about ‘stuff’, but I don’t have the time to follow up… that is why I’m glad we booked you so you can cut through the noise and let us know what is relevant.” In Innovation Theory there something called “The Hype Cycle”. This tracks the level of attention and information around something as part of its innovation evolution. FinTech is approaching the zenith of its hype cycle. Consequently, there is a lot of noise and information in the system that one needs to work through to make sense of the sector.
It’s not always possible to book one of the TomorrowToday Global team to come talk you through a topic, so today’s tip is on how you personally can engage with FinTech intelligently and find out what is relevant for your business and world.
Tip #1 – Don’t be in a hurry. Allow yourself 10 – 12 weeks to really get your head into the space… if you need perspective quicker you WILL need to book one of our team 😉
Tip #2 – Use Google Alerts to do the work for you. Google alerts will drop a selected number of links into your inbox at an interval you decide (daily, weekly, etc) on a topic you define. I would suggest two simple alerts to start with, and then add one or two more based on the information you start to receive.
Alert 1 – “The Future of (insert your industry here)”
Alert 2 – “Fintech and (insert your industry here)”
Tip #3 – Don’t be too pedantic with your Google Alerts. Skim the headlines that are fed to you and only click on a link that catches your eye (it is easy to get sucked into an article only to realise that it is not useful or relevant). Give the article no more than 3 paragraphs to grab your attention. If it doesn’t, close it and move on. Create a folder on your machine and save the articles into it that catch you and make sense – I would recommend saving any article that catches you beyond 3 paragraphs (see tip #5).
Tip #4 – Don’t get stressed that you may miss a good / vital piece of info. The nature of the internet is that good info is referenced from / by multiple sources. If you do miss it today you will get it again in a few days from another source.
Tip #5 – After 6-7 weeks go to your folder and review the articles you have saved. You will probably not need to open many of them because you read them and remember the gist of the content. Look for threads / trends in the articles. Create sub-folders for each trend and move your articles into them. For the balance of your research / review period you now have handles to attach to the process in Tips #1-4.
These 5 simple steps will aid you in not only making sense of the plethora of information out there related to FinTech (or any topic you wish to research for that matter), but will be invaluable in enabling you to understand what that means for you and your business.
You may still want to contact us for a presentation after this, but then your brief will be detailed and specific and we will be able to deliver significantly more value for you money.
(#Free Tip – our Fintech White Paper is a great place to start in understanding the sector and what it could mean for your business. We’re also pretty sure you’ll make it past the first 3 paragraphs!)
