Why first movers get the juiciest rewards

There is an old saying – “the early bird gets the worm” – which captures the essence of being a first mover in a competitive landscape.  Being first can enable a company to establish strong brand recognition and customer loyalty before its competitors are even in the market. 

In working with webMethods customers over the years, I’ve seen how their digital projects can not only address business goals but give them first-mover advantages through the ability to develop new products faster than the competition. They also have the advantage of additional time in which to refine products and services and create the baseline price for the item. 

Netflix, the first major player in the streaming industry, now claims an estimated 37% of the world’s Internet users as its customers.  Amazon, pioneering as an online bookstore, used its head start to extend online offerings from books to apparel, electronics, toys, and housewares, attracting a broader base of customers that accelerated its growth.

A fantastic product or idea is great, but if you are unable to implement and get them to market faster than the competition you will lose.  There are many stories of good ideas or even good products that weren’t built or refined quickly enough to claim the leading spot – sorry, Kodak and Palm.

Speed and execution

The bottom line is that speed and ability to execute are just as important as ideas.  Most innovative ideas begin with the fundamentally unique characteristics of a business, its customers, and its products.  And these are embodied in the historical databases, applications, and solutions that are already running the business.  However, they are difficult to access; they’re siloed and inflexible. 

In order to get the most value from these unique resources, businesses need to be able to easily integrate to all systems and data – from databases on-premises and applications in the cloud, to devices.  With webMethods, customers have a firm foundation for innovation with pre-built connectors that provide access to vast amounts of data that lives in the cloud or in on-premises systems.  The largest set of connectors and an easy-to-use UI then accelerate productivity.  But how do you share these new services and products?

Quickly connect your APIs

APIs have become the standard way of providing access to new capabilities for customers and partners.  APIs make it possible to expose data and services in web apps, mobile apps, and other connected devices, driving new business models.  With webMethods, you can quickly and securely publish APIs based on integrations.

APIs are also being used to connect to trusted partners and suppliers.  But with webMethods.io B2B, the newest SaaS product for B2B, you can also use more traditional B2B protocols and standards to connect in the cloud without the time-consuming infrastructure setup and maintenance.  You’ll be using a highly secure platform with the ability to connect to dozens of applications and full visibility into all types of B2B transactions.

Be an early bird and grow your business with the webMethods API Acceleration Platform.

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