Diversifying for Business Success

As failure rates and product pricing continue plummeting on today’s most popular gadgets, diversification has become a consistent mantra in the consumer electronics professional service industry. With technology and trends constantly changing, diversifying has become vital to business success and profitability. No company can afford to remain one-dimensional and complacent.

A few years ago, Apple dropped “Computer” from its corporate name to become Apple, Inc. The Weather Channel Companies, parent to the Weather Channel, is now simply The Weather Company.  These name changes reflected the aggressive steps both companies have taken to evolve their product and service offerings from their initial beginnings.

The Weather Company is now much more than a television channel – it offers apps, provides consultation to retailers on weather-related buying trends and even manages a robust consumer website. Consequently, most people today probably associate Apple more with the iPhone and other mobile devices rather than the personal computers that launched the brand.

Similarly, Encompass is moving away from our divisional names “Encompass Parts Distribution” and  “Encompass Service Solutions” to emphasize our corporate name “Encompass Supply Chain Solutions.” We no longer consider ourselves just a parts distributor or a depot board repair company; we offer too wide a variety of value-added services and product mix to be pigeon holed.  One of our fastest growing product segments is parts and accessories for high end coffee makers and espresso machines – quite a departure for a 60-year-old company raised on consumer electronics.

Business leaders must seek out and be open to new opportunities wherever they may lie – opportunities they may once have never considered.  Whether it’s a product adjacency or a completely new service solution, consider how your business’ core competencies can be leveraged to expand into new territory.

Always remember that one trick ponies are eventually put out to pasture.