We all are familiar with saying “change is the only constant”. This philosophy is universal and is applicable to almost all aspects of our lives. This philosophy also fits when it comes to business. As businesses need to update and change themselves constantly to keep up with the unpredictable nature of the market.
However, even after knowing this fact, many business owners tend to be ignorant. The decline of the traditional taxi business is the best example of it. Many traditional businesses stayed rigid even after start-ups like Uber and Lyft started disrupting the taxi industry.
This rigidness or lack of innovation from these traditional taxi businesses caused their downfall. And this is something not only limited to the traditional taxi businesses as the app-based taxi businesses might also face the same end if they fail to innovate from time to time.
So, now the question arises that what a taxi owner can do to sustain his/her taxi business over a long period of time? In this article, we will discuss the same. We’ll discuss top innovative strategies that all taxi businesses can adopt to become future-proof. But before that, it’s important to understand the true meaning of innovation.
For many people, innovation means to bring something totally new on the table. That’s the reason why many of them associate innovation with only young and rich. For them, innovation is something very far from the reach of traditional taxi companies.
But if we look closely to the origin of the word innovation then we will find that it comes from the Latin word “innovatus” which means “to change or renew”. It clearly means that you don’t need to come up with something totally new to be innovative. You can be innovative even if you renew something that already exists.
Now that you understood the real meaning of innovation, we can move forward. Next, it’s important to understand that innovation can’t be achieved overnight. Instead, it has to be cultivated within and harnessed as time goes on. To achieve innovation for your taxi business there are six pillars that you need to understand. Let’s have a look at them one by one.
Six pillars of innovation
Preparing everyone on the organizational level
To achieve innovation, it’s essential to make everyone in your organization understand and convince of what you’re trying to do. Everyone must have a crystal clear understanding as to why their business is moving the way it is. Ensuring that everyone is on the same page is the key objective of laying the groundwork for innovation.
Understanding and analyzing data
Understanding data plays a significant role in growing your business in today’s technologically advanced world. It improves your decision making along and can help you to come up with new strategies that can transform your business.There are many tools that help you with vital data such as Google Analytics, that can measure your website activities.
Similarly, there are other software and solutions that help you to operate and administrate various fleet functionality. Similarly, you can get insights when it comes to dispatching your taxis. If you’re a Yelowsoft customer, then we have a taxi dispatch system that provides you with vital insights about your taxi business.
Understanding your taxi business problems
To understand the existing problems of your taxi business, it’s important to study and analyze your data. This is similar to what we just saw in the previous point. In order to make improvements, it’s important to identify the areas of your business that are not being fully utilized, areas that are causing the most problems and in worst case disasters. Once you identify all of it, you will be able to start with its solution.
Set goals
It’s important that you set your goals. You must know what your innovation would finally result in. you must ensure that your innovation must make the situation better for your company and its stakeholders.
Your goals can be multiple such as improved customer retention, reduction in the number of no shows, cutting costs, and many more. Setting a goal helps you to know exactly what you want to achieve and thus makes it easier for you and your organization to accomplish it.
KPIs identification
Identification of key performance indicators is very crucial in achieving innovation. You must ensure that you identify all your KPIs before going for something new like changing dispatch tactics or rules, employing new technology, or adopting any new marketing strategy.
Report & analytics
It’s very important to draw insights from the data to make better business decisions. You can regularly review and report to ensure that you’re achieving all your predefined targets. And even if you’re not achieving them, it will allow you to pause for a bit and think of some new strategy to make significant improvements.
Regular reviews are critical as they keep your team motivated and invested. And most importantly, it ensures that you’re going towards the same goal.
We just discussed where and how you need to innovate. Now, let’s discuss some innovative ideas that can take your taxi business to new heights of success.
Top innovative ideas for your taxi business
Taxi aggregators
Aggregators have existed for quite some time. However, there’s still a lack of demand in the market. There are many different types of aggregators that can bring clusters of new customers to your business. This method is simple and free. You must adopt this to grow your taxi business.
Payment solutions
As compared to other industries, the taxi industry is far behind as far as the adoption of advanced payment solutions is concerned. Most of the taxi industry still rely on cash. It’s high time now that the taxi industry should move towards a cashless future by embracing advanced payment solution. There many solutions available that provide cashless payment, in-app payments, POS, fast payments, security, and many more.
Read More: Integrating mobile wallet with a taxi booking app
Connected solutions
Nowadays, various elements like vehicle tools, insurance, mobile security, and many more are connected to the dispatch ecosystem. All these solutions are designed in such a way that it maximizes your ROI on data. You can also find different ways to leverage the data that you already have.
Utilize growth tools
There are many questions that you must answer like:
- How can you attract new drivers and riders?
- How can you market your services?
- How can you scale and grow your taxi business?
There are many tools and services available that can help you to find answers to all these questions and thus help you to grow your taxi business.
Discovering new economies for taxi companies
Over the years, with the advent of the on-demand economy, the definition of taxi business has broadened. Earlier, taxi businesses were considered as a business that moved people from one place to another. However, now many taxi businesses maximizing their profits by leveraging their drivers, fleet, and a data-rich network to deliver many other things like cargo, grocery, food packages, and many more.
Become a future Innovator for your taxi company
In this article, we saw that innovation is the key to grow to your taxi business. So, do you have an innovator inside you? Can you do all the things that we have mentioned here? Then why not up your game a bit more? There are several opportunities that you can catch on.
Read More: Market scenarios and taxi trends for 2020 and beyond
You can closely observe the startups. Currently, the investments in mobility are at their all-time high. And the reason behind it is not only the quality of service and products but also in the manner these new and young companies are approaching and solving tough challenges.
You can observe these companies; even meet them to see how they are going about their business. You can take inspiration from the leaders of the mobility industry. And that’s not it. Innovation goes beyond this, you can adopt new methodologies and embrace content that is available. You can organize events, post blogs, articles, and videos. You can immerse yourself in the world mobility to come up with novel ideas about running your taxi business.
