Key strategies for the year ahead

OMBs continue to push for growth, primarily by implement in 2018: investing in their own staff and expanding their domestic customer base.

A recurring theme is OMBs’ strong commitment to investing in their business, particularly in their people. Just over half (51%) of survey respondents plan to invest in staff training in 2018 – an increase from last year.

Whether building sales at home or abroad, OMBs recognise the need to innovate in 2018, whether through developing new products or services (38%) or launching them (37%). 

A third (33%) of OMBs plan to invest in new technology or IT systems – a similar result to that in last year’s survey (31%). Investing in technology is widely seen as a way to improve service delivery, internal operational efficiency or both
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Succession planning is on the agenda for 24% of OMBs this year, but only 5% are looking to sell their business – are OMBs aware of the options available such as trade sales, management buy-outs (MBO) or vendor initiated management buy-outs (VIMBO). 

To download our full report and gain further insights into OMB strategies for 2018, please click here.