Entering new product development is often a way to
diversify and reach a point where your business is stronger and richer than
before. Therefore, the last thing you want to happen is for the process itself
to have the opposite effect on your business. If you are a medium-sized business, chances are your cash
flow is your lifeline. In this article, we will look at ways in which to
protect your cash flow, while simultaneously, not halting
your new product development plans.
Firstly, make
sure you have a firm strategy in place for this development
process. This strategy should clearly define your product, identify market
needs, establish time frames and identify key issues and approaches. This might
seem like a daunting and large task to handle. Yet any strategy, well thought
out or not, should touch on these areas. This is just a way in which there are
stricter guidelines in place to make sure key aspects that need to be considered are
not missed during the creation of a strategy.
Creating this
sort of strategy will of course take time and resources. However, what is being
created here is the foundation for a successful product. Financially speaking,
it may be quite concerning how costly compiling such a watertight strategy
would be. For any medium sized business, having a healthy cash flow is a must,
and it is this sort of creative expansion that can affect that flow.
If it is these
worries of cash flow that are stopping you from starting new product
development, make sure you take adequate time to research tax credit options.
More specifically, tax credits surrounding research and development (R&D). R&D tax credits might seem quite daunting
at first. However, they’re relatively straightforward to apply for. Once
received, it makes sure that the resources and time spent on areas of R&D
are properly credited back to a firm. This means there is less of a strain on
cash flow during this process. Which, in turn, will reduce the company’s
exposure to external risks during the process.
If R&D tax credits seems like an appealing
option, but your resources are limited enough as it is, to even consider spending the time in
researching this further,consider outsourcing the process. There are firms based in R&D tax credits,
their specialist knowledge can make sure you get the most out of your claim,
and offer you advice on how to best structure your R&D resources for the best level
of efficiency.
