step change

A step change is a sudden positive change in outcomes for a business or organisation, or a sudden improvement in the way an individual behaves.  In business it is a radical change in strategy or operations and it is probably in business and marketing and planning that this term is mostly used.  Step change is adapted from step function, a term used in mathematics and technology for a sequence of repeated processes which, when represented by a graph, looks like a set of steps going up. We used to talk about aquantum leap meaning ‘a sudden huge leap forward’ with complete disregard for what a quantum leap really is. Now we can use step change to express the same idea of a sudden radical change.