TIME IS SHORT SO WHAT DOES YOUR BUSINESS FOCUS ITS INNOVATION EFFORTS ON?

As we said before innovation is a pseudonym for change or transformation but it is not all about technology or flashing light bulbs! If I had a euro for every time someone asked me ‘What is the next big thing you are coming up with?’, as I said what I did for a living, I would indeed be a wealthy man and I would not have to work for a living. Now that would be true Innovation!

Unfortunately the term ‘Innovation management’ has become synonymous with the phrase ‘the knowledge economy’, which has widely been mooted as a way to get this great world economy of ours out of the recession hole we are currently in. However, I am frequently amused (and I admit, sometimes frustrated) by the widely-held misconception that the knowledge economy will be achieved by someone else making a life altering discovery, a new world wide web type of invention or a new wheel or an iPod/iPad replacement perhaps. Many people still seem to believe that someone somewhere out there is close finding a ‘pot of gold’ idea that will revolutionise the world market and possibly then the good times will come roaring back. Wishful thinking!

The game-changing discovery may indeed happen but it is through the piece- by-piece or incremental Innovation (called ‘Kaizen’ Innovation – from the Japanese word meaning ‘improvement’), where small process improvements and business model improvements are made, wastage avoided and continuous new product/service development activities practiced, that the best results will be seen initially.

The idea that Innovation is the remit of white-coated scientists or engineers looking down microscopes waiting for a ‘eureka’ moment and with the flashing light bulb couldn’t be further from the truth. It is not the remit of ‘others’ come up with all the solutions. We are all innovators and have a key role to play in the process!

There is much more to Innovation than technical Innovation. On the contrary multiple types of Innovation can be identified, including:

• Strategic Innovation
• Business model Innovation
• Customer-led Innovation
• Government led innovation
• Technology-led Innovation.

However, it is widely felt that the end has come to product Innovation and that Innovation now is more about business model Innovation based on consumer experience. Thus, technology is merely seen as an enabler in this process.

There are a number of basic steps to install and maintain an Innovation management system in your business. There is no magic formula to follow. However, in summary, it about collecting ideas, prioritising them and setting up a review process, this is followed by establishing a project tracking and a project management system.

The first step is to develop an Innovation framework for your business. This essentially identifies the key elements of an Innovation management system – specifically, the capture and prioritisation of ideas followed by the delivery of projects and, ultimately, the market exploitation of the resulting outputs. A framework recognises that many inter-dependencies exist between different disciplines involved in the process and therefore different resources are needed to get results.

In Innovation management, no one size fits all and it is an individual’s or group’s choice which framework best suits their business. Selection of the most appropriate model or structure for your business depends on many factors including:

• The people you have available in your business or in external partnerships
• The innovation management model chosen
• Your businesses’ existing % market share
• The rate of change in your market / sector you are currently active in
• The competitors your existing business faces

There are at least four critical elements to any successful Innovation management system which are represented in a framework.

• Commitment: senior management and the ‘boss’ must be fully on board with the initiative and must stick with the process as it evolves
• A business must ensure that its vision and strategy is fully aligned to the Innovation system
• You need the right people to deliver on the Innovation business objectives
• Is the process you have in place working and is it being adhered to?

In addition, an Innovation matrix must be prepared which is relevant to the market you are active in or intent to enter. An innovation matrix is a tabular or schematic representation of where to focus your efforts to yield the best results. The matrix is simply the ‘what’ and the ‘where’ of your Innovation programme – i.e. what to look for and where to look for it. It is a description of where you are with your current or future offering in the marketplace and therefore summarises what you need to focus on in order to bring your product/service to where you want it to be. Four options are identified as follows:

• Incremental Innovation,
• Semi-radical Innovation,
• Disruptive Innovation and
• Breakthrough or Radical Innovation

Don’t worry too much about nailing down precise, universal systems at this stage. The key is to ensure that the structure of your Innovation system and its design are fully aligned with the strategy of your company (not the other way around, as is often the case).

It is often very useful to sit back and look at your business, where it is going and what macro and micro influences will impact on it in the coming years. It pays to spend a while looking at your businesses vision and how you might achieve it before you rush into putting structures in place. This includes establishing an Innovation management system. There is a definite hierarchy we should follow i.e. 1 Vision, 2 Strategy, 3  Structure.

There are many tools that can be used in describing the business you are in now and predicting how certain factors will influence it in the coming years i.e. how it will be in the future. Use them liberally but remember they are only enablers for you and you team to be better or more focused innovators.

The above is based on extracts from my recently published book on Innovation management in business. The book, EVERYDAY INNOVATION, is essentially an innovation management DIY toolkit!  It is available in paperback/PDF / ePub / Kindle from www.SuccessStore.com or by contacting the publishers at Oak press (00 353 86 244 1633 - brian.okane@oaktreepress.com)