Innovation is the core reason for modern existence and is considered as the heart of entrepreneurship. The innovation success through collaboration is witnessed across the innovation ecosystem and is particularly witnessed in Digital innovation, Start-up innovation, Business model innovation, Business function innovation, Revenue model innovation, Innovation within an organization, etc. The micro-perceptive of innovation within an organization is competitive advantages, maximize ROI, increase productivity, new business model, business strategy, that can add a positive impact on the organization. The macro-perceptive of innovation is economic growth, future of jobs, increased well-being, sustainability, etc.
Innovation is not just about generating an idea, it is much more than that, it involves identifying an out-of-the-box idea, transforming the idea into a product that meets the market requirements, implements, and scale the product or service with sustainability. The need for innovation might become very clear in organizations where revenue growth is stagnated, periodic loss of bids, or competitors. Today innovation is the foundation to modify business strategy or business model or new product development. Many innovative business organizations have a definite innovation strategy and vision which is distinct from corporate or product or market or business strategy.
The first step to embracing innovation within an organization is to create a sustainable culture of innovation across the organization. A culture of innovation within an organization can prosper only when every aspect of the organization promotes creativity, imagination, engagement, collaboration, co-operation, recognition, and acceptance of the need for innovation. The 3 essential ingredients in a successful innovation program are identification, resource collaboration, and roadmap of innovation.
1. Identification
One of the best practices is to understand organizational current problems, roadblocks, everyday processes, available resources, competencies, and much more. Today innovation is not just one man’s brain, but it is a result of active collaboration across the organization or innovation ecosystem. The culture of innovation needs to inspire and motivates each and everyone in the ecosystem and they should feel secure while taking challenges or express their thoughts. Fear, insecurity, and shadow of previous experiences lead to innovation assassination, an unnoticed phenomenon in many organizations. If there is fear and not enough confidence or motivation for action, they’ll probably get it wrong sometime soon. Disruptive innovation generally comes with a hint of disappointments, and we are a strong advocate of failure quickly and inexpensively. Also, we believe failure is a steppingstone for success or a learning experience on how failures could happen. Failing fast opens new opportunities that were previously blocked.
2. Resource collaboration
One of the reasons for success in innovation are largely due to resource collaboration. The resource includes people, process, technology, raw materials, budget, various departments, management, investors, etc. Innovation must be distributed from top management to all levels of management across the organization. The value system of individuals plays a vital role in the culture of innovation, hence mentoring or learn to unlearn or experience the unexperienced have become innovation DNAs. The key to building value among employees is through effective collaboration, great product execution, solid opportunities that drive good results and maximize their productivity. An effective culture of innovation with resource collaboration helps each employee to be a collaborator rather than independent idea generators – one of the key essential for disruptive innovation. Encouraging innovation through resource collaboration not only encourages innovation in the work environment but also retains employees, resource optimization, increases productivity, competitive edge, positive social impact, and much more.
3. Roadmap of innovation
To get success in innovation a structured, repeatable process with complete traceability from start to finish is of absolute importance. The structured process includes generating ideas from opportunities and problems, brainstorming, screening, business case, prototyping, testing, analysis, product development technicalities, commercialization, post-launch review, and optimization. A structured roadmap for innovation helps in creating digital assets – intellectual property, build resilience to face major disruptions, new business model as an alternative revenue stream, patents, create more jobs, improved business process and portfolio, boost to business revenues and customer base. Â Â Â Â
84% of the executives believe that their future success depends on innovation. Innovative companies are more profitable and grow faster than companies that doesn’t have a structured innovation strategy. According to recent research, there is a clear difference in both revenue (11%) and EBITDA (22%) growth in favor of organizations that considers innovation as their core. Another data states that only 88% of the fortune 500 companies from 1955 are now not in the business and half of S&P 500 companies will be replaced in another 10 years. Innovation engine or platform helps in creating a collaborative culture of innovation across the organization and helps in the effective launch and scaling of innovative ideas into a business venture.
