Business
must look ahead, not behind. It’s not just the big companies that need to do
this. Every business must innovate to compete. They must create new products
and services for new markets. They must be creative, and come up with new ideas
that never would have been thought of before. This is the new management
paradigm. Get used to it, it’s not going away anytime soon. Here’s what will
happen. Everything will speed up. Processes, functions, data, inventory turns
and speed to market, will force employees to learn a whole new language called
innovation. Business as usual doesn’t cut it any more. Enter innovation
management.
The
proven management tools, techniques and clichés once embraced, are being
challenged and shelved for a new set of rules and a new way of doing business.
The management style of the future is no longer command and control. That ship
has sailed. Today, in order for businesses to succeed, management must trust in
the technologies and open leadership styles that are sweeping boardrooms, the
C-suite, office suites and cubicles everywhere.
In
fact, today’s companies are implementing new job titles that are rapidly
appearing on business cards and office doors. So, which one will you hire next?
Chief Innovation Officer, Chief Ideation Officer or Chief Digital Officer? Ten
years ago, you would have been laughed out of the building if these were
printed on your business card. Not today.
According
to Idris Mootee who wrote the book Design Thinking for Strategic Innovation,
Innovation
Management is about more than just planning new products, services, brand
extensions, or technology inventions. It’s about imagining, mobilizing, and
competing in new ways.
I
couldn’t agree more. This may sound like it’s just another day in the office,
however, it’s clear that imagining new ideas and competing in new ways is
extremely challenging, even for the biggest and best of companies. So, how do
companies forge ahead so they can be change agents for the next generation? I
believe one way is to immerse themselves in the benefits of what the internet
offers. The world as we know it has actually become smaller as a result of the
convenient connectedness of the internet. Some businesses have fully embraced
the global online economy and real time, digital, interactive communication we
now have at our fingertips, all of which didn’t exist that long ago.
Consequently,
a massive paradigm shift in how business is conducted has paved the way for an
environment that desires more and demands more. In the online environment,
everyone communicates more, and in more ways, shares more information, creates
more content, trashes more, stores more, and buys more of just about everything
a human or business could possibly want. People and businesses also have more
friends in their contact list. Based on the trends, we are addicted to more,
and it’s embedded in the business environment. Expectations are now rising at
alarming rates, and the speed of business is no longer fast enough to keep up
with the speed of innovation. Guess what? There is no end in sight.
Businesses
around the world are more connected than ever before. Just ask any company how
many smartphones they have, how many tablets and laptops they have, how many
virtual meetings are held with clients, and how many emails and text messages
are sent. Oh, and we haven’t even talked about the use of social technologies.
Being connected is probably the most powerful influencer of innovation. There
are many reasons for this.
The
immediacy and accuracy of real-time data transfer has become the norm. We now
have the ability to share and connect with people, groups, and companies around
the world. The quality and ease of use of digital media is not just for
professionals any longer. Online learning and the global reach of it have
changed the face of learning. Mobile technologies, cloud based storage,
computing, medicine and space have continued to amaze us year after year. The
list could go on. Some form of innovation touches every aspect of our life.
In
my opinion, innovation is also required to be competitive today and tomorrow.
Managing that expectation and deliverable is critical for sustainable growth to
occur. In thinking about sustainable growth, I spoke with Kevin Wells,
Executive Vice President, Global Market Development for Reach Analytics.
Kevin’s comments were quite telling when discussing how to predict innovation
for growth purposes. How do you predict innovation, and also leverage
predictive analytics so that your business can use that information to create
growth?
Predicting
innovation has always been part science, part black magic and part luck. The
world of data gives us the ability to maybe leverage the science and luck parts
of that equation a little more. We are a predictive analytics firm so we have
to eat our own dog food so to speak. We look at the trends the data uncovers
and then we look at the variables that are more difficult to quantify. And then
we make what we think are good business decisions. But they are based on facts
more than gut. Big data uncovers things humans would overlook — if you know how
to look for them.
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