Yvette Yanne, EVP Innovation & Transformation, Appnovation.
When it comes to overused business buzzwords, I’d argue that “digital innovation” is near the top of the list. In fact, I think its buzzworthiness is standing in the way of real business progress.
Today, technology is changing at an exponential rate—advancing faster than we’ve ever seen. In fact, according to author and futurist Ray Kurzweil’s Law of Accelerating Returns, the 21st century will likely experience 20,000 years of technological progress by the time it wraps up (compared to the 100 years of progress we experienced back in the 20th century).
Make strategic over-rash decisions.
Needless to say, this is creating intense pressure on businesses. In this environment, if you rest on your laurels, you’re likely to get left behind—leading many companies to frantically embrace innovation in a bid to swiftly and consistently move forward.
The problem with this scenario is that when an investment is driven by trends, panic—or worse—FOMO (fear of missing out), this leaves organizations more vulnerable to missteps. Decisions tend to be rash rather than strategic, and the purpose of the investment tends to get lost in the race to be first.
To understand what I mean, consider the following all-too-common scenario:
• A CEO creates a mandate to “drive an innovative company” without integrating it into the business strategy. As part of this mandate, they earmark a portion of the corporate budget for “innovation.”
• The innovation team is tasked with spending that money and creating the business case for it.
• To determine where to start, the team hires a digital innovation consultant. But without the support of a clear strategy or aligned business units, the consultant struggles with a lack of direction, resulting in a lengthy and drawn-out innovation process that fails to provide real results.
• After so many missteps, the company decides that “digital innovation” simply doesn’t work and ultimately gives up on it altogether—a move that, in time, leaves the company vulnerable to disruption.
This type of scenario, when repeated over and over again, can give digital innovation a bad rap, which is a shame. Like it or not, technology is part of the world we live in; it influences our customers’ lives, needs, expectations and behaviors. It can also be a viable solution to pressing business challenges, a tool to swiftly facilitate desired business outcomes and a critical market differentiator.
To harness its powers, we have to stop treating it as a buzzword and instead tap into its real value. That is, rather than implementing technology for technology’s sake, businesses should view digital innovation as a way “to improve business processes and workforce performance.”
Here are three ways to make that mindset shift and get more out of your innovation efforts:
1. Prioritize user-centric design.
Too often, when a new form of technology gains momentum, companies invest in it without taking time to determine whether it’s truly necessary or the right technology for the situation. To avoid this, companies would be well-served to ask: Who are we designing for?
When finding an answer to that question, it’s essential to pay attention to the needs, motivations and values of your end users. Use this information to innovate in a way that solves a business problem or creates a desired business outcome.
For instance, if a roadside assistance company decides it would like to increase its membership base, a first step under this user-centric approach would be to conduct research on existing members and potential customers to uncover the emotional, functional and transcendental reasons that drive their annual membership purchase.
Through this process, the brand might discover that these customers purchase annual memberships for the peace of mind the membership provides—not the company’s swift and cost-effective service, which it previously assumed. With this information in hand, the brand can tailor everything from its content to its customer experience (CX) to enhance customer peace of mind.
2. Collaborate cross-functionally.
Once you’ve narrowed down the values of your intended end users, it’s time to find ways to leverage those values to achieve your desired business outcomes.
Traditionally, this has been a task for an innovation team—a team made up of tech-savvy, data-driven, entrepreneurial and creative thinkers—with most ideation occurring in a silo. Under a new digital innovation rebrand, however, the goal should be to “practically implement” ideas, which in part involves integrating the innovation team with other vested parties and departments.
So, for example, when creating a customer experience that appeals to customers’ desire for peace of mind, the innovation team can work alongside a cross-departmental team comprised of members from sales, digital marketing, legal, marketing and operations.
You can use this cross-departmental team to weigh a host of options, including new apps, product offerings and membership perks. Once all potential solutions are on the table, the team can then prioritize them according to their applicability, practicality and scalability. This may take some time—after all, not all teams will initially be aligned on the challenge or the desired outcome. That said, I’ve found that this is something that can be overcome by implementing design-thinking techniques.
3. Roll it out one step at a time.
Once you have a sound idea that offers value to your target audience, it’s time to roll it out. But unlike in the past, you don’t have to wait years before getting it just right. Instead, look to build a prototype quickly and release it to a small audience—a sample of the type of people you wish to target.
Through this process, you can study feasibility, assess the technology and gather feedback from the people using it. From there, you’ll be able to make the necessary adjustments and then roll out the new version to another audience segment, continuing the process until the product is ready for market.
Ditch the innovation hype.
This more intentional, human-centric approach to innovation can not only save you time and money but dramatically increase your company’s innovation success rate, allowing you to remain relevant, agile and able to withstand any passing trend.
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