Over the years there\u2019s been countless stories of major brands who\u2019ve disappeared overnight due to their lack of innovation in a world of constant change. The mobile phone world was once ruled by Motorola, until consumers moved to Nokia, who\u2019s lack of innovation paved the way for Apple, Samsung and Google to dominate the mobile phone market. In today\u2019s fast-paced society, innovation is constant and market dominance is short lived. To survive, organisations of all sizes need to be innovative at their core. Here\u2019s how:<\/p>\n
A market leader won\u2019t stay on top for long if they don\u2019t have a thirst for knowledge and a desire to pave new ways of doing things. To do this they need a systematic way to gather relevant information, analyse it accordingly and apply it to their business. Many organisations focus too much on product development as opposed to gathering data on market trends and consumer habits.<\/p>\n
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A key to success is understanding the pain points customers experience when using your products. If customers aren\u2019t 100% satisfied, then an opportunity exists. Uber is a classic example of a company that focused on the pain points commuters faced when using taxis. Poor service and inability to track your rides was the catalyst for the uber brand we all know and use today.<\/p>\n
Open your way of thinking and apply innovation from other industries to your own. Henry Ford\u2019s success in car manufacturing come from inspiration he got from the assembly line at meat processing plants. You need to ensure that your innovation group is comfortable with looking for ideas outside your industry that can be applied to your business.<\/p>\n
To enable innovation to flourish in an organisation, your innovation group needs to have frequent gatherings where they have the freedom to brainstorm. If a good idea comes from these sessions, assign an owner to run with it and ensure it gets the chance to see light of day. If innovation isn\u2019t encouraged, you risk losing people who want the freedom to think outside the box.<\/p>\n
Innovation isn\u2019t always about coming up with the next best product. It is also relevant to the development of new processes and procedures within a business that can help boost productivity and revenue. More efficient processes can increase workplace atmosphere, leading to increased employee motivation and an overall more successful business.<\/p>\n
Many tech and management schools have programs that encourage students to think of ideas that can help multiple industries. From solar energy to waste management, students have been known to provide different perspectives on business-critical projects. Businesses can run contests with colleges and offer rewards for students who come up with the best ideas.<\/p>\n
Having two-way dialogue with customers is the best way to get insight into their pain points and challenges, which in turn leads to new business ideas and inspiration. Innovation for the sake of innovation is pointless. You need to conduct market research and engage with customers as often as you can to get the insights needed to fuel innovation.<\/p>\n
Organisations need a leader who has a vision. Someone who encourages innovation to thrive and wants all employees to have a futuristic view. In the 1970s, management at Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) doubted that personal computers were needed in the household. It should come as no surprise to you that DEC no longer exists and personal computers exists in most households around the globe. If management lack a vision, the company will pay the price.<\/p>\n
Businesses often face the prospect of launching innovative products that are drastically different from their existing offerings. It\u2019s important to note that companies can still\u00a0 be successful in their existing offerings while providing new and innovative solutions at the same time. IBM was the leader in mainframe computers, and even when they expanded into personal computers, they managed to maintain their strength in the mainframe market.<\/p>\n
New technologies are always going to disrupt the market and the important thing to remember is that it\u2019s generally to the benefit of end consumers. We\u2019ve seen it across all industries such as Skype enabling easier and cheaper long-distance calls, iTunes giving us an alternative to record stores and Netflix giving us easy access to movies.<\/p>\n
Final Thoughts<\/strong><\/p>\n The most important thing to remember is that innovation is not just for start-ups. Organisations of all shapes and sizes can be innovative and create a cultural mindset that embraces innovation. Managers need to place innovation as a key priority if they want to survive in a constantly changing world. Innovation results in better company performance and a better outcome for the customer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Over the years there\u2019s been countless stories of major brands who\u2019ve disappeared overnight due to their lack of innovation in a world of constant change. The mobile phone world was once ruled by Motorola, until consumers moved to Nokia, who\u2019s lack of innovation paved the way for Apple, Samsung and Google to dominate the mobile phone market. In today\u2019s fast-paced society, innovation is constant and market dominance is short lived. To survive, organisations of all sizes need to be innovative at their core. Here\u2019s how: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":83846,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[181],"tags":[174,180],"class_list":["post-83101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-c-level-consultation","tag-business","tag-c-level-consultation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnnyhuntington.com\/projects\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnnyhuntington.com\/projects\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnnyhuntington.com\/projects\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnnyhuntington.com\/projects\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnnyhuntington.com\/projects\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83101"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/johnnyhuntington.com\/projects\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83101\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":83847,"href":"https:\/\/johnnyhuntington.com\/projects\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83101\/revisions\/83847"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnnyhuntington.com\/projects\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/83846"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/johnnyhuntington.com\/projects\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnnyhuntington.com\/projects\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/johnnyhuntington.com\/projects\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}