Business innovation is a key component of modern businesses. It helps companies upgrade their operating systems, introduce new products and services and improve productivity.
Innovation doesn’t always have to be revolutionary or disruptive. Learn how to develop unique marketing campaigns and develop innovative strategies for achieving your strategic goals.
Learn to create innovative solutions with confidence using repeatable steps that combine analytical rigor with creativity. Explore the four categories of innovation: sustaining, breakthrough, disruptive and basic research.
Digital Transformation
Digital innovation is bringing new technology to bear on your business model and processes. It may be something as simple as converting an ink-on-paper record to a digital computer file, or it could involve rethinking your entire operating model and customer experiences.
For example, a company can use a combination of software and technology to transform its call center or in-store service desk into an omnichannel experience where customers can communicate with your team via social media, email, or chatbot. Or it can use a digital platform to gather and analyze data from multiple sources, then create personalized journeys for each customer and route their query to the right service rep.
It’s important to determine why you want to digitally transform your business. Mercer’s Swift says three groups of employees tend to slow or stop the momentum of transformation: old-timers, by-the-book players, and lone wolves. If you can identify and engage these groups, you can overcome their resistance to change.
Digital Strategy
A well-designed digital strategy is key to maximizing the impact of your technology investments. You can differentiate your business through digital, optimize core processes and create new ones.
Many businesses create innovative digital products to boost customer experiences or introduce new business models. For example, Swiss life insurance company Zurich uses facial recognition software to streamline a time-consuming process and improve customer satisfaction.
Another way to differentiate your business through digital innovation is to automate tasks and centralize data, reducing information discovery time and decreasing the risk of human error. In addition, digital innovations help you gain access to new global markets, and they can significantly cut long-term costs by improving productivity.
While a lot of ink has been spilled on the graveyard of companies that failed to adapt to changing technology (Kodak, Blockbuster), some traditional incumbents are winning at digital innovation. For example, John Deere differentiates itself by leveraging digital technologies and building an ecosystem around its equipment, while carmakers are quadrupling hiring for automotive-software developers.
Digital Marketing
Digital marketing is a key part of business innovation because it can help to engage audiences and drive conversion. It also allows organizations to analyze customer buying behavior and preferences, which can then be used for personalization and delivery of a better customer experience. While it is often true that necessity is the mother of invention, businesses should strive for constant innovation to keep up with their customers’ changing expectations and remain competitive in their industry.
Digital Operations
Digital operations involve combining company processes with agility, intelligence and automation to build operational models that delight customers and improve performance. This can be achieved through business process management (BPM), lean methodologies, data governance and advanced technologies like artificial intelligence and machine learning.
One of the key aspects of digital operations is using technology to streamline and automate back-office processes. This reduces costs and allows for faster and more effective production. It also helps companies keep up with changing customer needs and market dynamics.
Businesses that digitize their processes correctly and at scale are able to drive top-line growth by cutting operating costs, improving user experiences and delivering superior outcomes. It is important to have the right tools and technologies for this purpose, such as a digital operations platform. This unified workspace merges workflows, connects existing systems and helps enterprises to focus on their core business activities. This includes everything from product data management to purchasing and inventory, as well as customer management.