Innovation Strategy 2020 – Get your company prepared for the new decade!

In just under twelve months, a new decade will begin. It will be the decade in which artificial intelligence will change business models like never before. Technologies like the blockchain will enable applications that we cannot imagine today. And digital change will move even faster.

How should your innovation strategy be designed? What can you do to prepare your company, your innovation management and your idea management for the age of digital disruption?

• How can you use the swarm intelligence of your employees and customers?
• Does it make sense to establish a large number of innovation labs to enable radical innovation?
• Or is it simply enough to make your innovation process more efficient?

The answer is: Everything at the same time. Continually improving and developing the existing while at the same time pushing ahead with innovation without compromise. In science, it is called the principle of ambidexterity. In this article, you will learn how to overcome the four biggest challenges this year and how the Innolytics Innovation Management Software can help you.

In our free study “The Innovation Capability of Companies” you will learn the basics with which you can lead your company into the decade of radical change. You can download the study here.

Challenge #1: Manage Improvement and Disruptive Innovation Simultaneously

Your existing business model and products may continue to be profitable in the next decade, but with a declining trend. The innovation you create will need time to become profitable. This is a balancing act that must be overcome.

• You have to optimize the existing continuously, the continuous improvement process continues to play a decisive role!
• At the same time, you must be able to drive radical innovation.

The solution: Build innovation networks in your company

Inspire employees in your production and administration to work on continuous improvement, drive product development with high precision, and set up different working groups for various disruptive innovation topics.

The Innolytics^® software supports you in setting up this so-called “parallel structure”. On the platform you can transparently track which innovation goals you pursue. You can define different processes and procedures for each innovation challenge, assign different roles (e.g. team member for certain ideas, innovation coach for digital projects etc.) and establish different innovation networks in your company. Innolytics helps you to manage the balancing act between improvement and disruptive innovation.

Challenge #2: Inspire employees to innovate and digitize

In many companies we work with, there are digital departments or officers. There is a defined innovation process. What is often missing is an innovation culture that ensures that employees at all levels of the organization are enthusiastic about innovation.

The Solution: Involve as many employees as possible

The Innolytics^® software is designed to encourage all your employees to innovate. Already in the basic version you receive a free Innovation Toolbox, which guides your employees methodically. You can start innovation campaigns and innovation challenges on different topics. And you can continuously measure the commitment of your employees using key performance indicators.

In several years of scientific research we have dealt with the development of an innovation culture and the innovation capability of companies. We support you and your company in motivating employees at all levels for innovation and digitization!

Challenge #3: Managing innovation efficiently

A working group here, a start-up cooperation there, an innovation lab, a customer network on digitization, an incubator for new business models, improvement circles, etc. In a number of companies we work with, innovation is primarily confusing. No one has an overview of the current status of ideas in each working group. The evaluation criteria for new ideas are sometimes transparent, sometimes not. And it takes an enormous amount of effort to push ahead with all the innovation efforts. The result: high friction losses. Innovation is not driven efficiently.

Your challenge until 2020: to organize your innovation activities as efficiently as you organize your day-to-day business. Innovation, even radical and disruptive in nature, must not be an exception – it must become everyday business.

Automate routine innovation management and digital transformation tasks. Create an overview through clearly structured processes. Say goodbye to the notion that there is only one innovation process in your company that works the same for all types of innovation. Some of your projects will be based on design thinking, others have a short pragmatic speed process, and others follow the classic innovation process.

The Innolytics software has been developed to meet these requirements: Create transparency about all your innovation activities. With the Innolytics software you have a powerful tool at hand: With just one click you can visualize all your innovation activities, whether improvement projects or digital labs for radical new business models. This transparency creates efficiency.

Challenge #4: Monitor your ability to innovate continuously!

How many new ideas do you have in the pipeline for your strategically important fields of innovation? How are your digital transformation projects progressing? Are members of working groups sufficiently engaged? All these questions affect you and are important for your organization. Make innovation monitoring your most important task!

If you don’t have enough ideas today for strategically important projects, you won’t have mature concepts and prototypes tomorrow. And that means you don’t have any mature new business models by 2020. Do not compromise!

The Innolytics^® innovation management software supports you in establishing a lean and efficient innovation controlling. With just a few clicks you get an overview of the status of all your projects. You have a complete overview of all important early indicators for your future business success.

Innovation Roadmap 2020 – The Series

2019 will be a decisive year for your company! You have the choice of leaving everything as it is or preparing your organization for the next decade. This year we will provide you with regular information on the Innovation Strategy 2020. We’ll give you advice on how to increase the agility of your business, how to develop digital processes more efficiently, and how to manage your innovation activities as efficiently as your day-to-day business.