Are your innovation projects taking too long and is the return on investment of your innovation efforts too meager? We have designed a solution to keep early-stage innovation projects on track, so that you can check out a maximum number of opportunities with limited resources and quickly identify the most promising innovation projects to pursue.
Innovative companies know that innovation requires self-starters. They also know how difficult it is to manage these self-starters, as that can seem like herding cats. Many managers are afraid of chaos if they let their innovators explore. Can you have both? That is, encourage self-starters and remain in control over the innovation process? The answer […]
Validating a new concept is often a chicken and egg problem. You need funding to validate this new concept, yet to get funding – you need to have validated the concept. Do you recognize the scenario below? There has got to be a better way You came to the office extra early, because your manager […]
In your innovation portfolio, you need many early-stage teams. Yet, onboarding such teams can be dragging on your innovation resources if you don’t have the ability to process these teams efficiently and effectively. Especially because most of these teams are destined to explore only and won’t result in the new high-value offerings you need. The […]
Every organization aspires to innovate. Or at least wants to reap the benefits: clients that come to you for your unique solutions, high-profit margins because there is more demand than you can service, and great job candidates because they want to work for you. What to incentivize to get from this aspiration to these results? […]
How do you assess the return on investment of your innovation efforts? While it is often assumed that innovation drives profit, in many companies that is not the case. There innovation is a cost center, that supports the organization’s learning. Instead of the revenue generator that is supposed to be the result of the organization’s […]
Professional service organizations (such as law firms, hospitals, and consultancies), are organizations whose primary asset is a highly educated professional workforce and whose outputs are intangible services encoded with complex knowledge. As a result, these organizations differ significantly from manufacturing firms in their organizational structures, employee composition, and decision-making processes. The most valuable asset of […]
Jim Craig gave the key note at the 2018 PDMA conference. He was the goalie of the Miracle on Ice hockey team. They beat the Russians in the Olympics in 1980. His talk was inspiring. Getting to the top and winning a gold medal is a great accomplishment. Winning as an underdog is even more special. […]
Recently, someone asked me to explain the difference between customer discovery and market research. I used Henry Ford’s famous example of “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” quote to explain the value of both approaches.
Digital transformation seems the new buzz word in organizations. No wonder, given what you can do for your clients, with all the computing power, data, analytics, artificial intelligence, and other new tools. While the opportunities seem unlimited, the reality is harsh. Forbes estimates that over $900 billion worth of spend on such initiatives will miss their mark; mismanagement […]
How do you integrate old and new business models and technologies into your existing services? In this blog, I discuss several options and compare these with how architects revamp old buildings.
CB Insights surveyed 677 corporation and released a report with interesting findings on the state of innovation in these organizations. From the report it seems that companies fear innovation and don’t walk the talk.