Unsurprisingly, research shows that the majority of organizations see their future predicated on how well they can innovate. However, just throwing IT technology at issues in the hope that innovation will happen is not viable. Ideas are ephemeral and are easily crushed within the wrong environment. Creating a suitable culture, allied with a well implemented ideas management approach combined with strong leadership, is required.
QUOCIRCA INSIGHT REPORT November 2008 From Problems to Ideas through Contacts: to Innovation Clive Longbottom Quocirca Ltd Capturing ideas and creating the right culture to maximise the value Tel +44 1189 483 360 of intellectual property Clive.Longbottom@quocirca.com Unsurprisingly, research shows that the majority of organisations see their future predicated on Rob Bamforth how well they can innovate. However, just throwing IT technology at issues in the hope that Quocirca Ltd innovation will happen is not viable. Ideas are ephemeral and are easily crushed within the Tel +44 1962 849 746 wrong environment. Creating a suitable culture, allied with a well implemented ideas Rob.Bamforth@quocirca.com management approach combined with strong leadership, is required.Geoff Carss ? Innovation does not come from more effective management of existing data and Imaginatik PLC electronic information assets Tel: +44 20 7917 29 75 Organisations have problems - people have ideas. Bringing problems and ideas together in an effective manner is key to how effectively innovative a company will be - not how good Geoff_Carss@imaginatik.com their search engines and business intelligence tools are. ? Business processes are dependent on individual tasks - and here is where innovation can really matter Users understand the tasks that they work on, not the end-to-end process that the task is part of. The majority of individual ideas will be task-focused and capturing and managing these will provide a platform for innovation re-use across the organisation's value chains. ? While technology can be an enabler, it is getting people to participate through the provision of suitable ideas that is the real challenge: the human aspect really is the key Technology cannot create innovative ideas - this is where humans come in. Any innovation management system has to be able to integrate with the human aspects, such as participants' personal motivations, the underlying ethos and corporate approach, to engage with people and encourage interaction. ? Initial ideas are often lost due to the lack of appropriate approaches - it is vital to be REPORT NOTE: clear what the problem you are trying to solve REALLY is This document has been Using problem definitions that are either too direct or too woolly will not encourage written independently by participation from others. The key is to frame the problem correctly, and to iterate if Quocirca Ltd to provide an necessary. overview of the issues facing organisations in creating an ? Many ideas that are unsuitable for a problem at the time become useful later - and yet open and flexible few organisations have libraries of ideas environment for the Ideas should not be regarded as throw-away commodities. An idea that is unsuitable for one addressing of process issues problem may well suit a different problem at a later date. Unless the idea has been suitably within today's markets. The captured and managed, this opportunity will be lost. report draws on Quocirca's extensive knowledge of the ? Innovation is a journey, not something that happens in a single meeting; can you create technology and business an environment/culture that has innovation in its DNA? arenas, and provides advice Attempts to drive innovative thinking through high-pressure lock-down meetings will not on the approach that provide continuous innovation. An organisation has to encourage its constituents to capture organisations should take to their own ideas as they happen and to place these within an open environment for further create a more effective and efficient environment for discussion and usage. future growth. ? Innovation is not the be all and end all - renovation and optimisation can be just as important Quocirca would like to thank Big "I" innovation is a rare thing - the little "i"s of optimisation and renovation can provide Imaginatik for its massive efficiency gains and better effectiveness for organisations. Big "I" and little "i" sponsorship of the report. approaches both need ideas; the initial approach is still the same. Conclusions Innovation in itself is of little practical value to an organisation. Existing approaches tend only to scratch the surface of the possible ways of optimising an organisation's appro... [download for more]
