When talking about innovation, every company has its own, unique approach to it. For leading companies, innovation represents a well-defined, managed and controlled end-to-end process, driven by their business strategy, processes, capabilities, market understanding and commitment to the process itself. This is easier said than done, since managing innovation is a demanding discipline that requires structure, management and interconnectivity of all of these factors.
On the other hand, digitalization has changed the way in which companies create, operate and monetize values. These changes in processes, activities and the way of working are now widely known as the digital transformation that can greatly assist in improving the business.
According to the BSC report “The most innovative companies 2018”, 79% of strong innovators reported that they have properly digitized the innovation process, while only 29% of weak innovators made the same claim.” With more than one-third of survey correspondents stating that digitized processes aren’t doing much for their business, this was understood as a clear sign that they haven’t found a proper way to embrace and incorporate the new technological possibilities.
The question that arises naturally is: “Should we invest in innovation management software to digitize our innovation system and to make it more manageable?” Yet, the studies have shown that there is a solid link between investment in innovation and profitability and growth.
Investing in an innovation management system is a question for the company’s executives and CEO’s and here we will try to provide bullet-proof reasons to defend your idea to implement innovation management software within your company.
Why should you invest in innovation management software?
Reason No 1. - Because it formalizes and introduces structure within your innovation system
The main purpose of innovation management software is to provide a structure for your innovation management process, as defined by your innovation strategy. Your technology solution for innovation management should be able to perfectly replicate and connect all dimensions of your innovation system, including ideation, product development, portfolio management, product launch and post-launch review. The solution in structuring your innovation process has to follow and support your innovation strategy as a framework that consists of terms and goals that describe what needs to be done.
Reason No 2. - Because it simplifies management of the complex system
Innovation is all about the ability to efficiently generate, collect, develop and implement new ideas into valuable products/services and having a dedicated tool to manage this process will make this work much easier. If you have ever worked in a department that is closely linked with innovation, R&D or continuous improvement, then you are well-aware of how complex that system can be. The management of that system is even harder. When managing the innovation system/department/processes you have to consider and take into account the data from other departments such as sales performance metrics, market trends, customers’ expectations, your supply chain and so on… Not to mention all the employees and their activities and feedback. Innovation management software will connect all these dots and provide one, centralized system to manage them all.
Reason No 3. - Because it optimizes innovation processes
To make the innovation system efficient and deliver the new products/services to the market in the shortest period, it is necessary to optimize not only the way you find your ideas, or the “front-end of innovation”, and the development process itself but also the resources, costs and delivery time. Innovation management solution contributes to the optimization of the end-to-end innovation process, enhances efficiency and reduces operational costs. The automation of different work phases within your product development process results in cost reduction and guarantees the quality of developed product or service.
Reason No 4. - Because it doesn’t see innovation as an independent process
The innovation system is very often observed as an independent process, separated from other processes within the organization. But, in reality, all processes in an organization are interconnected and work hand in hand, supporting each other. The innovation process is not a stand-alone process, therefore it should be connected to other systems used within the organization. Innovation management software should have the capacity to seamlessly integrate with a variety of 3-rd party systems that your company is already using.
Reason No 5. - Because it opens up innovation to everybody
It is a fact that employees in all organizational units have ideas about ways to improve processes, customer service, product design, etc. The same can be applied to your partners, customers, stakeholders. By utilizing innovation management software, you are opening up your innovation system to everyone. You are creating an atmosphere where innovation is everyone’s job. Providing innovation incentives such as idea challenges or open innovation calls organizations can trigger and deploy the creative thinking of the entire workforce towards finding the best ideas to implement. Also, the collaboration moment of innovation management software will open up new opportunities for stronger innovation by connecting expertise from different areas.
Reason No 6. - Because it ensures that the right decisions are made at the right time
All companies have a decision-making process for the development of new products, and innovation management software ensures that the key decisions are taken at the right time and based on the right information. Innovation management software facilitates an educated and objective decision-making process and keeps the people involved in the innovation process informed about the decisions that are being made. Besides innovation activities supported with proper documentation, the innovation management software provides comprehensive analytics and reports to assist in the decision-making process. Innovation management software enables complete visibility and transparency of innovation activities as well as the possibility to measure them.
An innovation management software helps engage the full potential of creative capability inside and outside your organization since it allows you to facilitate active collaboration with multiple stakeholders at once. Yet, there are tons of different innovation management software on the market and finding the right one depends on your innovation strategy. Although no software will automatically turn your ideas into products or services, finding and introducing the software that covers all of your requirements will eventually strengthen your innovation capacity and efforts. Do not forget to check out Innovation Cloud, as it can be customized to meet your specific needs and requirements.
