Succeed through innovation

Jul 7 2005 By the Evening Gazette

All businesses need to innovate, though it may take any number of forms, from the steady refinement of established products to the leap in the dark when an untried idea is launched.

Whether introducing new technology, getting people to work in new ways or creating new products, you must innovate to survive.

Opportunities

Whether you are innovating incrementally or developing new products or services, there are always opportunities. There are three main approaches to consider.

Improve existing processes. Can you change the way you make your product to produce exactly the same thing for a lower price?

Consider improving your existing product by considering the following:

- Could you repackage it?

- Could you re-size it?

- Can you discover new uses for it?

- Are some people using it in ways it was not designed for? You may be able to modify it or make a second product, optimised for this purpose.

- Can you introduce the product to new users who do not know about it?

- Can you achieve the same or better benefits for a lower manufactured cost, by understanding more precisely why and how your customers use your product?

Create an entirely new situation with quantum leap innovation with a wholly new product or service.

Planning the future

Your business needs a vision of where it is going. It's important to know the market sector you ought to be in and to take into account the following:

Recognise the opportunities, or demand, for change in the markets you serve.

Should you focus on the area where your business is strongest and abandon others?

Could you take advantage of market opportunities by entering into a strategic partnership with another business?

Consider what type of products or services you will offer:

Do you need to re-develop existing products or services or introduce completely new ones?

Will employees need training to provide your new products or services?

What resources will you need?

What changes to your business processes will a new product or service involve?

Identify which parts of your business work most efficiently. Could existing methods be put to work in other areas?

If you are launching a new product or service, what aspects of your business processes will be affected?

Outline your vision in your business plan:

Break down longer-term goals into specific numerical targets and short-term aims.

Keep your goals challenging and SMART i.e. specific, measurable, agreed, realistic, time-limited.

External inspiration

Be market-led or better still, market-inspired this can allow you to produce things the market does not yet know are possible.

Focus on your existing and potential customers:

Log customers' comments, complaints and requests. Seek feedback at meetings, through surveys or by printing a feedback form on bills or receipts.

Find out why you lose customers to your competitors, e.g. look for trends in quotations that do not convert into orders, or talk with competitors' customers at industry events and shows.

Know your business environment, if you can see change coming you can often turn it from a threat into an opportunity. Be alert to environmental pressures, as new regulations, economic factors, social trends and consumer fashions can all have an impact on your business.

Consider improving communication with your suppliers and show that you value their opinions.

Identify the people you respect as experts in your field and find opportunities to talk to them.

Investigate opportunities for benchmarking aspects of your business performance against other companies in your own field or even in completely different industries.

Internal inspiration

No one knows more about your business than the people who work inside it. Talk to your employees and spend time walking around your business with your eyes and ears open.

Use your appraisal process and suggestion schemes to canvass employee ideas. In order to gather feedback and ideas it's advisable to hold regular team meetings and aim to keep chains of command short in order to make it easier for ideas to be heard.

Make full use of internal benchmarking consider are there good ideas in one part of the business that can be used elsewhere?

Encourage experiments and be prepared to take risks:

Allocate new projects to teams. Give employees new responsibilities as part of their team roles.

Choose performance measures that will help you monitor each project.

Recognise employee-led innovations, both privately, in your appraisal process and publicly, using notice boards or newsletters.

Start a system of rewards for individuals or teams who bring business success through innovation.

Improving processes

Analyse which of your processes have the most impact on your customers:

What could be done more efficiently?

What could be done that would increase customer satisfaction?

How could cost-effective improvements be made?

Employees must be involved in developing new processes, both to get the right answers and to ensure they are motivated to make the changes work.

Parts of your business may need to be restructured to meet your innovating goals. Setting up cross-functional teams is one of the best ways of making innovation happen.

Product development

Do not make a move until research indicates there is a market for your new product. Always avoid situations where you have to invent the market as well as the product.

Analyse the resources available to you within your business and outside:

Almost all product development these days requires you to set up and manage some sort of 'virtual team', involving outsiders as well as your own employees.

Put together a team with a mix of talents.

Map out the critical path for developing the product and bringing it to market:

Check everything, to make sure you are on the right track at the specification stage.

Without the right brief, there is a danger of racing ahead up blind alleys.

If there are aspects of your innovation that are truly novel, protect your intellectual property with a patent, design registration or registered trade mark.

Nurturing innovation

Commitment is essential as half-hearted innovation will fail, causing wasteful disruption and lowering workplace morale.

Train your managers to lead innovation. Encouraging innovation in your business may mean redefining the relationships between managers and employees.

Involve your employees in the development of your business:

Share your vision of where you are heading.

Make sure business goals are regularly communicated in team meetings.

Develop your employees' skills and ambitions.

Plan for innovation and set new challenges:

Build your long-term goals into your business plan. Set and review numerical targets and milestones.

Track key performance indicators to monitor progress.

Set a target for sales of products less than three years old.

Focus on the areas of your business where new ideas can make the most difference.

Review your situation regularly and remember that if circumstances change you may need to change policies.