In the tech space, communication is notoriously underrated. It’s an opportunity for lucrative new product development (let’s model cross-group or cross-division idea flow) but this misses a key point - productive communication needs to be part of developing new innovative products from the beginning - even if you wanted to create a product to enable communication. Here are some common problems encountered when bringing a culture of innovation to existing businesses.
Innovation is disconnected from the core business
This happens when an organizational structure places top engineers and thought leaders into a special think tank like structure where they can focus on the next big thing. What actually happens is the in-house think tank spends time and money exploring technologies or ideas that are either too far from the core business or nobody outside the think tank can understand and productize the research results.
Core business is threatened by innovation
This can be a sensitive topic, but what we see is a reluctance to embrace disruptive innovations that could threaten the core business. The challenge for organizations is how to embrace disruption with open arms before the change becomes painful. Current tech buzzwords like AI, Machine Learning, Big Data, Chatbots, Natural Language Processing, and the rest mean that change is already here and new winners will be created. Trying to ignore new technologies can put your business further behind.
Innovation does not show any measurable results on the core business
The “thing” now inside large enterprises is to create an Innovation Lab, Think Tank, or R&D division that is tasked with looking ahead and disrupting internally. This often leads to lots of expensive projects that are either too early to market, too late to effective, or projects that never seem ready for production. At some point the Board starts asking questions about the R&D team and uncomfortable conversations quickly follow.
The common thread
Do any of these sound familiar to you? The common theme with these problems is a lack of communication. People are not communicating the relevance of their R&D work, how the competitive landscape is changing with new technologies, or what has been learned from the innovation exercises.