How to Make Business Innovation Become Routine

If there is one thing we have learnt in the past decade, it is that no company is too big to fail. Even businesses that once held monopolies have disintegrated because of their refusal to innovate.

Blackberry was so highly vaunted that it was the official phone of whole government departments. If you wanted to rent a movie, you had to go to Blockbuster and your camera film was always definitely Kodak.

So, what happened to all these brilliant businesses? The tide changed, but they remained the same. The lesson is simple: if you don’t know how to innovate quickly, your company will cease to exist. Forget being competitive; only existing businesses can compete.

While innovation has always been a hallmark of good business, it has never happened faster, nor has it been as important as it is right now, thanks to digital transformation.

With all the advancements in artificial intelligence, IoT, data analytics, blockchain and networking, businesses have all the tools necessary to do in two weeks what used to take two decades. The only hurdle is how to use these things to get the desired results: boost revenue, increase customer satisfaction, become more efficient and move at blistering speed.

Growing demand for digital transformation

A survey of CEOs by Gartner in 2018 revealed that 62% of senior business executives want their businesses to become more digital, while 54% think their businesses are transformational.

This begs the question: why not 100%? Why aren’t all the executives saying they want to become more digital and why aren’t all of them claiming to be transformational. Because not everyone sees the value of transformation. Many companies are content with the status quo and don’t see any reason to change how they do things. They cite the mantra ‘if it isn’t broken don’t fix it’. This is reminiscent of how Nokia reacted to Apple’s first iPhone. And we all know how that worked out.

As for the majority of companies who believe they are doing everything right, the results prove otherwise. After all, claiming to be transformational does not make it so. If your rate of digital adoption is not yielding the predicted outcome, then all you are doing is chasing your own tail — it looks good, a lot of activity is going on, but no actual returns.

How do you know if your business is transformational?

Digital transformation refers to how well your company uses digital technology to solve everyday problems. It means your company knows how to harness the latest technologies and make them work together seamlessly.

This is a lot easier said than done as transformation, by definition, requires you to completely revamp your entire approach to cost-cutting, customer service, service delivery, growth and acquisitions. It throws out all of the old playbooks and brings in new ones, some of which we don’t fully understand yet, but we know we need.

This requires a lot of time, money and manpower (initially). For a small company, this may seem like a daunting challenge.

Thankfully, numerous agencies and startups have mastered different aspects of the digital process and have had a significant impact on customer management, satisfaction, and sales applications, making it easier for companies to scale quickly and be more competitive globally.

By harnessing what these companies have to offer, any company can become transformational. Choosing the right agency also has to do with knowing the technologies out there and which ones work best for your set-up.

Technologies in high demand

There are few industries as busy as the tech space. It can get confusing trying to find what works and what doesn’t. Should you go with everything people recommend or should you take your time?

The fear for many businesses is not to be left behind, so they quickly adopt everything and end up being less productive than when they still sent out paper memos. Those who take too long to use new technology find themselves forced to play catch up.

Fortunately, there are some advancements that can be (and should be) used by everyone.

The most sought after digital ‘device’ is Artificial Intelligence. A growing number of executives believe AI is a game changer. The technology, by definition, should keep companies ahead of innovation, as it is self-improving.

While there have been a few questions about AI, it does appear that most companies are willing to test it out, even if it is mainly for customer service — think chatbots and Siri — not product development yet. As advanced as AI is now, it won’t hit its stride for another 2–3 years.

Forrester Research believes that platforms built on or by AI will be worth a combined $1.2 trillion by next year. This astronomical figure appears to be worth it. A survey by PointSource revealed that nearly half of all shoppers would be willing to spend more if AI was involved. The novelty of saying they bought a product from an AI automaton is enough to entice customers.

Virtual Reality (VR) is another hotbed of activity. The gaming industry was the first to latch unto VR, but since then everyone from realtors to aviation schools is looking for new ways to utilize it. Businesses see Mixed Reality (MR) as a key market segment worth pursuing relentlessly.

The combination of VR and AR means customers get to visualize how they would look wearing certain clothes, driving a particular car or living in their dream house. The mass appeal of AR was proven with Pokémon Go, which coincidentally revived the reputation of Nintendo.

Internet of Things is the gift that keeps giving. While IoT has taken the back seat to AI, it is still very relevant, especially as more of the technologies needed to make it work are now available. IoT enables small companies to compete with less technologically advanced larger companies, by giving them the capacity to do more with less. The same can be said of blockchain, data analytics and so many others.

Staying ahead of innovation

The race is on, and it is up to executives to figure out how best to make the most of these advancements to ensure their companies remain two steps ahead of the competition. All it takes is one bad decision to torpedo a great company or one great one to create the next Amazon.