HOW TO STRUCTURE AN EFFECTIVE INNOVATION PROCESS
Innovation drives growth, keeps your business relevant, and positions you ahead in an ever-changing market. Yet, many businesses struggle to establish a structured approach to innovation, leading to inconsistencies, missed opportunities, or projects that lose focus. Here’s a guide to building an effective innovation process, complete with actionable tips, brand examples, and a handy tool to kickstart your process.
The first step in any successful innovation process is to define what you aim to achieve. Your goals should be aligned with your broader business objectives, whether it’s reaching new markets, enhancing customer satisfaction, or reducing operational costs.
Example: When Netflix transitioned from DVD rentals to streaming, their goal was clear: make content more accessible and convenient for users. This innovation was driven by their understanding of market trends and consumer needs for instant access, leading them to revolutionise how we consume media.
Practical Tip: Start by listing 2–3 core goals that your innovation efforts should target. A clear direction prevents wasted time and resources on ideas that don’t align with your broader strategy.
Scanning the market for relevant trends, technologies, and consumer needs helps ensure your innovations are relevant and have a strong foundation. Collect data, observe competitors, and pay attention to shifting consumer behaviours to capture critical insights that might lead to a breakthrough idea.
Example: Consider how Apple continuously scans the tech market to identify emerging trends and potential areas for growth. Their shift to focusing on wearables with the Apple Watch and AirPods was a response to the growing health and wellness trend combined with the demand for seamless tech experiences.
Practical Tip: Create a team for market scanning, consisting of members from diverse departments like marketing, R&D, and customer service. By involving varied perspectives, you’ll capture a broader range of ideas and opportunities.
With potential ideas on the table, the next challenge is prioritising. Identify the concepts that best align with your goals and hold the most promise for scalability and consumer appeal.
Example: Nike uses a prioritisation framework to evaluate potential innovations. When developing Nike Flyknit, they framed it around sustainable production and athlete performance, ensuring that the final product would meet multiple consumer demands while enhancing their brand’s mission of sustainability.
Practical Tip: Use a simple scoring system to evaluate ideas based on criteria like feasibility, potential impact, and alignment with company goals. Scoring ideas ensures objectivity and clarity when deciding which innovations to pursue further.
Once you have a set of prioritised ideas, it’s time to bring them to life. Use brainstorming workshops to explore different angles, refine concepts, and add depth to initial ideas. Encourage team members to contribute freely, without judgement, as you expand on the innovation’s potential.
Example: Amazon’s “two-pizza team” approach assigns small, focused teams to brainstorm and develop new concepts. This led to the development of Amazon Prime, initially seen as risky but ultimately transforming their business model and customer loyalty.
Practical Tip: Run creative workshops where participants build on each other’s ideas. You can incorporate methods like “dynamic brainwriting,” where team members write down and pass ideas to spark further inspiration.
Prototyping is crucial as it allows you to experiment with minimal risk. Build quick, low-cost prototypes to gather initial feedback and make necessary adjustments. It’s essential to get honest input from potential users early to ensure the final product or service genuinely meets their needs.
Example: Google is known for its “design sprint” method, where teams build a prototype and test it within five days. This rapid approach allowed them to develop Google Glass, a bold innovation that helped test AR’s boundaries even if it faced challenges on the market.
Practical Tip: Start small. A pilot version or MVP (Minimum Viable Product) helps you identify any issues before a full rollout. This stage should be fast-paced, focusing on gathering insights, refining, and improving.
The insights from your prototyping stage will guide the final adjustments before a full-scale launch. Use feedback to enhance desirability, feasibility, and viability. At this point, detail out your strategy to ensure a smooth launch and prepare your teams to address any possible challenges.
Example: Spotify’s continuous iteration process before their official launch included extensive beta testing to refine the product’s user experience and licensing model, creating a robust service with fewer bugs and a smooth launch experience.
Practical Tip: Plan for cross-departmental alignment in your final stage. Ensure that marketing, sales, and customer service are on board and prepared for the product’s launch, as this alignment will streamline the customer experience and maximise the impact.
- Set a Realistic Timeline: Innovation doesn’t happen overnight. Define a timeline that allows for creativity, testing, and iteration without rushing the process.
- Build a Cross-Functional Team: Diversity in skills and perspectives enriches the ideation process and ensures that your innovations are well-rounded and impactful.
- Use Visual Aids and Workspaces: Utilise walls and tables as canvases for ideation and discussion, especially in workshops. This visual approach can inspire and clarify concepts more quickly.
- Encourage Open-Mindedness: Team members should adopt a mindset focused on curiosity and experimentation. Fostering a no-judgement environment is key to generating unique ideas.
Free Tool: MARK.SENZE’s Innovation Opportunity Template
To make your innovation journey smoother, MARK.SENZE offers a free Innovation Opportunity Template. This template is designed to help you structure and assess potential innovation ideas based on desirability, feasibility, and viability. Using this template, you’ll be able to organise ideas, assign scores, and prioritise effectively. For your free template, simply reach out to us at innovation@marksenze.com.
Establishing a structured innovation process is essential for sustainable business growth. By setting clear goals, scanning the market, prioritising opportunities, ideating effectively, and testing diligently, your team will be well-equipped to bring meaningful innovations to life. Remember, a well-structured process doesn’t limit creativity—it enhances it, ensuring that each idea is carefully considered, developed, and brought to market successfully.
If you need further support to refine your innovation strategy, MARK.SENZE is here to help. Reach out to us, and let’s work together to drive impactful change in your business. Contact us at innovation@marksenze.com to discover how we can support your innovation journey.
