Connected InnovationTechnology provides the structure; people provide the innovationBusiness leaders who understand the role of innovation also understand how important it is to provide people with the tools that make successful innovation possible. When people have the tools to innovate, their enterprises are poised for success. Technology can play a key role in helping people capture and protect their ideas, seamlessly share ideas and projects with partners, and streamline the process of making ideas real. Microsoft is committed to helping businesses develop transparent innovation processes that result in greater payback. In particular, innovation today depends on collaboration, and Microsoft offers technology that makes collaboration easy and productive. With innovation becoming much more important to business today, Microsoft is dedicated to helping our clients realize the benefits of innovation by using our technologies to capitalize on the creative capacity of their people. Business ChallengesToday, businesses face unprecedented challenges: Technological advancement, globalization of marketplaces, and increasing pressure to drive growth are just a few of them. No matter what kind of business you're in, the ability to adapt to emerging conditions is key. New challenges signal new opportunities. The way to take advantage of new opportunities is to innovate, to take people's inspirations and turn them into realities-real products or services that meet the needs of the marketplace and return profit. Like many other changing conditions in business, innovation is undergoing its own paradigm shift. Business is beginning to formalize innovation, and more companies are signaling their commitment to innovation by adding a position to the C-suite: Chief Innovation Officer. These companies include some of the best-known names in business, both established firms and relative newcomers. How are the world's global companies faring in their quest for innovation? To answer this question, Accenture surveyed 601 senior executives in late 2007. Most of the companies surveyed are pursuing business strategies that depend on a stream of innovation. Eighteen percent said they intend to totally transform their businesses over the next few years. Another 44 percent said they use innovation to drive high growth rates and continually renovate the core business.
However, simply having a vision for innovation and naming an innovation head is not enough. Companies need to address the long-term problem of a quick-fix approach and diffused thinking. While innovation is a top priority, the survey uncovered significant organizational barriers for implementing a successful innovation agenda. Despite its prominence on the corporate agenda, organizations are faced with increasing challenges in executing and sustaining innovation that delivers results. Frequency, pace, and speed of innovation were commonly cited as areas of weakness. Changing the organizational culture and reducing time-to-market represent significant challenges for organizations in realizing their innovation objectives. Overall satisfaction with the ability to achieve consistent, repeatable, and high-impact innovation performance was low.
SolutionsUsing technology for innovation process management offers many benefits. Technology makes the process transparent, so people understand how they can participate. As a result, more people contribute ideas. Knowledge related to ideas can be retained and made accessible to everyone. Information technology tools and systems can help in developing an underlying infrastructure that supports the innovation effort. | Solutions | IT Benefits |
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Ideation and knowledge captureOnce an idea has taken shape in a person's mind, it needs to be socialized, captured, analyzed, and protected. To test the idea initially and gain confidence in its utility, the originator of the idea must be able to find existing intellectual property, expertise, and resources within the enterprise. The originator may want to post an idea on a wiki or blog, for example, so that others in the enterprise can rate it, help refine it, and possibly add momentum to it. Microsoft products can help make these initial steps easy for idea originators. Employees can use Microsoft products to express and capture their ideas, research additional information and invite opinions from experts in manufacturing, design, and marketing from within and outside the enterprise. | IT supports innovation process management by allowing companies to track, share, and manage innovation initiatives. While technology itself does not spark innovation, it can accelerate the innovation process after this initial point, resulting in an increased rate of return on ideas generated. | Collaboration and knowledge managementPeople in business are no longer constrained by physical boundaries. Today, the originator of an idea can collaborate with colleagues across the hall or across the globe. Originators can seek assistance from fellow employees as well as customers, suppliers, and partner companies. Advanced collaboration and workflow technologies from Microsoft help people orchestrate resources across functional groups and geographies to reduce the time required to bring a concept to reality. Microsoft products support broad and convenient communication, with efficient messaging, transfer of ideas in concrete form, and ready exchange of materials. | With Microsoft products, people with expertise in manufacturing, marketing, finance, design, and other areas can be included in the development of ideas. For example, IT enables and assists collaboration. That collaboration spans the entire ecosystem, from a multitude of internal functions and departments to external partners. From asynchronous interactions (like e-mail) to real-time sharing of ideas using instant messaging or Web-based meetings, companies are using IT to accelerate collaboration between team members separated by great distances without putting them on a plane. IT also enables knowledge management and knowledge transfer. Tools that foster the development of a corporate knowledge base can be easily and readily tapped, depending on the requirements. This knowledge base can range from a simple shared file server to a complex knowledge management system with sophisticated search capabilities. | Project and portfolio managementWhen an idea has a high probability of becoming a successful innovation, the collaborative team must weigh it against business strategy, market conditions, globalization, customer loyalty, available resources, and many other factors-including comparing it with other emerging ideas. Sophisticated portfolio management techniques can help decision makers view the full innovation pipeline and balance ideas against resources and risks. In addition, a critical part of idea development is for managers to make the business case for a particular concept. Microsoft offers an array of tools for this phase of the innovation pipeline. | If IT enablement of the innovation processes within an organization is viewed from a broader perspective, the use of IT tools for routine tasks can free up people's time to think about innovative solutions. IT is important to automate the processes as much as possible. It frees up the creativity so people can focus on the business perspective and business interests. |
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