May 8, 2011 | Innovation, Social Media
Does the technology that enables stuff to be done come before the creativity to figure out what to do with it, or does the creativity drive the innovation in technology. Who really knows, and it probably does not really matter, fact is that they feed off each other.
The iPad started a revolution that not only spawned a host of imitators, but a new industry, “Apps” which will turn over 10 billion this year, from a standing start 2 years ago. Just astonishing, but the innovation has only just started.
Publishing has been changed forever by the web, although many publishing companies have still to come to terms with this, but if ever the current e-book revolution we are now used to was not a death knell for traditional publishing, this one is, demonstrated in this short TED video by Mike Matas
Apr 23, 2011 | Innovation, Marketing
Fast Company’s innovation list is out again, the top 50 for the year.
It includes the usual suspects, Google, Facebook, Linked-in, and so on, but also 2 retailers, Californian Trader Joes at 11, and Britain’s Marks & Spencer at 36. Both are surprising, although TJ’s is well understood in food industry circles as one of the real innovators, and everybody watches them, but M&S was a surprise to me.
A 100% housebrand retailer, one who does not accommodate the innovation efforts of its suppliers by enabling a proprietary brand margin for them, but who is a copier, albeit a very good one, is listed!
Conventional wisdom would say that the innovation efforts of a 100% housebrand retailer would be seriously compromised by the unavailability of the innovation powerhouses of FMCG, the multinational suppliers to get their brands on the shelf, and who are therefore not in the slightest bit interested in assisting M&S to improve their position with consumers. Coventional wisdom it seems, is once again, not the most reliable measure.
Just for the record, Apple was number 1, no surprise there.
Apr 12, 2011 | Customers, Innovation, Marketing, Social Media
It seems only a short time ago I stumbled across the reality that mobile devices and their GPS capabilities could be used as tools to entice customers in various ways, almost like spruikers outside “that” sort of establishment . Suddenly they are everywhere, and blogs are popping up to tell you how they work, spreading the word still more quickly, and the use is exploding in the US.
Today the iPhone app used by Tesco to market product offers direct to customers based on their purchase history was demonstrated to me by a Tesco customer. The purchase data is captured at the checkout, by swiping a Tesco card at the checkout, but you do not need the card, there is an app that provides the code by swiping the phone over the reader. Your product and brand preferences, baskets, purchase intervals, location, time of day, and a wealth of data is analysed, and tailored offers sent to your phone. This is a remarkably powerful marketing tool, now a relatively mature application (ie older than 6 months, and working) in the UK, and Tesco seem to be experimenting and innovating constantly, staying ahead of the game.
For Australians, most of this stuff is still fantasy, the “connected” group who think beyond facebook, have seen comment and descriptions, but not the application, at least not in Australia. However, it is just around the corner, coming to a supermarket near you!!
Apr 10, 2011 | Innovation, Strategy
This appears to be a counter intuitive statement, but when you think about it, the outcome, innovation is all about directing resources to where they will deliver the best outcome, seeing the opportunity, managing towards a common goal, enhancing the customer experience, and so on.
How do you learn to do all this stuff better if not by understanding the risks and rewards of particular courses of action, being prepared to try them without betting the farm, learn from the outcomes, then refocusing and trying again? In other words, managing the risks by gathering data, understanding the drivers of behavior from experience and knowledge rather than gut feel.
The risk management behavior here is not the bloke in the green eye-shade who naysays everything, stopping anything that has less than an entirely predictable outcome, rather it is a process of continuous improvement of understanding of where the edge of the current envelope lies, and pushing hard to move it along.
Mar 21, 2011 | Innovation, Lean, Marketing
This is an expression I have used for many years, it is just a metaphor for never throwing out an idea, leave it available for scrutiny later when you know more, or for parts to build something different, or just for inspiration when building the portfolio of projects
The brainiacs in Silicon Valley have now come up with a better expression, “Strategic Pivot” which is essentially the same thing, but geared specifically to innovation in the digital world. Perhaps unfortunately for silicon valley, not every innovation is a new app, most are far more mundane.
A new way of moving a product WIP from one production station to the next can be an innovation, as can an improvement in the process of collecting data on that movement, and further improving it by removing excess time and effort.
In either case, the metaphor, whichever one you choose, works. Never throw out an idea, just because you cannot see the value now.
Feb 15, 2011 | Change, Collaboration, Innovation, Social Media
Finding professionals to develop stuff for you is getting easier by the day. A whole range of services are evolving to meet short term needs, by matching the booming IT capabilities in emerging nations prepared to work for what in a developed economy is peanuts, to the needs of individual projects.
In addition, on line services like surveys can be done quickly, and simply to test hypotheses before significant expenditure is committed.
Agility does not equal poor planning, so long as it is in the context of an overall objective to be achieved, rather it reflects a humility necessary to recognise you do not have all the answers, and a willingness to adapt simply reflects the reality of complicated, fragmented, and rapidly changing circumstances combined with the edge of the envelope moving at increasing speed.
