Innovation in Industry

Innovation as defined by Merriam Webster is: the introduction of something new; a new idea, method, or device. In the ever changing and competitive business world, businesses must have success in innovation. Innovation is about making and delivering change to product, processes, operations or even any level of corporate functions. The goal of innovation is to create change that will have a positive impact on a company.

In the article in Bloomberg’s magazine specifies some great points about innovation. They used Kaiser Permanente as an example. Kaiser is successful in providing healthcare to thousands of people. They while developing an innovative product, they used a system they call “O-Gap”. “O-Gap” is their catch phrase for that spot between pilot and operations. It’s the place where communication usually falls apart leading to a lack luster product or process rolls out. They have found that by including key folks from the Marketing, Patient Services, IT, Facilities Management has helped with the level of communication and understanding of new innovation that is in process. “…this group takes into consideration everything from process realignment to environmental modifications, as well as the training requirements needed to foster wide adoption of the change” (p.1)

The article also mentions how IBM is making a change in support of innovation. An example they use is the larger emphasis on service related jobs within their organization. They are saying that “jobs in relationship management now surpass those in division-based P&L management as the highest-status positions within the global juggernaut” (p.2).

Co-create the vision with a multifunctional team. A suggestion is to use a team to create a vision for the innovation. Using an internal workshop setting can help bring together people that normally would not otherwise collaborate and keep the workshop in an informal-open forum setting.

Benchmark. Benchmarking is a common way to...