Institutionalize Innovation through IT
Leverage IT’s strong multi-department spanning position to facilitate innovation across the
enterprise.
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Info-Tech Research Group
1
Introduction
The changing technology landscape provides opportunities for IT to become
an innovation partner and facilitate enterprise-wide innovation.
This Research Is Designed For:
This Research Will Help You:
 CIOs and IT leaders trying to maximize
 Ensure that IT is achieving the levels of
efficiency and value to the business.
 CEOs and Business unit leaders looking for
greater innovative thinking from IT.
business satisfaction necessary for it to be a
partner in innovation.
 Adapt your IT strategy as business
strategies evolve with disruptive technologies.
 Business and IT leaders trying to move from
ad hoc innovation to having a repeatable
business process that fosters innovation.
 Facilitate innovation across the enterprise by
leveraging IT’s cross-silo functionality.
 Prepare for the future with people and
processes equipped for repeatable
improvement and innovation.
Info-Tech Research Group
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Executive Summary
Disruptive technologies are changing the IT landscape.
• Easy access to social media, cloud computing, big data, and mobile services have bred a new class of business
employee that are impacting IT’s positioning within the organization. They are more tech-savvy and have access to
services outside of traditional IT departments, but may not understand the security, compliance, and risk implications
that will arise.
• IT is being increasingly disengaged in organizations with high investments in disruptive technologies. An Info-Tech
survey sees business units taking on more technology projects without IT. IT must find a way to get involved in these
high value projects to prove themselves as an innovation partner to business executives while maintaining compliance,
mitigating risk, and maximizing security.
Earn the mandate to facilitate innovation enterprise-wide.
• Due to its role, IT already has insights into departments across the organization, and into the business processes,
issues, and opportunities faced by those departments. Those insights combined with IT’s knowledge of technology
trends and their capabilities to impact the business enables it to facilitate innovation.
• Business executives will not see IT as an innovation partner until IT demonstrates value through: providing
basic IT functions, innovating within the IT department, and helping business units innovate to achieve their strategic
goals. This will allow business leaders to develop confidence in IT, and will allot IT the authority to facilitate innovation
across the organization.
Position IT in an engine that allows innovation to be an iterative and managed business process.
• IT can strategically position themselves to help facilitate an innovation engine on behalf of the organization that
continuously gathers ideas, supports small teams on innovative projects, and maintains an innovation project portfolio.
• IT can provide the organization with the tools and expertise needed to facilitate innovation ideation and execution.
Info-Tech Research Group
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Follow Info-Tech’s Innovation Roadmap to drive innovation
throughout your organization
1. Build a Culture of IT Innovation
Read this research to understand the cultural preconditions necessary for innovation
success: business buy-in, time and resources for innovation, IT awareness of
business strategy, diversity of experience, idea exchange, and innovation recognition.
2. Institutionalize Innovation through IT
Read this research to understand innovation within the enterprise, how IT can become
an innovation partner with the business, and how to position IT to facilitate innovation
enterprise-wide while making it a managed, continuous process. Helping IT earn the
mandate for innovation, the innovation value chain, and the innovation governance
model will all be covered in this solution set.
3. Innovation Ideation (Upcoming Research)
This research will focus on how IT can provide the ideal processes, resources, tools,
and expertise that go into innovation ideation. Investigating problems, generating,
assessing, and prioritizing ideas, developing the concept prototype, create business
case, and idea classification will all be covered in this solution set.
4. Innovation Execution (Upcoming Research)
This research will focus on how IT can provide the ideal processes, resources, tools,
and expertise that go into innovation execution. Assessing needs, formalizing
operations plans, team assembly, formalizing operations test plans, conducting test
operations, and obtaining insights will all be covered in this solution set.
Info-Tech Research Group
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The Business’ access to disruptive technologies is exposing IT
to the risk of marginalization and reduced involvement
% of orgs investing highly in disruptive
tech.
100%
90%
Organizations who invest more in disruptive
technologies get more ROI from innovation
Source: Info-Tech Research Group, N = 87
80%
70%
60%
51%
50%
40%
+538%
30%
20%
10%
8%
0%
Low
High
Low Investment
High Investment
ROI from IT innovation
• Disruptive technologies like social media, mobile
devices, big data, and cloud computing have been
converging and are opening new avenues for highly
valuable innovation investments.
• IT must have the knowledge to innovate around such
technologies and work with the Business to optimize
innovation success.
% of orgs noticing an increase in the #
of projects taken on by the business
without IT
Social, Mobile, Big Data, and Cloud provide new avenues for Innovation ROI,
but more of these projects are being taken on without IT.
100%
90%
80%
Organizations who invest more in disruptive
technologies are experiencing shadow IT
Source: Info-Tech Research Group, N = 82
70%
60%
50%
40%
+112%
30%
20%
36%
17%
10%
0%
Low
Decreased or No Change
High
Increased
Investment in disruptive technologies
• More high value technology projects are being
taken on by the Business without IT. However, taking
full advantage of disruptive technologies requires
technical expertise and vision, something IT can provide
that business units lack.
• Get IT involved and be part of the solution by
facilitating innovation. Keep IT in the loop while
mitigating risk, maintaining compliance, and maximizing
security.
Info-Tech Research Group
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IT is well positioned to facilitate innovation like any other
business process
Due to its insights into business processes and the needs of multiple
business units, IT is well positioned to facilitate enterprise-wide innovation.
Improving IT Service Delivery Improved
IT-Enabled Innovation Success
IT has a unique horizontal view of business processes
Source: Info-Tech Research Group, N = 91
100%
Sales
Marketing
Customer
Service
IT Applications & Infrastructure Supporting
Enterprise Processes
• IT enables multiple business processes across departments,
giving IT:
o Multi-departmental insights into everyday needs and
activities of business units.
o Working relationships with business units.
o Awareness of new and emerging technologies that
enable and impact business processes.
• There is an opportunity for IT to provide business value by
facilitating innovation to other departments across the
organization as a whole.
• IT’s role isn’t necessarily to innovate new products or
services. IT can facilitate innovation; making the processes
of innovative thinking and executing innovative initiatives less
strenuous.
90%
Organizations Noticing IT-Enabled
Innovation Success (%)
Finance
76%
80%
70%
60%
60%
50%
40%
30%
25%
20%
10%
0%
No Basic IT Delivery Basic IT Delivery
Advanced IT
Delivery
Quality of IT Service Delivery
Organizations with IT departments that deliver
advanced services are more likely to notice high ITenabled innovation successes, however, getting the
basics right is a prerequisite.
Info-Tech Research Group
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IT must get the basics right to gain the credibility needed from
the Business before facilitating enterprise innovation
Keep reading this set if the IT department is adequately providing the basic
competencies, otherwise read the following recommended solution sets first.
Increasing IT’s Mandate to be an innovation partner
Innovative
Competencies:
IT Functions
CEO’s Hierarchy of IT Needs
Helps Create New Industry
Keep reading
this set if you
are providing
the basic
competencies
Extends Into New Businesses
Define New Frontier
Expand the Business
Read the below
solution sets:
Increases Revenue
Increases Efficiency
Optimize Business
Processes
Decreases Costs
Basics
Competencies:
If you are not
providing business
units with basic IT
services, focus on
improving these
before reading this
set
Satisfies business needs
Inexpensive service delivery
Adequately enabling
business units
Uninterrupted service delivery
CIO’s Innovation
Sweet Spot:
Innovating within IT
and with the
Business to prove
value.
Support the
Business
Get Fundamentals
Right
Decode the Real
Corporate Strategy to
position IT to build a
strategy in line with
the corporate
strategy.
Move to a Stable &
Controlled IT
Department to
identify and tackle
root causes of
instability in the IT
department.
Info-Tech Research Group
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Put the measures in place to avoid the risks of not innovating
Innovation “inaction” can be detrimental to revenues, market share, and
brand loyalty.
Outdated Distribution Method
When competitors entered
the market with new, more
convenient distribution
methods, Blockbuster failed
to innovate and was left
behind.
Closing hundreds of stores
and struggling to pay off
enormous debt.
Tried to Charge for Services
When Yahoo tried to charge
its users for email and file
sharing, the newcomer,
Google, started giving them
away for free. Users made
the easy choice to switch.
Market value dropped to $19
billion, when they were offered
$45 billion only three years ago.
Late to Digital
Photography
Kodak failed to innovate and
capitalize on the demand for
digital photography, as well
as the printers, file-sharing,
and apps that followed.
Stock price is roughly 96%
below its peak from 1997.
For more information, see the Appendix – Innovation “Inaction” Risk.
Info-Tech Research Group
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Use your IT department to support a coordinated innovation
strategy
Problems in innovation may not stem from a lack of ideas, but from poor
governance, development, culture, or processes.
82% of Fortune 500 CEOs feel their organization did an
effective job of [innovation] strategic planning. However,
only 14% of those same CEOs indicated that their
organization did an effective job of implementing the
[innovation] strategy.
– Forbes Magazine in American Institute for Innovation Excellence
Companies typically realize only about
60% of their [innovation] strategy’s potential value
because of breakdowns in planning and execution.
– Harvard Business Review in American Institute for
Innovation Excellence
100%
Survey Respondents With High Innovation
Success 1 (%)
Embed innovation into the corporate strategy. Innovation needs
to be institutionalized like a business process. It needs to be
nurtured and coordinated, and not just pushed to the side or
something that is loosely discussed. IT can improve your
organization’s innovation success and avoid failing to execute by
reducing the friction points of coordination.
90%
Enterprise-wide Coordination Improves
Innovation Success1
Source: Info-Tech Research Group, N = 57
80%
70%
60%
55%
50%
+293%
40%
30%
20%
14%
10%
0%
Lack of Coordination Coordination in Place
Organizations encounter many stumbling blocks when trying to coordinate their innovation initiatives. IT is well positioned to
help overcome this. Keep reading this set to discover how to position your IT department to improve the innovation process
in your company.
Info-Tech Research Group
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This solution set will help position IT as an innovation partner
and facilitator in the organization
Follow this model and its phases throughout this storyboard to begin your
journey in institutionalizing innovation through IT.
Understand Innovation. Understand classes of innovation, IT’s
role within the innovation value chain, the value of an innovation
portfolio, and the innovation engine within an enterprise.
Innovate Within IT. After establishing proficiency as a firefighter
2 and trusted operator, IT must gain credibility by showing the
Business that they can innovate within themselves (e.g. reduce IT
costs without negatively impacting performance).
Innovate with Business Units. IT must show the business that
3
they can provide significant value by working alongside business
units to achieve strategic goals and optimize processes. IT will
then earn future projects and partnerships.
4
Facilitate Enterprise-Wide Innovation. After earning the
innovation mandate, build repeatable innovation processes that
become standard, collaborative efforts between the Business and
IT within the organization.
1
Info-Tech Insight
IT won’t be able to convince the CEO it can be an innovation
facilitator until it earns the mandate through getting the basics
right, innovating within themselves and for business units. When
business units want to work with IT on complex projects, IT can
begin its pitch in facilitating enterprise-wide innovation.
4
Facilitate EnterpriseWide Innovation
1
2
Understand
Innovation
Innovate
Within
IT
3
Innovate
with
Business
Units
This solution set will help IT position itself to
facilitate innovation across the organization
Follow this diagram to
navigate your way
through the storyboard.
Info-Tech Research Group
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Understand Innovation
What’s in this Section:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Sections:
The innovation value chain.
Understand Innovation
Definition of innovation and classes of innovation.
Innovate Within IT
Value from managing the innovation portfolio.
Innovate with Business Units
Organizational innovation ecosystem.
Facilitate Enterprise-Wide
Innovation
Cultural preconditions and barriers to innovation.
Models of innovation within an enterprise.
Perceptions of innovation across the enterprise.
Info-Tech Research Group
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Understand an ideal Innovation Value Chain that
ensures effective ideation and execution
Innovation requires a process to ensure ideas are continuously generated,
filtered, prioritized, and executed.
Innovation Value Chain
1. Ideation
Frame &
Investigate
the
Problem
Generate &
Assess
Ideas
Screen &
Prototype
Concept
Select
Concept &
Create
Business
Case
Filter Idea Into:
Incremental
Evolutionary
Transformational
2. Execution
Assess
Capability
Needs
Assemble
Team
Formalize
Experiment
Conduct
Experiment
Build
Insights &
Refine
Model
Innovation Portfolio Management
Ideation is about…
Execution is about…
 Fostering creativity within the organization.
 Allocating appropriate resources for implementation.
 Generating a high volume of broad ranging innovative
ideas.
 Creating the unique team, skills, business model,
processes, metrics, etc., as needed, for the initiative.
 Developing, testing and validating ideas through
concept prototyping.
 Developing and managing the initiative in a structured
and disciplined manner, enabling targeted insights and
refinement.
 Screening, uncovering and selecting high potential
concepts.
 Developing business cases for high potential concepts.
 Selecting high potential concepts for execution.
 Being exposed to new and emerging trends in areas of
interest.
 Regularly comparing the performance and direction of
the concept against base assumptions to increase
accuracy of predictions.
 Once success is achieved, embedding the initiative into
the existing organization or terminating the initiative if
unsuccessful.
Info-Tech Research Group
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Filter your innovative ideas into three classes to
prioritize within an innovation project portfolio
“Innovation is the effort to create purposeful, focused change in an
enterprise’s economic or social potential.” – Peter Drucker
Internal
Business
Innovation
Internal IT
Innovation
Idea Class
Defined
Transformational
Ideas
Radically new way of
doing things, leading to
new market, product, or
customer creation.
External
Client
Innovation
Evolutionary Ideas
Product /
Services
Innovation
Incremental
Ideas
Significant product or
service development
initiatives similar to, and
building upon, current
capabilities.
Continuous small
process, product, or
service improvements.
Current Industry Examples
Mining
Geo-radar
Healthcare
Integrated eHealth Records
Agriculture
Seed Engineering
Automotive
Electronic Vehicles
Mining
Fatigue Monitoring Watch
Healthcare
Electronic Patient Record
Agriculture
GPS Combine Harvester
Automotive
GPS Navigation
Mining
LED Headlamp
Healthcare
Patient Databases
Agriculture
Automated Irrigation
Automotive
Assembly Line Process
Innovations do not necessarily have to be technology driven. The assembly line process is an innovative
way to improve productivity, but doesn’t always leverage technology. Also, innovations do not need to be
brand new, and are industry specific. For example, a municipal government leveraging GPS units in
snow-plows to best manage and track fleet would be considered an evolutionary innovation.
Info-Tech Research Group
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Balance your innovation portfolio to achieve aboveaverage returns
Highly innovative companies have found the following innovation project
allocation the most beneficial. Consider it for your organization’s portfolio.
A report looked at companies that outperformed the S&P
500 and found a pattern of innovation investment allocation:
Resource Allocation Profile
Studies in several organizations show the highest long-term
cumulative return is achieved by transformational innovations.
Proportion of Return from Innovation Class
10% to
Transformational
70% ROI from
Transformational
70% to
Incremental
20% to
Evolutionary
10% from
Incremental
20% from
Evolutionary
Source: Managing Your Innovation Portfolio, by Bansi Nagji and Geoff
Tuff - Harvard Business Review, May 2012
Although transformational innovations provide the highest ROI, they are almost always the most risky and
resource intensive. Recognize that incremental process improvements still have many tangible benefits
such as better alignment and communication across the organization. Diversifying your innovation portfolio
works much like optimizing risk in a stock portfolio. This is one allocation of innovation initiatives that has
been impactful with some companies, and may work for you.
Info-Tech Research Group
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Recognize the factors that impact your organization’s
Innovation Ecosystem
Innovation Ecosystem
Organization Innovation Vision
•
•
•
CEO vision
Anticipating future
Opportunity ambition
Drivers
(Push Factors)
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Social factors
Political factors
Global and local
factors
Competitive
pressures
Environmental
changes
Disruptive
technologies
Strategic
priorities
Client
behaviour
•
•
•
•
Risk aversion
Other cultural
barriers
Interdepartmental
barriers (“Not IT’s
role” attitude)
Legacy systems
•
•
•
Risk appetite
Incentives
Management buy-in
Organization Culture
Governance & Portfolio Management
Barriers
•
•
Clear goals and accountability
Strategic alignment
•
•
Accountability
Transparency
•
Explicit responsibility
for innovation
Ideation Process
Execution Process
Drivers, Measurement, Rewards
•
•
•
•
•
Skills and talent
Cross-functional thinking
Culture of change
Environment & competitive intelligence
Playing to win, rewards, celebrating eccentricity
Enablers
•
•
•
•
•
Incentives
Broad vision of
opportunities
Organizational
agility
Technological
agility
Willingness to
invest in
experimentation
Enablers
(Pull Factors)
•
•
•
•
•
CEO vision
Anticipation of
future customer
and market
needs
Competitive
leadership
Research
leadership
Shareholder
expectations
External Relationships and Collaboration
•
•
•
•
Customers / Clients
Suppliers
Alliance Partners
Research organizations
•
•
•
•
Academics and scientists
User generated content / Social Networks
Subject matter experts
Government(s)
Info-Tech Research Group
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Implement the cultural preconditions needed for
innovation success
Precondition
Why is it important?
1
Business Buy-in
Even if IT is innovating within itself, the business doesn’t always recognize this.
IT has to work with the business to have a real impact on the organization.
2
Time and Resources for
Innovation
Innovation can be risky. The organization must provide employees with time and
resources to invest in innovative ideas, or few workers will innovate.
3
IT Awareness and Business
Strategy
Innovation requires an end-goal. Help IT workers understand the objectives of the
organization and let them figure out how to get there.
4
Diversity of Experience
Innovation thrives on diverse backgrounds and experiences. Applying concepts
from one domain to problems in another allows teams and individuals to come up with
radically new solutions and approaches.
5
Idea Exchange
Innovation is a collaborative activity. Facilitate the exchange of information in a
variety of contexts while experimenting with a variety of tools.
6
Recognition of Innovators
Promote innovation through individual recognition. While individual monetary
rewards do not promote innovation, individual recognition does.
Benefits of innovation can include…
Costs of innovation can include…
Costs of not innovating can include…
• Organizational process improvements
• Product or service developments
• Achievement of the strategic goals
• IT worker and managerial time
• Reduced market share
• Infrastructure use
• Declining revenues
• Monetary rewards and payouts
• Outdated business processes
To evaluate the gaps in your organization, prioritize the preconditions based on your organizational
characteristics, and tally the expected cost of achieving a culture of innovation, use Info-Tech’s
Innovation Roadmap & Cost Estimator Tool. Compare the cost of achieving innovation with the
organizational benefits of IT innovation to assess whether the roadmap makes sense for you.
Info-Tech Research Group
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Overcome the innovation barriers to accelerate the
innovation process
Survey respondents ranked five obstacles from most to least challenging.
Overcoming a risk averse culture was cited as the most challenging.
Obstacle
IT can help overcome this by...
1
Risk Averse Culture
Encouraging creative thinking and pushing IT staff to create without being afraid to fail.
2
Lack of Coordination Within
the Company
Streamline and automate business processes. IT’s overarching position can help
organize and architect standard processes through the whole company.
3
Lengthy Development Times
Don’t be afraid to externally source a project if the Business feels it will be too costly or
lengthy if taken on internally.
4
Seeing the Right Ideas to
Commercialize
Implementing or building an ideation management software or platform to organize and
prioritize the right ideas.
5
Inability to Adequately
Measure Performance
Leveraging integration into information systems to build the proper reporting and
analytics tools to measure a project’s impact.
Source: Info-Tech Research Group, N = 56
Info-Tech Insight
Top 3 Obstacles: Successful
Innovation Organizations
1. Lengthy Development
Times
2. Risk Averse Culture
3. Seeing the Right Ideas
Top 3 Obstacles:
Unsuccessful Innovation
Organizations
1. Lack of Coordination
2. Risk Averse Culture
3. Lengthy Development
Times
Obstacles can be unique to your organization
based on size, industry, or complexity. However,
overcoming a risk averse culture should
remain a top priority as both successful and
unsuccessful innovation organizations cited it as
a top 3 barrier. For more advice on creating a
culture of innovation see Info-Tech’s solution set
Build a Culture of IT Innovation.
Info-Tech Research Group
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Understand the organizational models that can facilitate
innovation, and how IT fits into them
Centralized Support Model
A central unit responsible for all
innovation activities. This model is
not recommended.
IT
BU1
Lead
BU2
Lead
Federal Model
Decentralized Model
Info-Tech recommends the
Federal Model where activities are
shared by the business and a multidepartment spanning entity like IT.
BU1
Lead
BU2
Lead
BU3
Lead
Shared Innovation Team
Innovation Group
Benefits
Drawbacks
• Less responsive to business unit
priorities
• Little business unit ownership
• Little business unit cost control
BU1
Lead
IT
BU3
Lead
• Scale economics
• Pooled experience
• Critical mass of skills
Innovation activities are the sole
responsibility of the business units.
This model is not recommended.
Benefits
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Scale economics
Pooled experience
Critical mass of skills
Business unit ownership
Pooled resources
Business units control priorities
Shared innovation leadership
Enterprise perspective
IT
Innovation
BU2
Lead
BU3
Lead
BU2
Innovation
BU1
Innovation
BU3
Innovation
Benefits
• Business unit ownership
• Pooled resources
• Business units control priorities
Drawbacks
• Potentially more costly
• No synergy
• Lack of critical mass and budget to
pursue transnational innovation
Info-Tech Research Group
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Do not be quick to set innovation goals or processes that
have been successful in other companies or industries
The optimal focus is dependent on the innovation goals and strategy, and is
influenced by industry, competitive position, and stage of development.
Industry
• Some industries, like technology, have more opportunities for transformational innovations and indeed
expect more of it from the players in that industry due to the fast paced environment.
• Other industries, like consumer goods, might not require the same frequency of transformative
innovation.
Competitive position within industry
• Transformational innovations may have the most impact for a company, but it carries a higher risk.
• Companies who are lagging behind may feel that this risk is worth the reward, but leading players in
the market might not be willing to compromise their position as much. Trailing companies may in fact
benefit from the innovations by industry leaders.
Stage of development
• The maturity of the organization is going to influence how adaptive it is to change, and change is a
big part of transformational innovations.
• Large, established organizations are going to find it harder to change major processes than small,
agile organizations.
• Small, new players are trying to make a name for themselves and carve out a spot in the market, so
they are more likely to take on the risk that comes with transformational innovation.
Info-Tech Research Group
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Identify how business units perceive innovation and IT’s
role within it to ensure strategic alignment
Innovation can mean something different to IT and the Business. Ensure that
IT sees innovation the same way as the Business to earn the mandate.
Innovation can look different within the enterprise. How
business and IT executives view innovation will impact innovation
success. The greater the difference in how the CEO and CIO view
innovation, the more difficult it becomes for IT to create value that
is aligned with the business’ strategy. CEOs are more concerned
with new revenue streams or new products, and IT leaders are
more concerned with innovating through efficiency gains.
Inform your IT department. Communicate to the IT department
the strategic goals of the Business and relate that to current and
future IT projects. The more often the Business sees IT providing
useable and cost-effective tools, the more likely IT will have a seat
at the strategic table. When IT has an aligned strategic vision, it is
more likely business executives and IT leaders share the same
innovation views.
Keep the Business interested in IT. Due to the rapid adoption of
disruptive technologies by business units, they may perceive IT as
being less capable. Also, the Business may believe that IT is
actually a barrier to innovation by constantly putting up roadblocks
to new ideas. If the CEO does not think IT has what it takes to be
an innovation player and is outsourcing technology services, the
CIO needs to accommodate these needs while maintaining
compliance, mitigating risk, and maximizing security. At the least,
the business will not see IT as a barrier and it will improve rapport.
IT is often viewed as the trolls under the
bridge that don't know anything about what
the business is doing; we only pop up to
create roadblocks. In actuality, IT is often
going the extra mile to address issues the
business left unanticipated in project
formation and necessitate significant rework and/or re-planning.
- Erich Huemoeller, IT Director, State of
Wisconsin Investment Board
If I went to most of the VPs in the company,
their opinion of IT would be not dissimilar to
other organization’s IT departments in that
they may consider us to be slow and
bureaucratic. But I would hope that they
would suggest that in an informal
‘consultative’ model with our IT leaders, we
are very helpful and help steer some
innovative solutions for our company.
- Steven Groves, CIO, Goodlife Fitness
Info-Tech Research Group
20
Involve IT in a range of innovation initiatives that may
not all be technology focused
Business
Based
Innovations
TechnologyEnabled Business
Innovations
Client and
Industry
Innovations
Technology
Based
Innovations
Internal Focus
External Focus
Increasing difficulty for IT to execute
Pure IT
Pure Business
Innovations can range from purely business to purely technology based, and
purely internal to externally focused.
Technology Based Innovations are new technology initiatives
that take place in the IT department to primarily improve
efficiency. Examples include server virtualization, virtual desktop
infrastructure, and automated security monitoring. These are
key for innovating within IT.
Business Based Innovations are improvements to business
activities without the need for IT systems or support. Examples
include client experiences (without technology use), business
model innovation, and customer segmentation approaches.
These are key for innovating with business units.
Client and Industry Innovations are about innovating how the
organization interacts with clients and stakeholders. Examples
include client experiences, new products, services, and
markets, transformational platforms, and market creation. These
are key in facilitating enterprise-wide innovation.
Technology-enabled business innovations are one way that IT can be involved with enterprise
innovation. These are about using new or existing technologies to automate business operations or to
create new business models to improve efficiency. Examples include business analytics and business
process automation. IT is well positioned to be involved in purely business or purely client and industry
innovations by facilitating ideation and execution, so get IT working to improve the innovation practices
across the enterprise.
Info-Tech Research Group
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Innovate Within IT
What’s in this Section:
•
•
•
•
•
Sections:
Importance of innovating within IT.
Understand Innovation
Innovations within IT having business value.
Innovate Within IT
Case study of an innovation within IT.
Barriers to innovation within the IT department.
Innovate for Business Units
Facilitate Enterprise-Wide
Innovation
Communicating the importance of innovation to IT staff.
Info-Tech Research Group
22
Get the basics right and innovate within IT before
attempting to innovate with business units
Increase IT credibility by doing more than keeping the digital lights on.
Get the Basics Right
Keep the lights on and manage assets effectively to:
 Acquire insights into everyday needs and practices of business units.
 Understand internal infrastructure capabilities and integration
requirements.
IT organizations need to have the
fundamentals correct in order to innovate;
having a stable infrastructure and virtualizing
servers before thinking about innovation in the
context of the enterprise, is a prerequisite.
- Steve Njenga, IT Director, H.D. Vest Inc.
 Acquire insights to the types of technologies workers are using
100%
 Gain basic confidence and credibility from business units.
90%
 Provide IT units with more time to focus on innovation
initiatives as they are not constantly fighting fires.
Innovate Within IT
Optimize service efficiency by:
 Reducing costs (e.g. service tiering, server virtualization).
 Improving quality of service [e.g. integrating enterprise applications,
leveraging cloud application program interfaces (APIs)].
 Gaining confidence from business units that IT can manage,
plan, and strategize.
 Gaining an understanding of what it takes to be a successful
innovator.
Organizations Noticing IT-Enabled
Innovation Success (%)
(phones, laptops, tablets) and what applications they are using
(customer relationship mgmt, enterprise content mgmt, etc.).
IT Departments that Achieve Business
Satisfaction with IT Innovations Improve
IT-Enabled Innovation Success
Source: Info-Tech Research Group, N = 91
80%
80%
70%
60%
+391%
50%
40%
30%
20%
16%
10%
0%
No Satisfaction
Satisfaction
Info-Tech Research Group
23
Show innovations within IT as having business value
by speaking the Business’ language
Business units live on the bottom line, and do not necessarily see the work
that IT does to enable their everyday processes.
Server virtualization, service tiering, and leveraging cloud APIs are
examples of innovations within IT that provide significant value. However,
business units do not know, or necessarily care, how IT is providing this
value. They may not understand how much effort is going on within IT to
move forward with such initiatives.
When speaking with business units, portray IT value with metrics or
examples that they can understand such as cost savings, time reductions, or
increases in competitive advantage. These value propositions may differ with
the nature of the business units (marketing, finance, etc.).
We approached the business with
the dollars and cents of the project
to portray value. Business people
don’t necessarily care about the
specifics like number of VM’s.
- Manager of Data Center
Operations, Entertainment Industry
Server virtualization
Service Tiering
Cloud API Ecosystem
• Can yield large cost savings (e.g.
lower utility bills and application
isolation to reduce server sprawl),
increased uptime, and faster server
provisioning.
• Communicate the cost savings and
lower time to dedicate resources.
• Can yield large cost savings and
ensure that IT resources are
allocated to where they are needed
most.
• Communicate the cost savings to
the business by avoiding over
provisioning.
• Can yield cost savings and service
benefits when used appropriately.
• E.g. cloud bursting on a customer
interaction website with volatile peak
usage creates value through more
uninterrupted time with clients.
Do not try to shoot for the stars when innovating within IT if it is not feasible. Incremental innovation within IT
is a great place to start to gain the credibility necessary to be an innovation partner. Recall that IT
departments that achieve business satisfaction improves IT-enabled innovation success. An effective way to
communicate IT value is to optimize quality of service and show value to achieve business satisfaction.
Info-Tech Research Group
24
Innovations within IT matter: A communications firm
built a private cloud that resulted in large cost savings
We internally set up our own private cloud to have an end-user interface to
compete with external cloud resources. If customers want a VM or new equipment,
they can go through the interface and provision it as easily as they could on
Amazon, at a lower cost and on-site; so latency and throughput are excellent.
- IT Director, Communications Industry
Industry: Communications
Segment: Retail Telecommunications
Situation
Resolution
• The firm is a decentralized
telecommunications company.
The company was 65%
virtualized, and were considering
private cloud options to improve
service delivery across the
enterprise.
• After extensive research and
cost comparisons, the Team
discovered that building the
private cloud infrastructure
internally was the most cost
effective option for their
situation.
• An opportunity existed to reduce
the TCO and improve service
quality by moving to a cloud
environment.
• The initiative was piloted within
technology departments before
an enterprise-wide rollout.
• The Data Center Operations
team was tasked with
spearheading the initiative.
• The infrastructure granted better
quality of service than external
vendors at a lower cost.
Results
• The project was communicated to
the business in business terms:
dollars and cents, and improved
service delivery metrics were
detailed instead of specific RAM
or bandwidth specifications.
• The private cloud yielded cost
savings of 45%, and improved
service delivery through lower
latency and higher throughput.
Info-Tech Research Group
25
Avoid a private approach when innovating within IT to
keep relevant stakeholders informed and interested
Communicate innovations within IT to the rest of the enterprise.
Even operational improvement requires business buy-in
Stakeholder involvement drives improvement of
organizational efficiency through IT innovation
• Many IT leaders seek the “black box” approach to IT
innovation: driving IT workers to innovate and improve IT
efficiency without making the business aware of IT’s agenda
or not relating these improvements to business processes.
• IT leaders hope to impress the Business with productivity
improvements, without emphasizing that IT innovation was
the root cause.
• While this approach can bring about efficiency
improvements within IT, the impact of this type of innovation
will always be limited.
• Impactful innovation that aligns IT with the business requires
business buy-in from the beginning.
Improving efficiency of the entire organization requires coordination of IT
innovations with business processes and practices. Without coordination,
IT innovation cannot service the future state of the business, and IT
innovation cannot drive business change.
Source: Info-Tech Research Group; N=209
IT explains
82%
54%
81%
IT includes
stakeholders
IT seeks approval
58%
80%
53%
Yes
No
89%
IT identifies
innovators
58%
0%
50%
100%
% achieve organizational efficiency improvement
through IT innovation
IT can improve its own efficiency without business buy-in, but it is better if the business is aware of IT
improvements since improving organizational efficiency requires coordination with the business. Ultimately
it is IT’s impact on the broader organization that really counts, so seek business buy-in for IT innovation.
Info-Tech Research Group
26
Overcome the common barriers to increase your
chances of innovating within IT
Info-Tech has identified the following major barriers to innovating within IT.
Barrier
1
Lack of
innovation
culture
IT can overcome this by...
IT workers tend to focus on being good technologists. Leverage this expertise and communicate to
them how much value they can bring to the business through innovating within IT. Expose them to the
business and business issues directly by having IT people co-located and spend time with business
counterparts. They can develop an appreciation of what the business problems are and how IT can
help. This issue may be stemming from the fact that that IT staff have very little time to focus on
innovation, so work this into IT’s routine.
2
Legacy
systems
These are older systems that may have some level of customization. Legacy systems can eat up
resources and there is lots of uncertainty in systems if they are removed. As the developers
responsible for maintaining these legacy systems retire from the workforce, businesses need to
proactively modernize their aging systems. For insights on this and some viable vendors that can
provide value read Info-Tech’s Vendor Landscape: Legacy Software Modernization.
3
Lack of
adequate
funding
Make business cases for innovation initiatives with the appropriate benefits and costs in business
terms. Aligning IT projects with strategic initiatives is your best chance to have projects funded.
4
Little expertise
to innovate
around new
technologies
Always ensure that IT staff are well-versed in disruptive technologies. Business users will want to
leverage these and will only seek IT guidance if the appropriate expertise is in house. Actively
develop external relationships and collaborate with consultants and vendors to have the right
expertise available when necessary.
There is so much knowledge wrapped up, and in some cases locked up in the minds of people in IT. We are not
always able to take advantage of it because their skills and resources are being applied to the jobs we hired
them to do.
- Steven Groves, CIO, Goodlife Fitness
Info-Tech Research Group
27
Showcase the importance of IT innovation in the
business strategy to IT employees
A large barrier is a lack of innovation culture within IT. Motivate your IT staff
to innovate, and align innovations within IT to business strategies.
Understanding strategy achieves:
• Problem definition: knowing the business strategy, IT
workers can innovate to advance company objectives.
• Motivation: a sense of the importance of IT innovation to
the business strategy helps motive IT workers.
Communicating the importance of IT
innovation to the business strategy to IT
workers drives innovation success 2
100%
Overall success of IT innovation 2
(% succeed)
Provide motivation as well as guidance:
Make sure you understand the business strategy as it
relates to IT, and that you communicate the following to IT
workers:
• The business objectives.
• How IT innovation will accomplish those objectives.
• The benefit to the IT worker of participating in and
advancing those objectives.
Understanding the importance of IT innovation to the
business strategy is a major driver of success.
50%
Understanding the
importance of
innovation helps
define the problem
that innovation
solves
80%
45%
0%
Without a direct link to business strategy, IT innovation will
have limited value. This needs to be communicated across
the organization, including IT staff. For more on how to
motivate employees to innovate, see Info-Tech’s research
Build a Culture of IT Innovation.
Do not communicate
Communicate
Source: Info-Tech Research Group; N=216
Key techniques for communicating strategy
• Communicate the importance of IT innovation
• Stay involved in IT innovation
Info-Tech Research Group
28
Innovate with Business Units
What’s in this Section:
•
•
•
•
•
Sections:
The value of IT helping to achieve strategic goals.
Understand Innovation
Early IT involvement in projects.
Innovate Within IT
Communicating IT’s value to business units.
Innovate with Business Units
Competing or completing the Cloud.
Facilitate Enterprise-Wide
Innovation
Example of IT-driven innovations for the Business.
Info-Tech Research Group
29
Enable business units to achieve strategic goals to earn
the mandate for facilitating enterprise-wide innovation
The more experience you have innovating with business units, the more
successful you will be at facilitating enterprise-wide innovation.
IT Departments that Facilitate the Achievement of
the Business’s Strategic Goals Improves ITEnabled Innovation Success
 Providing the business with appropriate tools and analytics.
100%
 Reducing points of frictions in the supply chain.
 Working with the business to roll out new products and services.
Reduce business costs by:
 Helping business units leverage IT technologies to reduce costs.
• Business units live on the bottom line and are very
concerned with reducing costs without impacting quality.
Communicate business value of IT through:
 IT excellence
 Open communication with business units
 Highlighting past challenges where IT provided value
Facilitating innovation across the company is a large step forward
from innovating with individual business units. Gain the detailed
insights into business units and the confidence necessary to
facilitate enterprise-wide innovation by getting involved with
business unit innovations.
Organizations Noticing ITEnabled Innovation Success (%)
Innovate with the Business
Improve business productivity by:
Source: Info-Tech Research Group, N = 91
90%
83%
80%
70%
60%
+531%
50%
40%
30%
20%
13%
10%
0%
Does Not Achieve
Does Achieve
IT Achievement of the Business’ Strategic Goals
Finance was amazed at the realization that ‘this IT guy
gets my line of business, he is speaking my language,
and he understands the different ins and outs that I deal
with.’ That automatically raises not only credibility but
it adds a level of trust that may not have been there
before.
- Ed Murphy, Director of Application Development,
University of Wisconsin Colleges
Info-Tech Research Group
30
Advance IT services to improve business efficiency and
to show IT can innovate with business units
Business units will not turn to IT if you just manage problems reactively or
only innovate within IT.
Remember: Improving IT Service Delivery
Improves IT-Enabled Innovation Success
1. Working extensively with the business to roll
out new products and services.
• This is a very good way to show tangible
benefits of IT innovating with the business.
• Provide the tools to optimize new products or
services through practices such as process
automation.
2. Providing the business with appropriate tools
and analytics.
• The right tools can significantly reduce time to
production or market.
• Analytics are especially valuable for
employees that require data to make
decisions. Having timely, accessible, and
accurate data will empower decision makers.
3. Improving the efficiency of business
processes.
• Reducing time or resources necessary to
execute processes.
Source: Info-Tech Research Group, N = 91
100%
Organizations Noticing IT-Enabled
Innovation Success (%)
Prove to business executives that IT should be
involved in innovation projects and earn the
mandate to be part of innovation by:
90%
76%
80%
70%
60%
60%
50%
40%
30%
25%
20%
10%
0%
No Basic IT Delivery Basic IT Delivery
Advanced IT
Delivery
Advanced IT service delivery is defined as:
1. Working extensively with the business to roll
out new products and services
2. Providing the business with appropriate tools
and analytics
3. Improving the efficiency of business processes
Info-Tech Research Group
31
Prompt the business to realize that IT is a necessary
project partner to reduce project costs
IT is usually only involved in projects after the initial issue identification and
problem is scoped. Get IT involved earlier in projects.
Typical case: IT is not involved till much later on in the
project due to a lack of knowledge of the value IT can
provide, or low confidence in IT from the Business.
Business Involvement
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
30%
100%
IT Involvement
Percent of Involvement (%)
Percent of Involvement (%)
100%
Ideal case: Successful models get IT involved from
the initiation of the project.
This is the
area where
most
problems
can be
identified.
20%
10%
Business Involvement
IT Involvement
90%
80%
70%
60%
50%
40%
More IT
involvement earlier
in the project
30%
20%
10%
0%
0%
Project Completion (%)
The longer business units wait to involve IT, the
greater the risk of more expensive solutions, ill fitting
solutions, server overload, reduced data security, and
lost opportunities for optimizing or automating with IT.
Project Completion (%)
Source: Info-Tech Research Group
Earlier IT involvement improves project design resulting
in lower costs. Communicate the value of IT by proving
value through IT practices, openly communicating
with the Business, and highlighting projects
challenges where IT could have provided value.
Info-Tech Research Group
32
Communicate the value IT can bring to business processes
Proving value through IT delivery, open communication, and highlighting
project challenges are impactful ways IT leaders can portray business value.
Provide significant value
through IT
Open communication
Project Challenges
• As described, demonstrating
innovation within IT is an impactful
way to get the business units’
attention.
• If you have your own house in
order, the business is more likely
to come to you for help.
.
• Meet regularly with business units
and highlight any suggestions for
improvement to help enable them
to achieve their strategic goals.
• It is imperative to speak the same
language as the Business.
• Once business units see the value
IT can bring, they will be more
likely to involve you in projects.
• The CIO should promote IT value
within the executive team.
• Quantify the benefits past project
could have accrued if IT had been
involved.
• Show the value IT brought in
recent projects, or can bring to
upcoming projects.
• See the New England School of
Law case study where allowing IT
to remain uninvolved led to a
catastrophic event.
The most impactful ways to get IT’s message across will be unique to your existing relationships and
communication with business units. If you have other mediums for communication that are working
continue using them and do not substitute them with the above suggestions.
Info-Tech Research Group
33
Highlight how IT’s early involvement in projects can
negate potential failures
Most business units do not see IT as an innovation partner even though IT
involvement can identify critical problems that may not be addressed.
Case Study: Business units proceed with ERP project without IT
• A few years ago, the business units in the New England School of Law thought IT
would be quick to disregard any technology projects pitched by the business.
• Business units proceeded with technology projects without involving IT, with the
assumption that once deployed, IT would be responsible for fixing any errors.
What Actually Happened: IT was not involved
• Situation: Business units did not involve IT as they were fearful
of IT pushback, which would delay the process. They went
ahead with their own ERP initiatives.
• Issue: After the project rollout, the entire network and ERP
system crashed.
• Business impact: The network took 5 days to repair, blacking
out network access, and IT had to pick up the pieces.
Afterwards, IT was consulted on more projects.
What Should Have Happened: IT is involved as a partner
• Situation: IT is involved in the process from the start.
• Issue Avoided: IT foresees capacity issues after consulting
with business units and proposes alternative solutions or
ensures adequate capacity can be made available.
• Business impact: No wasted resources and improved
relationship between IT and the business.
Other departments did not
want to involve IT as it was
typically viewed as ‘the
people who always say no’. It
took our networks being
down for 5 days to change
this thinking and have
departments involve us more.
- Nathan Reisdorff, CIO, New
England School Of Law
Info-Tech Insight
Although IT did achieve higher
project involvement, the Business
must be aware of the risks of not
having IT involved before a
catastrophe occurs. IT must also
be knowledgeable enough to
foresee such issues when
approached by the Business as an
innovation partner.
Info-Tech Research Group
34
Complete or compete with external cloud services to
combat ShadowIT
The Cloud makes it difficult for IT to innovate with business units as services
can be provisioned by a dedicated external vendor in very little time.
ShadowIT: Business units may not involve IT in external deployments due to some combination of:
•
Unawareness of any potential issues that may arise (e.g. compliance or integration with existing systems).
•
Poor relationships with IT leading to the opinion that IT will complicate or lengthen the implementation process.
You must understand where the issue lies and improve the problem at the source. If end users are unaware, you must
communicate the risks and issues of not having IT involved, and try to work around these in a timely way. Improving
relationships goes back to getting the basics right and innovating within IT. If you are not addressing these, business units
are more likely to deploy cloud services without IT involvement, or even worse, without IT even knowing about initiatives
Complete the Cloud
• This is the ideal solution for companies that cannot
reach the critical mass necessary for cost effective
private clouds. If end users are going to the Cloud
regardless, make sure they do it in a way that is effective
and minimizes risk.
• Consult: Provide risk assessment training to end users
to communicate complications surrounding the Cloud.
• Manage: Managing Cloud deployments through service
tiering or administrative controls can yield large cost
savings and more control over data.
• Optimize: Track usage and spending of external
deployment to optimize cloud consumption.
• See the Dropbox Case Study: realize where a need is,
and innovate with the Business, for the Business.
Compete with the Cloud
• This option requires a critical mass of scale to achieve a
cost savings against an external alternative. However, if
this is feasible it is a worthwhile option to consider.
• Private clouds are an innovation within IT that can
empower employees with secure access to quality
service delivery to enable business processes.
• Recall the case study where the company developed a
private cloud to compete with external offerings.
• For more details on how to manage internal clouds see
Info-Tech’s research Manage & Plan Capacity for the
Internal Cloud.
Info-Tech Research Group
35
IT works to implement secure cloud-based file-sharing
after learning of the Business’ use of Dropbox.com
There was the Dropbox security incident that occurred without IT involvement.
Our current network drive and SharePoint file-sharing structure was too
cumbersome with mobile devices.
- IT Director, Financial Services Industry
Industry: Financial Services
Segment: Banking
Situation
• Business users realized that
Dropbox.com could enable them
to share, store, and send files
from a mobile device while in the
field much easier than
SharePoint.
• The adoption of this service had
spread organically among end
users without the involvement or
consent of IT. As a result, the
bank became exposed to a few
security incidents. The following
resolution and result is an
example of completing Cloud.
Resolution
Results
• As the IT department became
aware of the situation, they
immediately emailed the users to
change their network password if
it matched their Dropbox.com
password.
• IT realized the desire for mobile
file-sharing, so they explored
solutions that could provide the
appropriate functionality. IT is in
the planning stages of
implementing Box.com’s “Box for
Enterprise IT” to give their users
the functionality they desire in a
much more secure and controlled
environment.
• IT educated business users and
communicated the importance of
security surrounding file-sharing
and leveraging cloud-based
services like Dropbox.com.
• IT has improved its credibility
and gained business
confidence by giving end users
their desired tools without
impeding security.
Info-Tech Research Group
36
Once you have earned the mandate, get ready for
facilitating enterprise-wide innovation
IT has worked hard to show the Business they can be an innovation partner.
Make sure you deliver within IT and with business units before advancing.
Requirement
Ensure IT has…
Supporting Data
Top 5 Barriers to Organizational Innovation:
1. Risk Averse Culture
2. Lack of Coordination Within the Company
3. Lengthy Development Times
4. Seeing the Right Ideas to Commercialize
5. Inability to Adequately Measure Performance
IT Departments That Achieve Business Satisfaction With IT
Innovations Improve IT-Enabled Innovation Success
Innovate
Within IT
…Provided business satisfaction with IT
innovations. For example, server
virtualization shows the business IT can
improve quality of service while reducing
costs. Organization with IT departments who
achieve business satisfaction through IT
innovation notice a higher IT-enabled
innovation success.
Innovate With
Business Units
…Improved the business’ ability to achieve
strategic goals. Solve business problems,
avert potential disasters, and improve
business processes. Organizations with IT
departments who facilitate the achievement
of the business’ strategic goals notice a
higher IT-enabled innovation success.
Satisfaction
80%
No Satisfaction
16%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
IT Departments that Facilitate the Achievement of the Business’
Strategic Goals Improve IT-Enabled Innovation Success
Does Achieve
83%
Does Not Achieve
13%
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
Info-Tech Research Group
Source: Info-Tech Research Group, N = 91
Understand
Innovation
…Got the basics right. IT must then
understand what innovation means within the
enterprise and the business’ corporate
strategy. IT must know the barriers to
innovation and how to overcome them so
they can position themselves as a key player.
100%
37
Facilitate Enterprise-Wide Innovation
What’s in this Section:
•
•
•
•
Sections:
An introduction to the Innovation Governance Model.
Understand Innovation
IT’s role within the Innovation Governance Model.
Innovate Within IT
The role of the CIO in facilitating innovation.
Tools and expertise IT can provide to the ideation
process.
Innovate with Business Units
Facilitate Enterprise-Wide
Innovation
Info-Tech Research Group
38
Create an Innovation Workflow driven by IT to catalyze
organizational innovations of all classes
Embed the innovation process with the strategic initiatives put forward by
the Business and be the catalyst for continuous improvement.
Facilitate Enterprise-Wide Innovation
Embedded Strategies Increase ITEnabled Innovation Success
• Apply the skills and expertise gained from innovating within IT, and
with business units.
Source: Info-Tech Research Group, N = 88
• This is a large step forward from innovating within IT and with
• Familiarize yourself with the Innovation Governance Model and IT’s
role within:
o IT-Led Innovation Support Group
o Innovation Advisory Group
o IT’s Innovation oversight board
• Provide the appropriate tools, expertise, and analytics for ideation:
o Innovation Process Management
o Collaboration and Content Management
o Analytics and Business Intelligence
Organizations Noticing IT-Enabled
Innovation Success (%)
business units, so the more experience gained with these, the more
business knowledge and innovation credibility IT will earn.
100%
90%
80%
80%
70%
+140%
60%
50%
40%
33%
30%
20%
10%
0%
No Corporate Strategy Corporate Strategy
Corporate Innovation Strategy
o Testing Environments and Pilot Projects
o New Technology Developments
Info-Tech Research Group
39
Use the Innovation Governance Model to identify,
nurture, and transform ideas into business value
Slowly integrate aspects of this model into your business processes to
maximize the ROI of your innovation portfolio.
The Innovation Governance Model’s main objective is to identify and nurture
creative ideas showing significant potential up to and including the development
of a business case. Both the Business and IT participate in this model’s process.
1 Ideas are collected into a repository from business units and are then
1
managed by the Innovation Support Group. Each business unit designates an
Innovation Champion, who is responsible for passing on ideas to the
repository.
2 The
2 Innovation Support Group (ISG) is responsible for facilitating the
collection of organizational generated ideas into the idea repository. The ISG
also provides support to projects teams working on incremental projects, while
collecting insights on these projects. Secondly, the ISG drives the process of
the Innovation Value Chain and takes control of planning and facilitating all
innovation activities.
3 The
3 Innovation Advisory Group (IAG) is responsible for providing
insights and business guidance to projects teams while ensuring all innovation
projects have business value. The IAG receives idea proposals and business
cases from the ISG and filters evolutionary and transformational ideas into the
innovation project portfolio and delegates incremental ideas to project teams
for agile execution. The IAG is made up of both business and IT innovation
champions.
4 4The Innovation Oversight Board (IOB) is responsible for providing the
overall governance for innovation. It makes executive decisions regarding the
value of the innovation portfolio and approves funding for innovation projects.
The IOB acts as the ultimate escalation point for any innovation issues.
4
BU1
BU2
BU3
IT’s Innovation
Oversight Board
3
Innovation
Advisory
Group
2
IT led
Innovation
Support
Group
Idea Generation & Collection
1
Idea
Repository
Innovation Value Chain
Info-Tech Research Group
40
Filter idea classes differently within the Innovation
Governance Model
Optimize resources spent on ideas by allocating idea classes to: agile project
teams, your regular project portfolio, or the innovation project portfolio.
Innovation Value Chain
2. Execution
1. Ideation
Frame &
Investigate
the
Problem
Generate &
Assess
Ideas
Screen &
Prototype
Concept
Select
Concept &
Create
Business
Case
Filter Idea Into:
Incremental
Evolutionary
Transformational
Assess
Capability
Needs
Assemble
Team
Formalize
Experiment
Conduct
Experiment
Build
Insights &
Refine
Model
Agile Execution of Incremental Ideas
Idea Class
Filtering Action
Why is this important?
Transformational
Ideas
Nurture through the ideation
and execution processes in the
innovation portfolio.
Since transformational ideas involve a radically new way of
doing things, they need to be nurtured through the ideation and
execution phases within the Innovation Value Chain due to their
expensive and risky nature.
Evolutionary Ideas
At the end of ideation, consider
transferring evolutionary ideas
to the organization’s regular
project portfolio or keep in the
innovation project portfolio.
Some evolutionary ideas will be less risky, easier to implement,
and generate more interest from business executives than
others. Before proceeding to the execution phase, consider
high executive interest as a reason to transfer the idea into the
organization’s regular project portfolio.
Incremental
Ideas
During the ideation phase, pull
out the ready to implement
incremental ideas and delegate
them to project teams to
execute agilely.
Taking the ideas that are easiest to implement which require
less effort should be taken on as agile projects immediately.
This generates quick business value while allowing more time
to be spent on managing evolutionary and transformational
ideas within the innovation project portfolio.
Info-Tech Research Group
41
Create an Innovation Support Group to drive the
ideation and business case processes
To build the foundation for the Innovation Governance Model, use InfoTech’s Innovation Support Group Charter.
Innovation Support Group (ISG) Overview
Purpose
1. Organize innovation activities across the
organization.
2. Drive the ideation to business case
development process.
3. Drive the process selection of incremental
ideas for agile execution.
4. Conduct funnel tracking and maintain the
repository of ideas, business cases, and
potential projects.
5. Support project teams as needed.
Agenda
1. Organize and drive the activities planned in
the innovation portfolio.
2. Facilitate ideation across all parts of the
organization.
3. Facilitate concept prototyping from all parts
of the organization.
4. Facilitate business case development for
ideas from all parts of the organization.
BU1
BU2
BU3
ISG Members
IT’s Innovation
Oversight Board
1. Business Unit Staff
2. IT Unit Staff and
Manager
3. Ad hoc members; as
required
Innovation
Advisory
Group
IT led
Innovation
Support
Group
Idea Generation & Collection
Idea
Repository
Innovation Value Chain
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Get Innovation Champions involved in the Innovation
Advisory Group to outline innovation priorities
To define the appropriate tactics to meet business development goals,
use Info-Tech’s Innovation Advisory Group Charter.
Innovation Advisory Group (IAG) Overview
Purpose
1. Ensure all idea proposals, business cases,
and projects have business value while
understanding business and technical
implications.
2. Provide insights and business guidance for
idea proposals, business cases, and projects.
3. Detail strategies, priorities, and goals for the
innovation projects and define appropriate
tactics to meet business development goals
for specific services.
Agenda
1. Oversee the calendar of innovationrelated events and activities.
2. Review innovation ideas and funding requests
to ensure relevance and value creation for at
least one or more business units.
3. Rank innovation projects within the innovation
portfolio by measured value and readiness to
implement.
BU1
BU2
BU3
IT’s Innovation
Oversight Board
Innovation
Advisory
Group
IT led
Innovation
Support
Group
Idea Generation & Collection
IAG Members
1. Business Unit Innovation
Champions
2. IT Innovation Champion
3. Chief Enterprise
Architect
4. Chief Risk Officer Staff
5. Additional BU / IT Staff,
as needed
Idea
Repository
Innovation Value Chain
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Govern the innovation portfolio through the Innovation
Oversight Board to ensure strategic alignment
To give the final stamp of approval on innovation initiatives, use InfoTech’s Innovation Oversight Board Charter.
Innovation Oversight Board (IOB)
Overview
Purpose
1. Act as the ultimate escalation point for
issues that cannot be resolved at the
working level for innovation initiatives.
2. Make executive decisions regarding the
value of the innovation project portfolio
and the approval (or denial) for any
innovation funding.
Agenda
1. Review the innovation project portfolio
and idea repository.
2. Review current investment requests and
value delivery schedule.
3. Address any innovation expectations.
4. Oversee and approve (or deny) funding
requests.
BU1
BU2
BU3
IT’s Innovation
Oversight Board
1. Chief Executive
Officer
2. Business C-level
heads
3. Chief Information
Officer
4. Chief Risk Officer
Innovation
Advisory
Group
IT led
Innovation
Support
Group
IOB Members*
Idea Generation & Collection
Idea
Repository
Innovation Value Chain
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Use agile execution for incremental innovations that are
less resource-intensive
Aim to execute incremental ideas through agile projects teams that are
supported by the ISG and IAG.
Conducting Agile Execution
Agile Execution Characteristics
1. Create an execution team
dedicated to implementing
incremental ideas.
2. Start small (scale
proportionally to size of
organization) with a team
consisting of programming
skills as well as business
analysis skills.
3. Provide a pilot budget and
monitor performance over the
course of six months.
4. Conduct enhancement and
development work in twoweek sprints, regularly testing
outcomes and fit with user
stakeholders.
5. Assess results and level of
demand for the agile team`s
services going forward, scaling
up the initiative as required.
1. Self-organization and
motivation are key to agile
execution. These changes are
less about the tools being used
and more about the individuals
executing them.
2. Quickly achieving a
functional solution that is
validated with users rather than
a thoroughly documented
project is the goal of agile
execution.
3. Collaborate with end users in
defining requirements
throughout the implementation
phase. There is little point in
developing an initiative which
does not meet the needs of the
target audience.
4. Quick responsiveness and
adaptation define agile
execution.
BU1
BU2
BU3
IT’s Innovation
Oversight Board
Innovation
Advisory
Group
Idea Generation & Collection
IT led
Innovation
Support
Group
Project Team
Innovation Value Chain
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Assemble a capable and versatile agile project team to
execute incremental projects
Work with business units while keeping customer expectations in mind to
deliver an impactful solution.
Customer
Expectations
Solution
Effectiveness
Impactful
Result
Project
Deliverable
Time
Create a continuous system of feedback
and iteration between the agile project
team and customer expectations.
As a result, the project deliverable and
customer expectations will evolve over
time and eventually converge in the final
result.
See Info-Tech’s job descriptions for the
individuals to consider for your agile
execution team:
• Application Development Manager
• Software Developer
• Programmer Analyst
• Business Requirements Analyst
• Business Process Analyst
• Business Intelligence Specialist
Source: Info-Tech Research Group
Extracting incremental innovation ideas will leave only evolutionary or transformational ideas in the innovation
project portfolio. Having a dedicated team to work on incremental projects allows alternative groups to focus
on the execution phase of the Innovation Value Chain. Dedicated teams are integral as providing uninterrupted
time to work on projects leads to improved business value and likelihood of success.
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Position IT in the Innovation Governance Model to
drive and support innovation activities enterprise-wide
Innovation Oversight
Board
• Balance and manage
innovation portfolio
• Benefit realization
• Cross-utilization and
learning
• Oversee training and
education
Vendors
Innovation
Advisory Group
External
Scanning
Plan
Innovation
Activities
Insights
from
projects
Innovation
Support
Group
Support
projects
Insights from
projects
• Innovation
and Portfolio
Strategy
• Innovation
Mandate
• Benefit’s
Accountability
Exposure to new
technologies
Innovation Value Chain
BU2
Lead
Business
guidance
BU3
Lead
BU1
BU2
BU3
Innov.
Innov.
Innov.
Champion Champion Champion
Project
Project
Team
Team
Members Members
Project
Team
Members
The Innovation Support Group
facilitates ideas generation
and collects ideas
Project Team
Project Team
Project Teams
work on
implementation
Of innovation
ideas
Drives Value Chain
Funnel tracking
BU1
Lead
Repository
of Ideas &
Business
Cases
Info-Tech Insight
This is an ideal situation of IT
facilitating innovation across the
enterprise. As time passes, adopt
the model’s processes slowly, but
refrain from implementing it all at
once. Eventually, your
organization will become more
proficient in streamlining
innovation projects and managing
the innovation project portfolio.
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Use Info-Tech’s tools and templates to build cases for,
manage, and rank innovation ideas in your organization
To keep track of your top ideas, use the Ideas to Prototype Proposal
Template alongside the Innovation Ideas Prioritization Tool.
Ideas to Prototype Proposal Template
Make this template available to all employees in
your organization and encourage them to forward
completed proposals to the Innovation Support
Group or equivalent individual or team. After
reviewing the proposal, the Innovation Advisory
Group analyzes the proposal’s business value and
will consider adding it to the Innovation Ideas
Prioritization Tool.
Innovation Ideas Prioritization Tool
Transpose high value prototype proposals into this tool
and score them appropriately based on the Cost and
Value weightings. The tool will provide a shortlist of the
ideas in “Pursue Immediately,” “Deploy Agilely,” “Plan Into
the Portfolio,” and “Question Need and Solution Design”
quadrants. Although it is not as comprehensive as
Innovation Management Platforms, this tool provides a
starting point to managing ideas.
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Use the appropriate metrics to measure innovation
success
To keep track of innovation initiatives in your organization, use
Info-Tech’s Innovation Performance Tracking Template.
How to use this template:
Use this template to help the IT
department and the Innovation Support
Group keep track of the performance
and success of their innovation efforts
within the organization.
The Data Entry tab contains the
worksheet for inputting specific
performance metrics, and their target
and actual values. The tool will calculate
the difference between them.
Delete the grey text, fill in your own
values, and then fill in the “Action Plan
for Improvement” in the last column. Add
any metrics that may be custom to your
organization in the rows below.
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The CIO must champion IT-facilitating innovation
activities across the organization
CIOs must show the following competencies to promote IT’s role as an
innovation facilitator.
How does the CIO position him/herself as
the organization’s innovation facilitator?
Business Mandate and
Knowledge
• Earn the innovation mandate
from the Business.
• Insights into business issues,
opportunities, and ideas.
• Act as an innovation
communication coordinator for
business units.
• Provide business and IT
perspectives on applicability and
value of innovation ideas.
Internal (Self and IT) Capabilities
• Knowledge of innovation
management and tools for
innovation.
• Suitable resources.
• Influencing skills and politically
savvy.
• Plan for advancing the
department.
External Relationships
• Can attract a range of external
partners such as experts,
universities, or vendors.
• Can collaborate effectively with
external partners.
• Can manage external
partnerships and relationships.
Do not buy in to the notion that the CIO is moving explicitly from the “Chief Information Officer” to “Chief
Innovation Officer.” Innovation is not a practice that should be siloed. Although disruptive technologies are
altering the role of IT, corporate information still needs to be protected. The CIO is well positioned to
champion IT facilitating innovation across the organization while still protecting corporate information.
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Understand the tools and expertise available to IT to
facilitate more than just technology innovations
(see the appendix for an Innovation Management Platforms vendor
shortlist, and Info-Tech’s Vendor Landscape: Enterprise Portfolio
Management)
• IT department can coordinate and facilitate enterprise-wide
ideation, and mature and track projects through execution.
Innovation Management Platforms and PPM
• These tools include idea management, idea maturing, and
PPM solutions that can streamline the innovation process
and identify idea champions around the company.
Collaboration (see Info-Tech’s Vendor Landscape: Collaboration Platforms)
• IT can be the organizational “glue” that facilitates and
encourages communication and collaboration across
departments, functions, and geographies.
• Provide communication links and enable the sharing of
ideas in real-time to speed up problem solving.
Content Management (see Info-Tech’s Vendor Landscape: Enterprise Content Management for Knowledge Workers)
• An organizational knowledgebase is critical to innovation,
both in terms of developing ideas and in recording insights
from past efforts.
• IT is the natural choice for maintaining this knowledgebase
and providing access to the rest of the organization.
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Understand the tools and expertise available to IT to
facilitate more than just technology innovations
Analytics and BI (see Info-Tech’s Vendor Landscape: Mid-Market BI, or Vendor Landscape: Enterprise BI)
• With its role as the manager for data and analytics tools, IT is
the natural choice for driving analytical capabilities throughout
the organization to enable insights.
• Solid analytics and BI tools can enable enterprise leaders to
make more informed decisions in real time.
Testing Environments
• IT applications exist to facilitate fast and cheap prototypes, and technology is often
essential for the more advanced prototyping.
• The IT department can lead the selection and deployment of these applications for the
company, and train end users on how to use them.
New Technology Developments
• Some of the most ground-breaking innovations arise from the
introduction of new technology.
Social
Media
• IT should be aware of new and emerging technologies, the
product’s applicability in the business context, and propagate
knowledge of how those trends can benefit the organization.
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Recognize how these technologies fit within the
ideation process
Innovation process management, collaboration, analytics tools, and new
technology expertise are the most important solutions for ideation.
1. Ideation
Required for
optimal
results
Frame &
Investigate the
Problem
Generate &
Assess Ideas
Screen & Prototype
Concept
Select Concept &
Create Business
Case
Filter Idea Into:
Incremental
Evolutionary
Transformational
Innovation Process
Management
Analytics and BI
New Technology
Expertise
Collaboration and
Content Management
Platforms
Prototyping
The required level and complexity of these tools will be affected by your company's size, industry, and employee
dispersion. For example, SMEs with centralized workforces may have less need for advanced collaboration platforms than
large, dispersed organizations.
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Leverage Innovation Management Platforms and
PPM technologies to facilitate ideation
Managing your idea pipeline is central to innovation success. Build or buy
the tools to manage and mature ideas through the following practices.
Ideation
Frame & Investigate the
Problem
Generate & Assess
Ideas
Screen & Prototype
Concept
“
Benefits of Project Portfolio Management and
Innovation Management include:
• Faster and more organized nurturing of innovation ideas
via pipeline and portfolio management.
• Crowdsourcing best solutions to challenges.
• Some innovation management tools allow customer
feedback and customer-to-customer feedback into
innovation ideas.
Key considerations for PPM and Idea Management:
• PPM and innovation management are processes not
tools. Tools can add to the success of these.
• Success can only be realized if you align realistic goals
and processes with the appropriate supporting tools.
Are you interested in learning more about Project Portfolio
Management? For more information on PPM, PPM tools, use
cases, and benefits, see Info-Tech’s Develop a Project
Portfolio Management Strategy and related sets.
Select Concept & Create
Business Case
Filter Idea Into:
Incremental
Evolutionary
Transformational
Unfortunately, all of the reports that we end up
producing end up going to Excel and PowerPoint. You're
having to take data from different places and do an
update every week. You take that update, reformat it, and
reissue that to the steering committee. It is a very timeconsuming process.
– SAP Consultant
Info-Tech Insight
PPM and Innovation Management do not replace the need
for quality management, they supplement it. Any
organization that thinks it can manage an innovation
portfolio well without well-managed projects is setting itself
up for failure. Some solutions allow the creation of rules to
prioritize projects based on certain metrics such as costs
and business value. These tools can help separate ideas
into innovation classes and delegate initiatives to teams,
which are useful in the Innovation Governance Model.
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Leverage BI and analytics for more informed ideation
BI and analytics are necessities for those who require data to make
decisions. Build or buy analytics and BI tools around the following practices.
Ideation
Frame & Investigate the
Problem
Generate & Assess
Ideas
Screen & Prototype
Concept
“
Benefits of BI and analytics include:
• Access to fast and insightful information throughout ideation
which is especially useful for making critical decisions.
Key considerations for BI and analytics:
• IT should have a comprehensive understanding of what
business users require from the BI tool set by spending time
with end users.
• Adoption is required, but it is not the ultimate measure of BI
success. When BI is improving your business, people may not
notice they are using it.
• Ensure BI users throughout the company are specifying
variables the same way for accurate comparisons.
Are you interested in learning more about BI and analytics? for more
information on BI tools, use cases, and benefits see Info-Tech’s
Develop a BI Strategy and Deliver the BI Tools & Information
Needed by Management.
Select Concept & Create
Business Case
Filter Idea Into:
Incremental
Evolutionary
Transformational
Full BI benefits will only be achieved when it
is part of user culture. It needs to be part of
the day-to-day which is not achievable in
separate or stand-alone mode.
– IT Manager, Agriculture
Info-Tech Insight
Decision makers require quality and up-to-date
analytics in order to make the most informed
decisions. Without it, decisions may be made more
on instinct as opposed to hard facts, which can result
in sub-optimal choices.
There are two aspects for moving forward with
analytics initiatives:
1. How important is the data to making decisions?
2. How quickly do decision makers need the data?
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IT implemented BI analytics for an accounting firm to
facilitate innovation across departments
Before it took about eight or nine different queries with lots of cutting and pasting.
This solution presents a one-click analysis with export to PDF or excel.
- IT Director, Financial Services Industry
Industry: Financial Services
Segment: Accounting
Situation
Resolution
Multiple BI applications were used
across individual departments. It
took manual efforts in eight different
queries to retrieve potentially
inaccurate information.
IT created a business case to
facilitate a wide scale BI initiative to
pull data from accounting and client
information to perform analytics in a
few clicks.
Cross-departmental analysis
became difficult due to a lack of
standard definitions of variables.
Different divisions had very different
representations of what should
have been the same figures.
During the process, IT analysts and
developers spent time with relevant
business units to understand their
daily processes and needs.
IT realized the problems and used
this as an opportunity to innovate
with business units.
Business reports were generated
from revenues (taken from client
information) and expenses (taken
from accounting), presenting an
overall budget.
Results
Beta tests were very well received
by business units. Business users
could generate reports in a few
clicks that previously would have
taken two hours.
Benefits are seen in the form of:
• Reduced labour costs: 2 hours
saved times appropriate salary
• Increased productivity: 2 extra
hours to complete other tasks
IT anticipates this credibility
increase in will create involvement
in other business projects.
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Familiarize the enterprise with disruptive technologies
to provide new perspectives for ideation
Understand the appropriate cloud, social, mobile, and big data tools around
the following ideation practices.
Ideation
Frame & Investigate the
Problem
Generate & Assess
Ideas
Screen & Prototype
Concept
Select Concept & Create
Business Case
Filter Idea Into:
Incremental
Evolutionary
Transformational
“
Benefits of familiarizing the enterprise with disruptive technologies:
• Organizations that invest in disruptive technologies realize higher
innovation ROI.
• Employees are already using social, cloud, or mobile tools outside of the
workplace, therefore transitioning this into the workplace will be less
strenuous.
Key considerations of disruptive technologies:
• Employees are more tech savvy and are comfortable bringing in their
own devices or provisioning cloud services. They are doing things that
IT has traditionally been in charge of, and are likely to make similar
mistakes. Get IT involved to minimize these mistakes.
IT is in an evolutionary stage at this
time. IT is now part of the business
process chain - but we need to move
away from the traditional, ‘we control
all’ mentality and move to a support
and leadership position to help focus
these new technologies better.
Employees are becoming very tech
savvy - we need to help them rather
than hinder them.
- Paul Haugan, CIO, Johnson County
Kansas Department of Technology and
Innovation
Do not leverage these technologies to simply follow suit with trends. You must know what your end users
want and would be most comfortable with, as well as what IT would be comfortable with. Start with corporate
needs and see where these technologies can provide value.
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Leverage collaboration tools for more effective
communication and group efforts for ideation
Enterprise collaboration is a necessity for knowledge workers. Build or buy
the tools and enable collaboration around the following practices.
Ideation
Frame & Investigate the
Problem
Generate & Assess
Ideas
Screen & Prototype
Concept
Select Concept & Create
Business Case
Filter Idea Into:
Incremental
Evolutionary
Transformational
“
Benefits of collaboration include:
• Breakdown of hierarchical barriers to improve
communication.
• Identify subject matter experts.
• Less time to communicate and collaborate than with
traditional methods (e.g. email).
Key considerations for enterprise collaboration:
• Understand how end users are currently collaborating
and consider how these can be improved upon.
• Practice collaboration pattern matching to ensure end
users are being enabled with the appropriate tools.
Are you interested in learning more about enterprise
collaboration? For more information on collaboration pattern
matching, tools, use cases, and benefits, see Info-Tech’s
research Build an Enterprise Collaboration Strategy and
related sets.
We’ve seen a real decrease in the time it takes
users to connect with experts in our
organization and share knowledge.
-IT Manager, Professional Services Firm
Info-Tech Insight
Collaborating around ideas is key to advancing them.
However, discussions about innovation or innovation
projects can actually be counterproductive if they do
not refer to particular goals or strategies.
Collaboration tools along with idea management tools
can help put innovation ideas into the correct context
and reduce the risk of counterproductive
collaboration.
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Establish a framework for prototyping within IT, with
business units, or for external customers
Use prototyping to give shape to ideas in the following ideation practices.
Ideation
Frame & Investigate the
Problem
Generate & Assess
Ideas
Screen & Prototype
Concept
Filter Idea Into:
Incremental
Evolutionary
Transformational
Select Concept & Create
Business Case
“
All prototyping construction follows this framework:
1
2
Identify the core
objectives or
outcomes of the
product or service
Break idea into
core assumptions
and think about
how to achieve
the outcomes
3
4
Build a
prototype that
tests the
assumptions
Key Activities
•
•
•
•
Allocate funding and build high-level concept
prototypes for selected ideas.
Analyze and validate issues, weaknesses, gaps, and
opportunities with user stakeholders, and refine design.
Cycle through refining prototype(s), building quick
iterations as analysis reveals improvements and
required adjustments, and then re-validate.
Prioritize final prototypes and select candidates for
execution.
Refinement
Iterations
5
Validate the
prototype with
a peer, obtain
feedback, and
refine
Select
prototype
candidate
Prototyping forms will depend upon the nature of
the innovation.
For early service prototypes, a flow diagram of the
customer’s experience or a user experience model can
be created. For IT innovations, business units would be
considered the customers.
For early product prototypes, drawing schematics or
roughly constructing a form study model out of cheap
material (fabric, paper, Lego, etc.) is appropriate at this
stage.
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Use Info-Tech’s Innovation Strategy and Mandate
Workshop to position IT to facilitate innovation
Our team will come on site with your company and tailor best practices
to your unique needs and maximize your innovation success.
Modules
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Explore Innovation
Innovation Mandate and
Annual plan
Business Issues,
Challenges, and Gaps
Opportunities, Prioritization,
and Prototyping
Presentation and Close
Our Innovation Workshop has one goal: provide clear, measurable improvements to your current Innovation Process.
Each workshop is customized to the existing budgeting process maturity level and specifics of your company.
An overall diagnostic will be performed to identify process gaps and build commitment to the workshop. There will be a
scoping discussion before each workshop that results in a customized agenda for the entire workshop.
We use the knowledge of your team and our Experienced Analysts to focus on critical performance issues and find costeffective, high-impact solutions for quick implementation.
View our Innovation WCO website and speak with a member of our team!
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Conclusion
1. Understanding Innovation
• Understand the innovation ecosystem within your organization to best
position IT to become a contributor to innovation.
• A balanced innovation portfolio is key to innovation success.
• IT and the Business must be aligned in the way that they view innovation.
• Risk aversion is a very large barrier to overcome with innovation.
2. Innovating within IT
• Ensure innovations within IT are aligned with the Business’ needs.
• IT departments that provide business satisfaction through IT innovation
are more likely to see IT-enabled innovation success.
• Examples can include server virtualization, VDI, or service tiering.
3. Innovating with Business Units
• Work with business units on innovation projects to prove IT can be an
innovation contributor.
• Organizations with IT departments that helped the business achieve
strategic goals were more likely to see IT-enabled innovation success.
• Complete or compete with cloud services to combat ShadowIT.
4. Facilitating Enterprise Innovation
• IT is key to facilitating innovation through the Innovation Governance Model
in their duties within the Innovation Support Group, the Innovation Advisory
Group, and the Innovation Oversight Board.
• IT must provide the appropriate tools (collaboration, innovation
management, analytics, etc.) to help nurture ideas through ideation.
Put the measures in place to evolve IT’s
role to become an innovation facilitator.
Earning the mandate to facilitate
enterprise-wide innovation doesn’t
instantly occur from helping a few
business units innovate. The more
experience gained innovating with
business units, the more insights IT will
earn into business pain points. Once the
innovation mandate is earned,
organizational innovations should flow
through the implemented aspects of the
Innovation Governance Model.
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Bibliography
•
"A Patent for a President.” United States Patent Office. Web. September 2011.
<http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/ac/ahrpa/opa/kids/ponder/ponder1.htm>.
•
Barone, Lisa. "How to Create A Corporate Culture of Innovation.” Business Insider War Room, 2010. Downloaded September 2012.
<http://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-create-a-corporate-culture-of-innovation-2010-6>.
•
Bootcamp Bootleg. Hasso Platner Institute of Design at Stanford. 17 Dec. 2010. Downloaded September 2012.
< http://dschool.stanford.edu/blog/2010/12/17/2010-bootcamp-bootleg-is-here/>.
•
Nagji, Bandi and Geoff Tuff. “Managing Your Innovation Portfolio.” Harvard Business Review. Downloaded October 2012.
< http://www.doblin.com/articles/2012_HBR_Monitor_Managing_Your_Innovation_Portfolio_Nagji_Tuff.pdf>.
•
Newman, Rick. "10 Great Companies That Lost Their Edge.“ US News & World Report. 19 Aug. 2010. Web. 30 Nov. 2012.
<http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/flowchart/2010/08/19/10-great-companies-that-lost-their-edge>.
•
Williams, Paul R. “Bridging The Innovation Execution Gap, Next Practices in Innovation Management.” American Institute for
Innovation Excellence. Downloaded October 2012.
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Appendix – Innovation ROI Defined
• An Info-Tech Survey asked the following question:
◦
How much ROI had IT provided from the following initiatives? (Very Low ROI – 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – Very High ROI)
– Continuous small process, product, or service improvements.
– Significant product/service development initiatives by building upon current capabilities.
– Radically new way of doing things, leading to new market, product, or customer creation.
 The success score was derived from the mean value given from each question stub.
 A success score between 0.00 and less than 0.50 denotes Low Innovation ROI.
 A success score between 0.50 and 1.00 denotes High Innovation ROI.
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Appendix – IT-Enabled Innovation Success Defined
• An Info-Tech Survey asked the following question:
◦
How successful has your IT department been with respect to the following? (1 = Very Unsuccessful - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 =
Very Successful)
– Driving organizational process improvement.
– Driving organizational product or service development.
– Driving an increase in market share or revenue.
– Supporting the penetration of new markets or customers bases.
– Driving achievement of the business' strategic goals.
– Achieving business satisfaction with IT innovation.
 A success score between 0.00 and less than 0.50 denotes No IT-Enabled Innovation Success.
 A success score between 0.50 and 1.00 denotes IT Enabled Innovation Success.
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Appendix – Innovation Success1 Defined
• An Info-Tech Survey asked the following question:
◦
How well does your organization perform the following? (Very Poorly – 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 – Very Well)
– Idea Generation.
– Innovation Process Management.
– Prototyping of ideas.
– Screening of innovative ideas.
– Execution of innovative ideas.
– Generating a good financial return on innovation investment.
 The success score was derived from the mean value taken from each question stub.
 A success score between 0.00 and less than 0.50 denotes No Innovation Success.
 A success score between 0.50 and 1.00 denotes Innovation Success.
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Appendix – Innovation Success2 Defined
• An Info-Tech Survey asked the following question:
◦
Please indicate your level of agreement with the following statements: (Completely Disagree – 1 – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 –
Completely Agree)
– Without IT innovation, the business would be unable to meet its strategic objectives.
– IT innovation drives new product or service development.
– The business strategy relies on IT innovation.
– The business expresses total satisfaction with IT’s ability to deliver innovation.
– IT innovation drives the organization’s competitive advantage.
– IT innovation has had a major, positive impact on organizational efficiency in the last 5 years.
 The success score was derived from the mean value taken from each question stub.
 A success score between 0.00 and less than 0.50 denotes No Innovation Success.
 A success score between 0.50 and 1.00 denotes Innovation Success.
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Appendix –IT Services Defined
• An Info-Tech Survey asked the following questions:
◦
How well does IT enable the business in each of the following? (1 = Very Poorly – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 = Very Well)
– Ensuring business operations and service delivery do not fail.
– Protecting corporate data from security breaches.
– Managing corporate technology assets across the organization.
 A success score was derived from the mean value taken from each question stub.
 A success score between 0.00 and less than 0.50 denotes No Basic IT Services.
 A success score between 0.50 and 1.00 denotes Basic IT Services.
◦
How well does IT enable the business in each of the following? (1 = Very Poorly – 2 – 3 – 4 – 5 – 6 = Very Well)
– Working extensively with the business to roll out new products and services.
– Providing the business with appropriate tools and analytics.
– Improving the efficiency of business processes.
– The success score was derived from the mean value taken from each question stub.
 A success score between 0.50 and 1.00 denotes Advanced IT Services.
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Appendix – Idea and Innovation Management Solutions
brainbankinc.com
hypeinnovation.com
•Product: Idealink OpenTM
•Idea acceleration features
•Idea organization and prioritization
•Pipeline management
•Idea maturity tracking through a process
•Customizable valuation criteria
•Community idea graduation and crowd sourcing
•Gamification system of earning points for participating
•Idea maturing features
ideascale.com
•Crowd sourcing
•Idea collaboration and analysis
•Game mechanics
spigit.com
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Appendix – Idea and Innovation Management Solutions
•Build and manage innovation idea pipeline
•Online workshop software
•Community idea graduation and crowd sourcing
qmarkets.net
•Crowdsourcing best solutions to specific challenges
•Idea campaigns
•Community idea graduation and crowd sourcing
•Project mentor assigning
tieto.com
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Appendix – Innovation “Inaction” Risk Case Study
Blockbuster. This video-rental chain survived the transition from VHS to DVD just fine—but then failed to adapt to the next big
change. Blockbuster remained flat-footed when Netflix started sending videos through the mail, cable and phone companies
started offering video-on-demand, and Redbox started renting videos for a buck a night through vending machines. Now that
video streams through computers and phones, Blockbuster's conventional retail outlets seem hopelessly outdated. The firm is
closing hundreds of stores, working off debt, and copying some of its competitors' moves, with a fighting chance to catch up. But
it's now chasing its industry instead of leading it.
Eastman Kodak. For nearly a century, no company commercialized the camera as successfully as Kodak, whose
breakthroughs included the Brownie camera in 1900, Kodachrome color film, the handheld movie camera, and the easy-load
Instamatic camera. But Kodak's storied run began to end with the advent of digital photography and all the printers, software, file
sharing, and third-party apps that Kodak has mostly missed out on. Since the late 1980s, Kodak has tried to expand into
pharmaceuticals, memory chips, healthcare imaging, document management, and many other fields, but the magic has never
returned. Its stock price is now about 96 percent below the peak it hit in 1997.
Yahoo. When Web search and aggregation were still virgin territory, the pioneering Yahoo tried to charge for services like email
and file sharing, while upstart Google offered everything for free. Customers flocked to Google, which surged to a commanding
lead in search that it still holds. Yahoo still grew into a huge Web portal, with strong sports, financial, and news coverage that
generates billions in advertising revenue, but it also drifted into job-hunting services, video streaming, original entertainment, and
other ventures it has since sold or folded. And Yahoo's snub of a $45 billion buyout offer from Microsoft in 2008 now looks like a
huge gaffe, since Yahoo's market value has fallen to a scant $19 billion or so. CEO Carol Bartz arrived in 2009 with a mandate
to clarify the company's focus and amp up profitability. One of her first moves: a partnership with old suitor Microsoft meant to
increase revenue for both firms without the tension of a buyout.
(Source: Rick Newman, money.usnews.com)
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Appendix – Survey Results
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