In a world obsessed with digitalization from the iPhone in our pockets with facial recognition abilities to the Domino’s pizza tracker, technological advancements have a profound and enduring impact. Innovation is like discovering a winning lottery ticket; its potential is immense, but its success relies on skillful execution and requires a pragmatic and strategic approach. This is where a digital innovation strategy comes into play.
A digital innovation strategy is a valuable plan or approach a company adopts to leverage digital technologies and processes to drive innovation and achieve optimal business objectives. It’s a strategic plan for companies to determine how and where to inject powerful innovative digital solutions, that when applied to a business, improve processes, and operations, and streamline tasks, resulting in increased efficiency and simplicity. It masterfully changes how a company operates enabling them to remain innovative in a competitive market.
In today’s business environment, technology and the ability to leverage its powers has become the new value proposition. 70% of organizations have a digital strategy in place or are in the adoption process. Forming a solid and secure digital innovation strategy helps companies innovate and stay relevant within their market and the surrounding competition.
A study from Zippia explores the top benefits of adopting a digital model as operational efficiency (40%), allowing for faster time to market (36%), and meeting customer expectations (35%). Its benefits are fruitful and impact all operations of the company.
Digital innovations elevate a business, enhancing its competitive edge, however, the implementation needs to be done with a logical approach and a strategic mindset. Innovation is one of the big-ticket action words thrown around, but in order to reap its benefits, one must understand the threshold of its impact. A digital innovation strategy includes a clearly defined roadmap for a company to follow to remain competitive.
Determining the desired outcome of this adoption will act as a guardrail through the implementation. Does your company want to enhance the customer experience they offer? What specific pain point or challenge does your company want to overcome? Taking a forward-thinking approach to strategy alignment enhances the achievability of goals and strengthens the overall strategy.
“When you know your audience well, they are waiting to find out what you sell’. - Trudy Vesotsky
Market research is a vital part of a digital innovation strategy. Remaining innovative and injecting new technologies into processes leaves no shortage of challenges to overcome. Conducting extensive market research to fully grasp consumer needs, preference, and market trends allows your company to pinpoint specific areas where digital innovation generate value for you. Incorporating market trends into a digital innovation strategy protects you from creating a product or service that has no demand, ultimately being an operational drain.
Remaining innovative in a changing world is a challenge not for the weak. It seems every day the next big thing is out and what we once did is considered obsolete. Companies that keep their head in the sand will forever remain behind the curve. Staying aware of the standard of what’s available, and innovations already established, ensures a seamless transition.
Once the digital innovation strategy has taken inventory of your objectives, what the market shows will be a valuable improvement, and existing or achievable technological solutions, it’s time to ideate. All companies approach innovation ideation differently. Some work internally forming innovation committees opting for a closed innovation model. While others, seek open innovation, working with innovation labs or firms.
If your company would prefer to use open innovation and work with external partners, contact WynHouse: An Innovation Firm. Which works with mid-level companies to provide a white-glove approach to centralized innovation. They assess and prioritize ideation based on feasibility, impact, and alignment with strategic objectives. Developing a roadmap to guide the implementation of your digital initiatives.
After specific digital solutions have been identified, it's time for you to explore the nitty-gritty details. This involves determining necessary resources such as budget, team members, and technology infrastructure involved with implementation. The strategy’s timelines are clearly defined as well as key milestones marked. This roadmap protects companies as they move to the implementation stage of the strategy.
At this point of the digital innovation strategy, your company has either internally done all the leg work or worked with a partnership to do so. You’re ready to execute the initiatives and implement your digital strategy. It’s important to note, this isn’t the finish line of the strategy. The success of innovations is dependent on continuous improvement. If your digital innovation strategy included implementing digital tools or products into processes, they’re not a one-stop shop. By using data-driven insights to continuously improve and enhance digital solutions, they will remain successful. As technology continues to advance, so does the landscape of innovation.
Once the digital solutions have been implemented your company must monitor progress and establish metrics such as KPI to ensure your business objective is reached. Metrics also highlight potential opportunities for improvement or adjustments that bring the digital solution to the next level.
With how powerful innovations can be for companies, it's vital companies adopt a digital innovation strategy to unlock their potential. Digital innovation alters how a company operates, and what services or products are offered to consumers. A digital innovation strategy identifies opportunities for digital transformation, explores emerging technologies, and develops a framework to implement digital initiatives effectively. The strategy ensures digital innovations are tactically ideated and implemented to unlock new opportunities for growth. Companies that implement and adopt a digital innovation strategy have the potential to transform their business models.
