How to become a digital innovator
Learn how digital innovators use software to develop differentiating products and services for end users and deliver ongoing business benefits.
What does it mean to be a digital innovator?
Digital innovators use digital technologies or assets, such as software, applications,or data,to differentiate their businesses, create competitive advantage, and disrupt the market. To create innovative digital products and services, organizations must become software producers, adopting new tools and technologies, embracing new strategies, and shifting their internal cultures. While digital innovation is often discussed in the context of external customer-facing products or services, an end user could be an internal constituent. Innovators may find that investments in digital technologies that are used by employees have notable impact in terms of efficiencies gained or the ability to deliver products faster, for example.
The most successful digital innovators are able to build digital technology that ultimately enables additional valuable business outcomes beyond those that were the initial target of the technology. For instance, an organization may create a data product that serves its typical customer base but may find over time that packaging the deliverable in slightly different ways or adding new capabilities allows for the delivery of a set of additional products, each targeting new sectors. Creating this kind of value engine on top of a digital offering defines an organization as a mature digital innovator.
What are some practical steps an organization can take to become a digital innovator?
IDC research indicates that many companies don’t implement any processes or programs to enable digital innovation. While there is no particular set of programs that guarantees success, an organization is unlikely to spur digital innovation without putting in some effort. Organizations that have achieved medium or high levels of digital innovation success are more likely to have such programs in place, such as creating an incubator program, running hackathons, or implementing a process for beta testing new ideas.
Many successful digital innovators also say that vocal support from senior executives for digital initiatives is key. That kind of support from above ensures that teams across the organization, ranging from legal to marketing, are willing to contribute to digital innovation projects. However, support from senior leadership isn’t a given, and if it’s not in place, a potentially lengthy education process may be required to demonstrate to them why and how digital innovation can deliver key business outcomes.
