Innovation Solutions

If you feel this way, rest easy. This is a common perspective that many clients have. Our process takes into consideration each client’s unique situation. It most frequently starts with a deep dive into why innovation is important to your team. It sounds easy but we will help you diagnose what problems you are trying to solve and uncover the true drivers. Innovation is a means to an end, not an end unto itself though many in the media might have you believe differently. Ultimately, harnessing the power of innovation means understanding the why, what, who, and how to tackle innovation (sure when and where also but all in due time). We’ll help you fully assess your situation, work with you to develop an innovation strategy, and help you get going. Are you surprised you didn’t see “digital” in there somewhere?  While it’s true digital transformation is an undeniable part of innovation in the 21st century, it’s not the only way to innovate.  Beware of companies who start pushing technology before strategy.  If your system is flawed in some way, rarely is the right answer to automate it so you can make mistakes more quickly.

Is it possible you’re measuring the wrong thing or at least measuring the wrong way?  At the end of the day, companies exist to make money, so everything leads back to generating profits.  We get that.  Too often, however, the common metrics used by many finance teams aren’t appropriate for innovation.  We can help you devise appropriate innovation accounting that takes into consideration the inputs, process, and outputs (including ROI) of innovation.  Many organizations suffer from whiplash when it comes to innovation with CFOs expecting return within an annual budget cycle or two.  We can help you put in the metrics which make sense for innovation.  That’s great, you say, but what are the potential benefits of innovation?  Well, that list is quite extensive but some of our favorite reasons include... 

• Revenue growth 
• More efficient operations 
• Employee engagement 
• Attracting talent to the organization 
• Enhanced company culture

Design thinking is a non-linear, iterative process that teams use to understand users, challenge assumptions, redefine problems and create innovative solutions to prototype and test. There are five components: Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype and Test.  It is most often used to tackle problems that are ill-defined and can be used in a wide range of applications.  Want more?  We recommend checking out the Design Thinking Crash Course from Stanford d.school, leading academic experts in the field.