Efficient innovation determines business success like never before. Consequently, for those that were reticent to invest in the tools of tomorrow, the challenges posed by the pandemic often seemed insurmountable. Equally, there are those that employ a hand to mouth approach to innovation, implementing the tools necessary to deliver innovation but without ample consideration for how it slots into their group strategy. Neither of these will be adequate approaches in 2022. This is why we must establish an effective innovation cycle.

Defining The Innovation Cycle

To build a culture that appreciates innovation, we must recognize and develop a cycle that helps us to deliver it. An effective innovation cycle is a continuous process of discovery, validation, development, registration and commercialization, all working to create value. Below, we have defined these in greater detail:

1.Inception – At the Inception stage, we are focused on exploration and inspiration for new ideas. Consequently, there are two approaches to discovery, both of which can work alongside one another or independently.

• Internal: This is driven by the organization’s plan and business strategy
• External: This is driven by customer feedback, employee brainstorming, etc.

2. Preparation – Once our issue areas are defined we will focus on preparation. This stage is defined by information gathering, data analysis & market research to define success metrics.

3. Innovation – At this stage, we iterate and ideate until the innovation project is complete. This is obviously a critical part of the process and will be defined by design, build and test. Whether it’s creating a market-ready product or transformation of internal systems, etc.

4. Market & Expansion – Once the innovation project is complete, it’s time to provide and expand out to customers or employees. The end of this stage will be marked by maintenance and continual evaluation of success.

5. Learning & Re-Innovation – At the end of this cycle you will have given yourself the insights and impetus required to build an improve in the next cycle of innovation. Critically, this will remain true even where the process has not been totally successful.

How to Build an Innovation Cycle

Every organization needs to understand this cycle should they wish to innovate successfully. Naturally, every company will differ in how they define and refine the process, but plainly, in 2022 you can’t afford not to participate. This was a point that Angelic Gibson – Chief Information Officer for Avid Exchange – discussed at GDS’ recent CIO NA Summit in September.

In fact, during her keynote discussion, ‘Harnessing Talent to Drive Revenue Generation’, Angelic provided some key pointers for all to take into consideration in innovation project.

• Creation: Is our creativity working at the speed of change? “We always need to be looking at how we are creating technology and are we doing it with speed to market in mind and are we removing friction in the system?”
• Value: Does the innovation in question help, or are we innovating for innovations sake? Always ask: “Are you creating value in the marketplace? Is your idea a good idea and is it creating value for the teammate and/or your customer.”
• Convenience: Are we streamlining the process or “are we actually getting in the way that we work?”
• Communication: “As you’re starting with transformation or innovation initiatives, communication is so utterly important. Is the message connecting? Do people understand what it is we’re trying to communicate.”

Final Thoughts

As Angelic closed her discussion she laid out some final thoughts on what success in innovation looks like. “When it comes to the business of technology, there are four critical metrics that we have to be top of mind on to know if we are doing well or not. These are delivery lead time, deploy frequency, change failure rate and mean time to restore”. With a fully realized cycle of innovation, we can deliver more effectively to each of these factors.

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