No part of the business is immune to Covid-19, innovate now or be toast.
Audio Blog Version:
Large corporations invest in innovation in several ways, including acquisitions, venture funds and internal incubators or innovation labs. This is a fine approach but, left alone, it doesn’t truly prepare the company as a whole for today’s VUCA (Volatile Uncertain Complex and Ambiguous) environment we find ourselves in. Today’s leaders dealing with this need to guide their teams through this new normal as it looks that it is going to be like this for a while. They need to embrace and support change, anticipate and prepare for different outcomes. Transforming the culture in this environment such that the entire organization applies entrepreneurial skills and innovates is the only way to survive long term. Incremental improvement of the old world won’t help you in the new world.
Entire business models are ripe for innovation, so leaving discovery and learning to only a handful will likely result in missed opportunities. Everyone talks about ‘innovating’ in the enterprise and the acceleration of innovation as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. One thing is clear, the world we live in today is very different from the one prior to Covid. This isn’t any more about building breakthrough new products. It’s about innovating the business itself, getting to grips with the new normal. Some, like McKinsey, are talking about the next normal as many of the long-term changes are still being formed. Companies have an opportunity, if they act now to help shape the new world. Before Covid-19, organizations were undergoing digital transformation. Entering the next normal, digital transformation is no longer a process or future end goal. It is actually a need that will define how organizations will continue to survive in today’s new era. Have toast or be toast.
We are all in a different game now!
No part of the business is immune; back-office support functions have to innovate in the delivery of services to employees who are not in the office anymore or work mostly from home, whilst still adding value to the organization. Marketing will need to innovate on how to deliver key messages, create awareness, drive adoption and renewals to minimize churn. Customer service, sales, and other departments have to discover how to create and deliver new value to customers and other stakeholders. While not everyone will ‘innovate’ in the sense of creating product directly, innovation must be applied everywhere and can come anywhere.
It is not that the goalposts have been moved, we are in a different game now!
Abel Smith
Sales Director | Data Solutions & IoT | TD SYNNEX Europe