Who Should Be in Charge of Innovations?

The question of how companies decide to implement certain innovations is not an easy one and largely depends on the size of the organization and internal corporate culture.

The smaller the company, the narrower the circle of decision-makers and the faster the finances and staff resources can be allocated to a project. Smaller companies — if they have the budget — can rapidly adopt newly emerging technologies and win a significant head start over competitors. But in doing so, there are risks that various brand-new standards will be introduced, which vendors may refuse to support in the long run. In this case, the project will have to be written off as a loss, which can lead to bankruptcy for small companies.

Measure twice and cut once

Even the speed of decision-making has its advantages and downsides. For example, the start of an innovation project can be overly emotional and, therefore, not fully thought out. This is particularly true in terms of the company’s budget and long-term implications for the business and the customer’s user experience.

In my opinion, even small organizations should have an innovation committee that includes at least the business owner, IT, and finance executives. These people can discuss plans for innovation and balance each other’s opinions. Then they can take the most thoughtful steps without getting caught up in trendy but controversial solutions and, at the same time, without clinging to outdated technology.

Organize an Innovation Committee in your company that includes at least the business owner, IT, and finance. They can stay in balance by not getting carried away with trendy but controversial solutions, nor clinging to outdated technology.

Leading companies use a number of methods to stimulate and encourage innovative behavior. One way is by embedding innovation into the culture from the core outward. This creates an environment where it’s not only accepted, but also rewarded when someone comes up with new ideas or improvements in products or services offered by these leading firms.

In addition, executives should regularly take the time to learn from the best innovators in their market niche. Companies looking to adopt new technology can maximize their likelihood of success by carefully studying and appropriately applying the best practices of high-impact innovators to their environment. Do not hesitate to invite experts in your subject area for consultations or as long-term coaches. This will allow you to quickly close competency gaps and gain experience that otherwise could take several years to learn.

Implementing Innovations — Hup, two, three, four!

If you are looking for methods to stimulate and encourage innovative behavior in your company, I suggest you consider the following:

• Embedding innovation into the company culture from the core outward.
• Encouraging executives to regularly take the time to learn from the best innovators in their market niche.
• Appropriately applying the best practices of high-impact innovators to your environment.
• Consulting with or inviting experts in your subject area for long-term coaching relationships.
• Shortlisting the innovations that seem most important to all members of your management team.
• Setting priorities: what needs to be implemented urgently and what can wait?

If you have not yet done so, I suggest you start monitoring the most promising innovations in your industry and develop a plan for how to best apply them to your business. This will help you stay ahead of the competition and keep your company at the forefront of innovation.

Don’t forget that some of these innovations may require changes in company processes, and that takes time. Therefore, it is important to start with those innovations that will have the greatest positive impact on business results in the short term.

It is best to start with innovations that will have the greatest positive impact on your business in the short term.

When you have a short list of promising innovations, instruct the initiators to make a rough estimate of the budget for each of them. This way, you will know which of the innovations your company can afford, and which ones will have to be postponed. Decide on the order in which the innovations will be introduced.

Virto Innovators at Work

In our company, we have a few visionaries who monitor the most promising innovations and regularly come to the team to discuss what they think is worth implementing. This allows us to stay ahead of the latest trends and make informed decisions about what’s best for our company.

For example, Alexander who lives in the San Francisco Bay area, has many business tiers in the Silicon Valley, Denis knows top people in the European FCMG, and Nick and I have regular meetings with our customers and prospects within the global ecommerce industry. So, we all have go-to people when we need to know what’s happening in those industries or what new technologies we can apply to our business.

Replatforming as a path to leap innovations

When it comes to ecommerce applications, consider replatforming as a means of increasing capabilities. When the business has grown, the capabilities of the existing platform may no longer be sufficient. Then comes the moment of choosing the next online trading platform, and it has to be done with careful consideration because the larger the business, the higher the cost of a mistake; conversely, the greater the benefits of the right solution.

I suggest you get acquainted with articles by my colleague, Nikolay Sidelnikov, business product owner at Virto Commerce, in which the topic of replatforming is discussed in more detail. These articles cover the following topics:

• The Core Reasons for Digital Commerce Replatforming
• Change or Die: Replatforming Done Correctly
• Infinite Adaptability in B2B eCommerce
• How the Concept of Change Should Shape Your Approach to eCommerce

What other methods do you use to encourage innovative behavior in your company? I would be happy to hear your suggestions and comments. Reach out to me on LinkedIn.

Author: Oleg Zhuk
Business Product Owner at Virto Commerce