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Wall Street Journal

Wall Street Journal Gets It Right When Discussing Crowd Sourced Innovation

Rachel Silverman’s article in the Wall Street Journal (today, 10/17) really gets it right when talking about crowd sourcing and innovation: “It’s often the employees—rather than outside consultants—who know a company’s products and processes best. According to management experts, many of the most innovative companies tend to solicit ideas from staff throughout the organization, not just the executive ranks.” Getting your best ideas from unexpected places (i.e. outside of the Executive ranks) is at the core of Spigit’s solutions and philosophy.

Spigit’s client, Allstate, held an online idea challenge to design a mobile app for its insurance products, and not so surprisingly to us, one of the firm’s trial attorney’s came up with a winning idea. Trial attorney? Mobile app? This is a great example of the added value that crowd sourcing brings to innovation, beyond that of a rigid more traditional and limited approach. As Matt Manzella’s (Allstate’s Director of Technology Innovation) pithy comment so aptly put it, “I can guarantee you his boss didn’t ask him, ‘got any mobile ideas?’”

PWC

TechnologyForecast

This in-depth exploration of Innovation and business examines the question of “Can innovation be disciplined without killing it?” and uncovers how several technologies raise the innovation performance of enterprises.

The knowledge article also focuses on the CIO’s new role in innovation. As idea management and innovation becomes a focus for many global businesses, the traditional role of the Chief Information Officer is changing. This article speaks to the notion of Innovation taking a front row seat to company agendas and quickly becoming the next frontier for all CIO’s.

A number of influential thought-leaders and business experts share their insight on innovating successfully. From Bill Hessler of Equipois presenting multiple cases of innovative problem solving using structured methods, to Joe Bidwell and Patrick Sullivan of Chubb discussing the transformation of ideas to marketable products, the article is a must-read for anyone looking for a reason to innovate.

InformationWeek Analytics

Analytics Report

For an increasing number of companies, IT is a core part of their products, not a back-end support service that the customer never sees. The Web started this fundamental change, but the mobile Web is raising the stakes even higher. And if IT is part of the product, it makes IT’s innovation efforts, and how CIOs organize those efforts, absolutely crucial.

Understand, most CIOs still haven’t embraced this idea of IT being part of the product, though the percentage is growing. Thirty-four percent of the more than 200 IT leaders we surveyed say introducing “new IT-led products/ services for customers” is among the top three ways they’ll innovate this year. Two years ago, just 18% considered this a priority.

Only 17% of the executives surveyed say IT isn’t expected to drive innovation. So how do the CIOs at the proactive 83% of companies know they’re driving big ideas? Read on to learn more.

Boston Consulting Group

A Weapon to Win the Battle for Competitive Advantage Technology – Enabled Innovation

Is the effort to become more innovative worth it? Empirical evidence clearly suggests that it is. BCG’s own research confirms that the innovative companies deliver superior returns for shareholders. Innovative companies tend to outperform on other measures of overall business success as well – witness, for example, the results over time of the Apples, Googles, and Procter & Gambles of the world. The bottom line: innovation pays. And information technology can play a pivotal role in helping your company get there.

McKinsey Global Survey

Innovation and Commercialization, 2010

After coping with the global economic crisis, companies are beginning to aim for growth again. But their approach to managing innovation and the challenges they face haven’t changed. The survey results suggest a few ways to improve.

PriceWaterhouseCoopers

Collaborate and Innovate: a new world of sourcing

Outsourcing is growing fast and delivering results. It is covering more parts of the business landscape, and gaining in complexity. Many challenges remain. Today’s market leaders are embracing collaboration and transparency to achieve the promise of productivity and performance in the outsourcing enterprise.

Boston Consulting Group

Innovation 2010 – A Return to Prominence and the Emergence of a New World Order

The Boston Consulting Group completed its seventh annual global survey of senior executives on their innovation practices. This report summaries that survey’s results. It covers the full suite of interrelated activities involved in turning ideas into financial returns, going well beyond ideation and new-product development to include such issues as portfolio and life-cycle management, organizational alignment, and demands on leader. It discusses what works and what doesn’t and the actions companies are taking to make innovation happen. Finally the report offers pragmatic advice for individuals who want to make a difference in their organizations.