What is business innovation?

When a company develops new procedures, services or products to influence positive change in its business, this is known as business innovation or better known by its English term, business innovation. This may include improving or starting from scratch with existing procedures or practices. The ultimate goal is to revitalize a company, add new value and increase growth and/or productivity.

Why is business innovation important?

For a basic reason, business innovation is important because of the premise of "adds value." It is essential to continue developing and improving your business if you want it to be successful. Finding new revenue streams, optimizing existing channels, and eventually producing greater profits are all part of successful business innovation. It should also give companies a competitive advantage over their rivals.

Three business innovation models

There are many ways to innovate and companies of all ages and sizes will have various reasons for pursuing business innovation. For some, it may be as simple as rethinking how the company makes money; For others, it may be necessary to completely switch to a different industry, or even start one from scratch! Organizations must first understand the numerous business innovation models to which they have access before embarking on any innovation cycle.

INNOVATION OF THE REVENUE MODEL

If increasing profits is the primary motivation for business innovation, many companies can start by changing their revenue model. This may involve reevaluating the company's products or services, as well as reviewing its pricing approach. It is not always necessary to be radical to achieve substantial effects; Sometimes changing just one part can have huge consequences.

BUSINESS MODEL INNOVATION

This business innovation paradigm encourages companies to discover which of their processes, goods or services could be improved to increase profits. Forming new collaborations, outsourcing specific jobs or using new technologies are examples of innovation in this scenario.

INDUSTRY MODEL INNOVATION

Possibly the most radical type of business innovation, ambitious companies can choose to completely change industries in areas of innovation, or even start their own. Businesses can, in fact, get new life by following precedents like Virgin's transition from airplanes to broadband.

Three industries that embrace business innovation

LAW

Taylor Vinters, a Cambridge-based legal practice, has collaborated with Pekama and ThoughtRiver, two companies focused on artificial intelligence. At the same time, it sold parts of its business that were seen as a distraction from its core goals, such as regional real estate.

“Assuming it is accepted that fundamental change will be essential, it is crucial to understand the purpose of your organization and why it will be necessary in the future,” says Ed Turner, managing partner of the company. "It's critical to have a firm grasp of that, especially in the mid-market."

Taylor Vinters is now focused on entrepreneurship and innovation, with technology collaborations playing a key role in the company's portfolio, allowing it to reach a whole new set of customers.

PACKING

When it comes to corporate innovation, the packaging industry offers some of the most compelling examples. Packaging design is dictated by public opinion and global expectations for sustainability, health and convenience, and the tide is currently turning against plastic. This has led retailers and manufacturers to investigate alternative materials, resulting in the rapid development of fiber-based materials and inventive creations such as ketchup packets made from biodegradable seaweed.

Companies, particularly those in the food and beverage sector, have been able to develop and adapt to meet new demands thanks to new technologies. Ocado, an online grocery store, has embraced “co-botics,” where robots work alongside humans. Humans choose particular customer orders from pallets of items delivered by robots. This is most likely where automated packaging will go in the future, giving better results than can be produced by robots or humans working alone.

The packaging industry has put business innovation at the center of all operations by keeping a listening ear and an open mind when it comes to technology.

The Johnnie Walker paper bottle will forever change the packaging of spirits.

HEALTH CARE

The commercial sector is not the only one that needs to be attentive to new ideas. The NHS (National Health Service, UK) is one of the world's largest employers and, as the UK's aging population puts increasing demands on it, it is essential to find ways to reduce costs and improve services.

The NHS is doing this by harnessing new technologies and making greater use of data. The NHS blood and transplant department has started working with digital consultant T-Impact to streamline and automate its process of matching donated hearts to recipients, as well as deploying artificially intelligent chatbots to help patients self-service. As a result, the world's first cloud-based heart mapping was carried out.

This improved approach eliminated 40 steps previously completed manually by staff, resulting in a 68 per cent decrease in NHS administration time. T-Impact CEO Keith Stagner adds: "These are the types of benefits that well-managed digital transformation programs can deliver."

If you want to know more information about Business Innovation, be sure to visit our article: "Business Innovation (Parte2)"