Yes, we talk a lot about innovation. Lots of companies do. But our insights go deeper than just “You need an innovative culture to do cool things,” because innovation is no longer a future aspiration where something epic might happen someday. Instead, today’s business success depends on a flow of fresh ideas and impeccable implementation of them.
Innovation is part of Launch by NTT DATA’s DNA, which is why we’re so excited to share some incredible research from the higher branches of our family tree. NTT DATA just released its newest Innovation Index — a report the market looks forward to every year. In this edition, “Innovation Index: How North American Organizations are Achieving Growth, Value, and Higher Performance,” the focus is on the primary drivers of innovation, how organizations approach it, and where organizations spend their innovation dollars. This research also enabled them to identify a group of “Innovators” who do things better, faster, and more profitably so that you can learn how to be more like them.
Want a sneak peek? Here are some key takeaways:
1. Everyone wants innovation to drive business growth, but it’s not actually happening
Almost every organization surveyed said innovation will be their primary source of growth over the next two years, yet only 20% of them believe they are achieving any of their innovation goals. One of the main problems? While enterprises know that being innovative is important, history has always shown that they’re risk averse, especially during turbulent times.
2. Technology’s role in innovation has shifted
The Innovation Index shows that technology is becoming a more central part of enterprises’ innovation, so much so that leaders plan on spending significantly more on it. That’s not a giant surprise, but the shift in their purchases is.
Instead of focusing on small, incremental gains — like technology that improves your online customer service or automates ways for people to interact with your brand — enterprises want core technology that can create new innovations, not optimize existing ones. Uber, Netflix, and Airbnb all became household names because they invested in core technology that paved the way to products and solutions the world had never seen before. Expect more enterprises to start making similar investments.
3. “Innovators” do things differently from top to bottom
Aside from creating market-defining and disruptive solutions, “Innovators” as designated in the Innovation Index do just about everything differently than everyone else. For example, their initiatives always have direct ties to the C-Suite, they’re relentlessly data-driven, and they’re heavily focused on talent acquisition and retention because they know they need the best and the brightest to keep the disruptive ideas coming.
That’s not all, though. The Innovation Index uncovered nine unique things “Innovators” do to drive growth, value, and high performance. Discover what they are — and how you can start incorporating them into your enterprise — by downloading the full report.
