STEP: 1 IDEA GENERATION

This is the first step in an innovation process. It is where you decide on the concept that you want to develop and come up with reasons why you want to improve the idea. It is important for you to involve your employees and customers. Involving many knowledgeable people will enable you to get a better understanding of the market.

Besides, it will give you an opportunity to look at the idea in different angles. At this stage also, experts will also provide many viable ideas. There are five places where you can draw ideas for your innovation:

CUSTOMER INNOVATION

As you work on an innovation, remember that you should have your customer in mind. Your customers should be the inspiration for all innovations. Hence, consider the feedback that they give to come up with an innovative idea. This is an important source because if you innovate something that does not meet the needs of the customer, then the innovation is likely to fall. You can get the feedback from the social media platforms, customer feedback forms, and your employees can report to you what the customers say.

EMPLOYEE INNOVATION 

Your employees relate with the customers so closely so they know their needs. Moreover, they also get first hand compliments, complains, and suggestions from the customers. When a customer wants a service or a product, they explain to your employees so they can keep tabs on what customers want. Besides, they are in a position to identify products that are irrelevant to the customer. When you innovate a product, your employees will be important so as to explain how a product is used to the customers. In contrast, if they do not feel as part of the innovation, they might disregard the product. As a result, they may never speak well of the product.

PUBLIC INNOVATION

Public innovation depends on information gathered from the public. The amount of feedback received through public innovation is a lot so you must have the required expertise and equipment to handle it. Public innovation produces helpful information but you have to be ready to sieve through the information to pick what is helpful. As you consider this model, make sure you do not use it before the others: it could probably be the last model that you employ. If you have the capacity to digest the information, you could use public innovation.

PARTNER/SUPPLIER INNOVATION

You can share your thoughts and opinions with your partners and suppliers. Opening up to them helps them improve on the goods and services they supply. A good example is wedding planners who outsource companies to provide flowers. The wedding company may have realized that the flowers wither after a short time and they look unattractive. By sharing this information with the flower company, they can brainstorm on ways to keep the flowers looking fresh for a longer time. This innovation helps your supplier and your business. On your side, you are able to supply high quality and more improved good and services.

COMPETITOR INNOVATION

This is a very challenging but very efficient when it takes place. As a fact, competitors are very careful with the information they share but with a good strategy, you can learn a lot from your competitors. This can only happen when you admit that there are other competent people outside your company. However, it does not mean that your employees are not competent enough, they are competent, but listening from others can give you a different point of view concerning a matter.

STEP: 2 ADVOCACY AND SCREENING

Not every idea that is generated is worth implementing, for that reason; you must screen all the ideas presented. When screening, ensure you measure the benefits and risks of each idea to determine its viability. Any idea that has a futuristic approach should be chosen for the next stage. Moreover, participants in this stage develop the idea to enhance it. If an idea is not considered ideal, make sure you communicate the reasons to the person who had suggested the idea. This is important especially if the person who shared the idea is an employee so that you encourage them to suggest more ideas even if it is in the future. For a company that   wants to instill an innovation culture, you should take three steps at this stage;

  • Ensure the evaluation and screening process takes place in a transparent way
  • Create a number of avenues for employees to receive feedback and advocacy
  • As an organization, you should understand that evaluating an innovative idea is a difficult assignment.

STEP: 3 EXPERIMENTATION

At this stage, the idea is tested using a pilot test. The test takes place within a targeted market. As you test your product, remember you want to know if the customers will accept it, if the price is acceptable, and if they like the innovation. The aim is to test if the idea is ideal and suitable for the company at a particular time. Therefore, if an idea is too complex for the organization or it’s a premature idea, then it should not be implemented. You should set aside premature ideas in your idea bank for a later date. So, even if you realize that your idea has been accepted in the market and the price is affordable, you might want to hold back until you are sure the time is right to release it in the market. It is only through the experimentation stage that you can get this information. So, do not assume your idea is beyond reproach to the extent that the market cannot reject it. However, note that experimentation can be a continuous process or a one-time activity. In some instances, the experimentation stage generates new ideas. You can generate new ideas from this stage by considering the feasibility of the original idea and by analyzing the information from the results. Give the participating team enough time to experiment and analyze the results from the experimentation. It is at this stage where you apply for intellectual rights protection.

STEP: 4 COMMERCIALISATION

When you get to this stage, just know the product is ready for the market. The major work at this stage is to persuade your target audience that the innovation is good for them. To do this, explain how the innovation will be of use to them, when it will be used, and demonstrate the benefits of the innovation using the prototypes. Be very specific about the idea in regards to any information that could attract customers to your idea.

STEP: 5 DIFFUSION AND IMPLEMENTATION 

Diffusion and implementation are two different stages: diffusion is where the company accepts the innovation and implementation is setting up everything that is needed to develop and utilize or produce the innovative idea. Knowledge brokers are used to diffuse the idea in an organization. The knowledge brokers communicate the specification about the idea and its usability. This information helps your employees to understand the idea in a deeper way. After they understand it, then they implement the idea.

Diffusion and implementation requires access to production files, logistics, and market routes amongst others. For the idea to succeed, work in collaboration with industries and businesses, get into partnership and subcontract management to ensure the innovation is fully implemented. The feedback that you receive at this stage can be used to come up with future ideas.