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Making the Most of Innovation Consulting

Author: Darrien Reid
by Darrien Reid
Posted: Apr 15, 2015

To transform a company in to a successful innovator, management has to comprehend the necessity for a structured innovation process, how exactly to execute it effectively, and how exactly to fine-tune it. To acquire a head start, they are able to employ Innovation Consultants.

Innovation Consulting firms aren't scarce, nevertheless, you do need certainly to ask why they are consulting. The innovation consulting firm might have innovated in its service - like using Skype for consulting delivery - but beyond that they're telling other people how to innovate.

When selecting an innovation consulting firm, it is fundamental that you be persuaded by their particular innovation success, and how they make innovation work within their very own firm. If you're not persuaded, then don't engage them.

Innovation consulting process

The consulting firm will begin its assignment with an evaluation (often called an Innovation Audit) It is in itself part of introducing the innovation model - the transformation has started.

Five key areas have to be reviewed: Why, What, How, Who and Where.

Why - Why in case you innovate? The strategy of your organisation must include innovation. There has to be a clarity why innovation is important to the organisation.

What - Strategic innovation portfolio. The merchandise or services must be identified and prioritised. This really is standard project appraisal, and may use NPV or market share growth whilst the criteria for prioritisation. The management would be concerned in agreeing these factors.

How - The procedure of innovation. The consulting firm will explain the model, and how it differs from what the business enterprise currently does. Gaps will be identified.

Who - The work culture. People should be oriented to innovation - they ways in that they interact, whether or not they operate in'silos ', the typical degree of organisational'trust'- they are some of the dimensions that need to be considered by the consultants.

Where - The best resources. Adequate resources should be provided for supporting innovation. If necessary, a mix of outside resources have to be used combined with inside resources. The very first external resource is the innovation consulting firm - no real surprise there.The Innovation Audit - Conclusions and Recommendations

An easy way of presenting conclusions could be the Gap Analysis, which illustrates how current operations differ from the best Innovation model. There could be no gaps in a few areas (for example the business may have adequate cash resources, and the'Where'gap is no issue). Frequently, the'Who'gap is significant, and often given a top priority.

You can find specific forms of organisation where in actuality the'Who'gap could be a particular problem. Without starting details, they are typified by over-focus on structure, or by autocratic management styles. These can make culture change (including structural re-alignment) more challenging.

The Recommendations of the consulting firm will prioritise the areas for actions (to close the gaps), and the changes necessary, ideally with a template action plan. It should also identify the set of measures to be used for measuring the progress of the transformation process.

Moving Forward

By now, concepts of becoming an innovative organisation is going to be gaining traction. Armed with the report and a template action plan with priorities for the transformation, the detailed work can begin.

Selecting a consulting firm can be quite a straightforward business process, but to have the most out of innovation consulting firm:

select the firm carefully, checking them for their very own innovation,

look at their proposed process for your project which

will engage senior management and involve an example of the broader workforce,

provide a functional, structured set of Conclusions and Recommendations with a credible action plan.

About the Author

Are you currently thinking about how your company can grow by improving the way in which it does innovation? Would you like to learn to more consistently turn your promising ideas into profitable products, processes and services?

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Author: Darrien Reid

Darrien Reid

Member since: Apr 15, 2015
Published articles: 1

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