It’s a change so rapid that these aspects of business were simply never designed to cope with and it’s pushing a need for innovation that’s just as rapid. But what is required to spur innovation? Most will likely say some form of research and development, but this has always been a major undertaking, both from a cost and time perspective.
As John Cronin, a former top inventor at IBM, says, “It’s time to innovate how we innovate.”
The way forward for companies to embrace innovation without the significant R&D investment, is by leveraging the power of online innovation tools.
"Many companies now have the option of using inexpensive yet surprisingly-robust internet and crowdsourced invention tools to create high-value patented products and services. It's not suitable for every enterprise or industry, but what I call 'virtualised innovation' can enable companies to respond much more rapidly and cost-effectively to declining product life cycles, accelerating technological change, and intensifying competition."
Online focus group marketing
Approaching innovation in this way is especially beneficial for smaller players as it gives you access to an R&D department without the cost of setting up your own one in-house.
