Why Is Innovation Important In Business?
August 28, 2021
Winston Churchill said, "Perfection is the enemy of progress." Many believe this phrase means that perfection doesn't exist, and fixating on things being perfect from the get-go will hinder your company's ability to move forward. Or worse, believing that you have managed to make something perfect after hours of hard work will block your mind from seeing the possibilities for improvement. There will always be room for improvement on everything, from products to processes. That's why developing methods and skills for sustained innovation is crucial to keep your business growing.
What Is Innovation?
Innovation is the process of coming up with new ideas, techniques, products, methods, or even business models. As the Greek philosopher Parmenides said, "Nothing comes from nothing," all innovation processes, even when coming up with seemingly new ideas, are never truly "creation" processes, since these so-called "new ideas" are actually based on preexisting concepts, therefore, and especially in today's world, all creation is essentially innovation.
According to an article By Kelsey Miller from Northeastern University, there are
3 Types of Innovation Changing the Future of Business. These are basically a summary of the three key types of innovation that can occur within a business:
- Product (and Service) Innovation: Product and service innovation requires a great deal of research into customers' needs, the market, and competition. It ranges from simply innovating upon a single product or service feature to coming up with a new concept altogether.
- Process Innovation: Like its name implies, here, instead of focusing on the product or service, the focus is on the internal and external processes involved in the creation, production, and distribution of a product or the dynamics involved in providing a service. Process innovation also encompasses all the processes established within an organization to ensure productivity and collaboration between teams, departments, or even branches of a corporation.
- Business Model Innovation: Here, we are concerned over "…how a business or organization delivers value to its customers."
Once we have gone over the spectrum of how innovation can be applied in business, it's time to understand its role in business success.
Why Is Innovation Important For Business Success?
Technology has taken over people's lives. This is an era where technology is constantly innovating, and companies like Samsung and Apple release new technological devices every year. When it comes to Tech Companies, it's pretty obvious the competition is pretty high. But it's not just in technology. Brands in all kinds of industries come up with new logos, new designs, anything to get the customer's attention and gain an edge over the competition. A company that is not working constantly to be better, to perfect itself, will be left eating dust.
Through innovation, companies ensure success by:
- Growing.
Innovating on your products and services will help you increase sales, giving you more capital for expanding your business. Also, innovating processes to make them more efficient will allow you to free resources and apply them to growing your organization.
- Staying relevant.
Innovation can help you adapt to an ever-changing landscape. By identifying changes in your customers' needs and wants and innovating on your offering to make sure you meet these new changes, your company will remain relevant. It's all about momentum, never losing the drive to evaluate, adapt, and re-evaluate your market and competitive landscape.
- Differentiating themselves.
To succeed in today's business world, you need to deliver to your customers what they need or want, but you also need to convince them to pick your products or services over those of many other companies offering a solution to the same problem. Identifying your key differentiators and working to strengthen your position based on them is of the utmost importance. Once you have identified these differentiators, the process of changing strategies, products, or services' features, or creating new ideas, is all within the realm of innovation.
How to Embrace Innovation?
The best way to embrace innovation is by ensuring your company has all the information and analysis required to draw spot-on conclusions about products, services, and processes. Then, to build upon this knowledge to create products and service offerings through efficient strategies that will allow you to satisfy your customers' ever-changing needs and wants, always staying ahead of your competition. Embrace innovation with our
product and service innovation service engagement.
Every Peak Innovation product and service innovation engagement is led by one of our highly experienced principals. We operate with a flexible, scalable staffing model leveraging subject matter experts as needed. We enable clients to generate profitable growth through the practical use of research, innovation, and technology. Whether your firm is a start-up or a Fortune 500, Peak Innovation is here to answer your toughest marketplace questions. Please, visit our
services page to learn more about what Peak Innovation has to offer. Call us at
(844) 300-7325 or fill out the form on this website for questions about our services or to schedule a time to speak.
