The document summarizes a workshop on business innovation through information technology. The workshop objectives are to provide insight into opportunities for innovation, practices that enable successful innovation, and participation in further research. Various examples of IT-enabled innovation are presented, such as using collaboration technology and open innovation campaigns. Innovation tools discussed include IT/change portfolio management, technology funnel assessment, benefits planning, design thinking, and using various personality types.

1. IT-enabled Business Colin Ashurst & Alison Freer
Innovation 8th July 2011
Friday, 8 July 2011

2. Workshop Objectives, to gain:
• Insight into specific opportunities for business innovation
to deliver benefits for your organisation
• The ability to adopt practices that contribute to
successful innovation
• The opportunity to participate further in research project
interviews.
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3. Friday, 8 July 2011

4. Innovation is NOT just invention
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5. Innovation = ideas successfully applied
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6. Friday, 8 July 2011

7. How do we improve
cash-flow?
• Global IT services business
• 40 countries
• 90000 employees
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8. How do we prioritise
our R&D Investment?
• Global business
• Multiple suppliers with
expertise
• High competition
• Time critical
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9. How do we better
exploit our IP?
• Software services SME
• Lots of expertise
• Lots of ideas
• Need to diversify
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10. How do we manage
employee expenses?
• Large public body
• 1000s employees
• Multiple systems
• New IT system most likely
solution?
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11. Innovation doesn’t come from the usual ‘busy few’
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12. Ask the crowd - the ‘Pull’
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13. Sponsorship and Commitment - the ‘Push’
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14. How do we improve
cash-flow?
• What can we do with
collaboration technology?
• Piloted smaller scale innovation
projects
• Engaged people who weren’t
the usual innovators
• CEO sponsored Finance with 1
challenge per year
• On-line virtual campaign
yielded $128M savings from
ideas submitted
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15. How do we maximise
our R&D expertise?
• Entrepreneurial leader, driven to
capitalise on R&D expertise
• Started small with a few R&D
staff, some reticence as scope
increased
• Innovation Days with speakers
from IBM etc
• Won over hearts & minds
• ‘Open Innovation’ campaign
with 3rd party suppliers = 90
new R&D ideas
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16. How do we better
exploit our IP?
• Held a series of ‘FedEx days’
to permit creativity and flesh
out conceptual ideas
• ‘Deep dive’ sessions with key
clients and collaborators
• Prioritised 2 new product
development projects
• 1 new product going to market
in less than 6 months
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17. How do we manage
employee expenses?
• IT paused to consider before
saying ‘yes’ to the request
• IT initiated a Benefits Planning
Session
• 20 people from around the
organisation all experts in
expenses admin
• Decided refining other
processes a bigger priority, no
need to invest in expenses
system
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18. Ideation - the process of forming and relating ideas
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19. Open Innovation
• Innovation processes, enabled
by technology
• Collaborative - connecting the
many
• Everyone can see, comment
and deepen ideas
• Focused questions
• Rapid campaigns and decision
making
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20. “ The limits to innovation in large
organisations have nothing to do with
creativity and nothing to do with
technology. They have everything to do
with management capability”.
Govindarajan and Trimble (2010)
Harvard Business School Press
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21. Innovation Debate
• What examples of (IT-enabled)
Innovation can you identify
from your own experience?
• Describe the factors that
‘enabled’ the innovation to be
successfully applied.
• Describe the factors that got in
the way
• 1 point per post-it please.
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22. Coffee Break
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23. An Innovation Toolkit
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24. Challenge: Develop innovative uses of technology
& create customer demand to cross the ‘Chasm’
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25. Innovation Tool #1: IT & Change Portfolio
Strategic! Exploratory!
Transformational critical to! may be important!
change / doing
achieving strategic ! in achieving future!
new things!
objectives! success!
Improving
the current critical to existing valuable but!
business! business not critical to!
operations! success!
Core Operations! Support!
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26. Innovation Tool #2: Technology Funnel
From Innovating through IT by Joe Peppard
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27. Innovation Tool #3: Phased Benefits Delivery
(AGILE)
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28. Innovation Tool #4: Benefits Planning
Why do we want!
improvement?!
What improvement do!
we want/could we get?!
Where will the benefit Can it be ! Can it be ! Can a financial !
occur (for each benefit)?! measured?! quantified?! value be put on it?!
Who is responsible for!
its delivery?!
What changes are!
needed?!
Who will be affected?!
How & when can !
changes be made?!
BENEFIT REALIZATION PLAN!
Benefits Delivery!
Based on Benefits Management
Benefits Review: Benefits Achieved? !
(2006) Ward and Daniel!
More Benefits Possible? Further Actions?!
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29. Innovation Tool #5:
Design-led Approach
•Vision & Ideation
•Observation
•Prototyping
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30. Innovation Tool #6: Design Showcase
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31. Innovation Tool #7:
Open Innovation
• IBM ‘Idea Jam’
• 104 countries: employees,
universities, customers..
• 40,000 ideas
• 10 new business ventures
• $70M investment
• $300M new revenue in 2 years
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32. Innovation Tool #8:
Big Chief Innovator
• Idea Portfolio Manager
• Chief Growth Officer
• Chief Acceleration Officer
• Chief Inspiration Officer
• Chief Imagination Officer
• Chief Detonator
• Chief Lizard Wrangler
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33. Innovation Tool #9:
Personality Mix
• Anthropologists
• Experimenters
• Cross-Polinators
• Hurdlers
• Collaborators
• Directors
• Experience Architects
• Set Designers
• Care-givers
The Ten Faces of Innovation,
• Storytellers Tom Kelley (2007)
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34. Innovation Tool #10: Collaboration Technologies
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35. ‘Step Back’ Activity
• In your table group identify 1
innovation opportunity that
exists for one of your
organisations
• One person explains the
scenario to the group (1 minute)
• Rest of group generates as
many options and innovation
tools as possible - whilst
originator listens. (10 minutes)
• Originator gives their reaction &
feedback.
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36. Next Steps.........
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37. Ideas Successfully Applied....
• What are the priorities for the research
• Take part in the research - innovations stories from
your organisations
• Engage in the debate and innovate together -
Innovation Forum?
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38. Contacts
colin.ashurst@durham.ac.uk
alison@leadandtransformit.com
www.leadandtransformit.com
Photography credits:
www.redboatcreative.com
Google Images
Friday, 8 July 2011