When tracking challenges’ specific results, the same themes to which management gives more relevance are exactly those most important in implementation, as we´ve seen. After ideation and crowd discussion, followed by improvement and approval, management and leadership embrace innovations more easily, as the higher rates of implementation show.
Operational efficiency is clearly ahead in idea implementation. It is followed by several more general, corporate culture-related proposals. Together, sales and marketing strategy, sustainability goals and better customer experience count also for more than half of all the ideas implemented.
But why is this? Here’s one client insight on the matter:
‘More permanent themes are those that generate more implementations, especially “operational efficiency” and “organisational culture”. This is understandable since, of our main themes, these are the ones for which it’s easier to suggest incremental improvement and to which everyone can have something to say about, whatever their specific line of work.’
These new ideas, regularly coming through your pipeline, work together and continuously to make your business evolve every day. They become the engine of your company’s growth – constantly creating real value. Taking as an example one of our clients from the telecom industry with challenges focused on sustainability and cost savings, we see that they managed to:
• Reduce paper consumption by 20%
• Save 12% in their lifts’ electricity costs
• Take 14,000 fewer calls a year in the customer service department
• Save 300,000 euro a year by rationalising their buildings’ use
• Save 2 million euro with a new, eco-friendlier packaging system
• Save 25 million euro with process-optimised service.
One single idea – be it more disruptive or incremental – can have the power to increase your sales, decrease costs, improve your returns or even change your business.
(to be continued)
Diana Neves de Carvalho, Exago’s CEO/ dnc@exago.com
Francisco Bernardes, Exago’s head of Innovation Services/ fmb@exago.com
FROM THE START:
Your ultimate innovation challenge – what works and what doesn’t