Why innovation needs management

Despite seeming rare, having good ideas is more common than you would imagine: every minute, we are coming up with various solutions for the most complicated problems, even if they are just simple changes. In fact, these can be more effective than a large restructuring, and deliver the results that serve exactly to manage the transformation we seek.

In that cloud of new suggestions, we see that a lot are lost for various reasons. One of them is lack of confidence. People often feel reticent in suggesting something because they think their ideas aren’t good enough or that they might be silly.

Another point is the fear of trying something different, as that requires effort and a sense of responsibility when it comes to the results, whatever they may be.

There is also unwillingness and demotivation, which makes people procrastinate their activities and not make an effort to look for new ideas and new achievements. In these cases, they do actually know what should be done, but they can’t seem to find the spirit to begin those tasks. But there is another reason, too, which is simply lack of innovation management: the ideas are there and are recognised, but are not incentivised to take on a life of their own.

Managing innovation

After all, how many sensational projects have you created in your head but which never came to life, by writing them down or detailing them better? Innovation culture demands speed and accepting mistakes. Taking too long to turn an idea into reality can lead to it losing its differential and opens up space for the competition to get a step ahead and implement exactly the same solution.

Meanwhile, by not managing innovation, companies can literally lose time and money on proposals that are inadequate for the desired results. So, whichever way we look at it, it is the company that loses out. It’s not always necessary to present a complete product to the client, but a concern with the existing functionalities is very important.

At a time when everything is fleeting and instantaneous, innovation cannot forsake the experience.

First impressions still carry a lot of weight in that process and, for that reason, it’s important to treat new launches and ideas with the same seriousness as the products and services that are the basis of the business. If the client isn’t loyal to the brand, it becomes harder to support those failures and, as we know, a competitor could already be on the market with the same idea – only better structured.

Irrespective of whether it is the launch of something that doesn’t exist or an improvement on what the public already knows, the process of innovation, management, mapping and market monitoring has become crucial to increase business performance, even more so in times of recession and economic challenges. Only in this way can companies ensure that their business is sustainable, more economical and more competitive.

Márcio Viana, Executive Board Member of Exago