From Insights to Innovation
The world of data has certainly opened up and become more accessible as AI has advanced. With data-driven insights becoming more actionable, accessibility has expanded across companies and departments, from marketing to supply chain and logistics and more. This accessibility has translated to innovation teams as well, as they strive to stay nimble and flexible in a shifting landscape.
“I think democratization of data and insights probably depends on your company, and your industry,” observes Su-Feng Kuo, Sr. Director, Global Clients Insights & Analytics at Visa. “Because my company is in the financial industry, it might be stricter. We have a lot of transaction data. Usually, it’s only accessible for the data science team because they are trained to use it properly, because security is a top priority for our company. We have certain procedures to access the data.”
In some ways, though, with the increasing access to AI across corporations, it’s the democratization of insights happening—plus the democratization of innovation as well. With so much focus on interdisciplinary activity, the open accessibility of data and insights ultimately benefits innovation.
“We need to democratize the insights capability,” says Michael Nevski, Director, Global Insights, Visa. “So many functions within our enterprises need to have much faster, more efficient access to insights. In this way, insights can contribute to and support innovation professionals. In addition, it’s not only about working together and bringing those insights during the ideation phase, but also in the execution part. How do we as a cross-collaborative team deliver and develop products and services based on what insights identifies and fits into the innovation framework?”
Innovation could presumably continue to benefit from the wave of democratization in corporate enterprises. The pace of change is only accelerating, after all.
“There is a lot of need for democratization of innovation because the pace of the world is accelerating rapidly,” says Liza Sanchez, Vice President, Research & Development at Procter & Gamble. “What used to be two or three or four years’ worth of development time that you have is now one or two years of development time. There’s also a lot of geoeconomics and geopolitics going on, everything that we do from the design of the products and services that we have, to the supply chains, to the manufacturing systems, and so on.”
She adds, “The more we can take these innovation activities and move these innovation concepts from the top to the breadth of the organization, the better off we’re going to be because it’s the people on the front lines. The ones that are talking to the consumers every day, the ones that are designing the equipment, the ones that are creating the procurement systems that actually have the best ideas on how to innovate and do things better.”
Adapting the Framework
While the democratization of innovation seems to be more prevalent at the current time, it can still depend on the types of systems and methodologies being used in corporate innovation. This ultimately can be dependent on the team structure along with the leadership style. The mindset and the culture can also be important engines in the overall environment, as is the use of AI as an assistant and supporter of the process, from ideation to scaling up.
“I think I’ve seen a lot of that broader accessibility at least within corporations,” says Carley Hart, Director of Corporate Partnerships, Runway Startups at Cornell Tech. “It used to just be this siloed innovation team, they’re the only ones that are allowed to do the function. But that’s actually not very successful because then they’re not really able to pull in new innovations and send them to the right team. Using the phrase democratization is the ability to make sure that anybody within a company is able and empowered both from a cultural perspective in the organization and from a process perspective to be able to start new relationships with startups and bring in new technologies.”
Budget also perhaps plays a role. Are the days of big budgets for large corporation research and development teams a thing of the past? Not necessarily, some experts note, however, with new technologies being developed, individuals and smaller organizations are able to innovate and compete with larger companies. By tapping into the creativity and expertise of employees and external contributors, organizations can reduce the need for costly research and development efforts as well. A diverse and inclusive innovation ecosystem might be more resilient to disruptions and challenges. By drawing on a wide range of perspectives, organizations can better adapt to changing market conditions.
As Stormboard notes in its “How Democratizing Innovation Is Driving Better Business Outcomes,” the traditional top-down style doesn’t always work best: “The concept of democratizing innovation is based on the belief that organizations must shift from a top-down, command-and-control model to a more decentralized and distributed approach to be successful. This means giving users of their products and services the ability to play a role in shaping and improving them.”
That accessibility seems to be key to democratizing innovation at the corporate level. Democratized innovation can also have a positive impact on society by addressing pressing social and environmental challenges. Still, however, you might define it, whether at the startup or corporate level, innovation seems to be adapting as the times change.
Gail Martino, formerly with Unilever and now VP Partnerships, 387Labs, notes, “When we think about innovation at the enterprise level, there’s a number of groups, teams and departments that feed into that. Typically, that involves R&D and all of the subgroups within R&D. It includes the marketing organization. It can include the supply chain or organization and also the manufacturing organization.”
She adds, “When we think about innovation, at least where I have worked and how I think about it, is that innovation is throughout the value chain. Now sometimes, there’s more cross-fertilization along that value chain than other times. Some organizations are more siloed, some are less siloed, but I think all of those together comprise what you would call that innovation democracy.”
The Impact on the Innovation Community
The term “democratized innovation” was coined by Eric von Hippel, a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), in his 2005 book Democratizing Innovation. He debates that the traditional model of innovation, in which large companies invest heavily in research and development and then bring new products to market, is no longer effective.
However, it may just be that the corporate world is adapting and transforming to today’s environment. It may not necessarily be just the leadership’s narrow viewpoint on innovation anymore but rather a mix of stakeholders, from the team to consumers and users of the product, to the investors, other partners and the innovators themselves. Stakeholder feedback and customer alignment and engagement has become just as important in this new world to bringing forth the innovation.
Termeh Rassi, Chief Strategy Officer & Editorial Director at Leonardo, notes, “It’s the stakeholder engagement that can fuel innovation, not just the leadership but also the employees, the curious, the creative, the ones that want to create and engage with innovation. I don’t think anyone owns the innovation label. We all are innovative in our own ways. And so how do we bring people together? And really for people who are lucky enough to have a leadership role in innovation, how do you take a step back and make room for other people to come in? That sometimes is very challenging. You sometimes find innovation groups becoming very insular in organizations. Being able to fight against that is kind of where you get to that democratization process.”
This holds not just for employees but also from consumers as well. Stormboard notes, “With more and more technology and tools becoming available to the average consumer, people are becoming much more likely to build improvements to products on their own than purchase an upgrade. They are the ones with intimate knowledge of what they need, and underprepared corporations can easily find themselves playing catch up.”
Catering to these diverse viewpoints and perspectives may encourage a more open and communicative environment—one in which innovation is viewed as democratic, open, accessible, transparent and authentic.
“Taking steps towards a more equitable innovation process will not only increase your business’s ability to innovate in exciting and profitable ways. It is also a tangible way that you can show consumers you care about the things they are invested in,” observes Stormboard.
The Benefits of Democratized Innovation
Democratized innovation can ignite ideas and contributions from a diverse range of individuals, and offers several significant benefits, such as creativity and diversity. A wider pool of contributors brings a greater variety of perspectives, experiences, and ideas to the table. This can lead to more innovative and creative solutions to problems. Diverse perspectives can also help identify blind spots and uncover alternative approaches to challenges. This can lead to more effective problem-solving and decision-making.
When a broader range of individuals are involved in the innovation process, there is a greater chance of creating products or services that truly meet the needs and preferences of customers. Speed to market is another advantage. By leveraging the collective intelligence of a diverse group, organizations can accelerate the development and launch of new products or services.
Ultimately, democratized innovation can empower employees and make them feel valued. This can lead to increased job satisfaction, higher morale, and greater employee and community engagement. This can foster stronger connections between organizations and their communities. By involving stakeholders in the innovation process, organizations can build trust and support.
By embracing democratized innovation, organizations can gain a competitive edge in their industries by developing innovative products and services that meet the needs of their customers better than their competitors.
However, only time will tell if this wave of democratized innovation successfully continues, or if the pendulum will swing back to other methods in the future. With technology evolving, along with the growing importance of customer feedback and personalization trends, user-generated innovation could be heading into its prime. But perhaps innovation democracy is just one tactic that will expand and contract depending on the circumstances.
“I think we go in cycles,” says Rassi. “If you think about 15 or 20 years ago, you had Starbucks come out with their idea platform where everyone across the company could give ideas and people would give thumbs up or thumbs down. I think the key is about really intending for the engagement to be authentic and not just for people to give ideas and never hear back. Some of the things that I have seen work well is to engage individuals whose ideas people think are good and have them have a part in the development of that idea from beginning to the end. That provides a really good way for them to grow and really allows everyone to feel like they own the innovation process versus just the ideation or just the execution. You want think about the full life cycle when you’re thinking about democratization. How can you engage everyone along the way?”
Broader accessibility of data and insights, leading to innovation in the long run, might help both breakthrough innovation developments and more short-term, incremental goals as well. The more involvement from stakeholders, the better off the company may be to position its innovations for future growth.
Sanchez observes, “I think flatter and flatter organizations with that balance between communication and connectivity and everything else are better positioned to actually have more capacity to do the innovation work. The role of leadership is really to set the vision, set the goals, and provide the resources to do the work and unleash the organization and let them go on the creation of the innovation that needs to happen.”
