What is Innovation?
Corporate innovation can be defined as the process of enterprises implementing new innovation opportunities into existing business models. Established companies who engage in corporate innovation typically have a dedicated team towards innovation efforts.
Change is the only constant – virtually every industry and company needs to be future-focused to keep up with innovative competitors, new startups, and emerging business models.
At NewBoCo, we employ the same tools that we use with startups to ensure that existing companies stay competitive and relevant. We’ve developed a series of standardized and custom offerings to help you and your team adopt innovation practices to drive your business strategy.
Develop an Innovation Culture + Strategy
Shifting your organization’s strategy and mindset to be better able to capitalize on innovative new marketplace opportunities is a big challenge, and realistically is a process that takes years, and perhaps continues indefinitely. Our framework gives you the right approach to begin the organizational transformation process and can proceed as quickly or slowly as necessary to match your mission and vision.
Is your organization ready to take steps into a more prosperous and gratifying future? Get in touch with us! Not sure where your organization stands? Take our Innovation Readiness Assessment or read on to see the impact innovating has on industry-leading companies!
Corporate Innovation at Work
Innovation in Software
New practices allow companies to deliver higher quality products, rapidly, with fewer errors. Geonetric, in Cedar Rapids, uses techniques to dramatically reduce defects by automatically testing their software. They have the ability to release new versions to customers in minutes, instead of weeks or months. Though many larger organizations still haven’t adopted these software techniques in Iowa, they’re commonplace in Silicon Valley and elsewhere; virtually every startup uses them.
Innovation in Manufacturing
Boeing is 3D-printing parts for the 787 Dreamliner in titanium, saving millions per plane. Saab’s Gripen fighter aircraft is being developed for a fraction of the cost of the F35 – without the multi-billion dollar cost overruns – and is designed to be upgraded quickly and reliably. Startups are threatening older manufacturers by taking advantage of the plummeting cost of developing new, customized products. They’re designing their companies to require less manufacturing overhead, shorter supply chains and to be more flexible than established manufacturers.
Innovation in Service
New business models are aiming to disrupt even the most stable companies in travel, finance, e-commerce, and just about every professional industry. Startups around the world are taking aim at established companies. Consider Warby Parker, which sells prescription eyeglasses online and allows you to try them on at home and ship back the styles you don’t want, at a fraction of the price of traditional retailers. It’s a $1.2 billion company, and it’s just seven years old.
Innovation in Design
Flatter hierarchies, more engaged workforces, and organizations that are designed to thrive in rapidly changing market conditions rather than merely tolerating them. Company cultures can be built explicitly for the purpose of continuous innovation over time. Both older and new companies are doing this, ranging from WD-40 to Zappos to New Belgium Brewing Company. But few in Eastern Iowa are.