What new technologies can you use to assess and mitigate expansion risks for Business Innovation?

Business innovation often starts with understanding the market and its changing dynamics. That's where market research platforms come into play. Here are some tools I have had the opportunity to use and compare: 1. Nielsen 2. Statista 3. Google Trends 4. Qualtrics 5. SEMrush From my point of view, these tools could help you make informed decisions, spot emerging trends, and identify opportunities.

Huge disruption is underway across industries. Here are a few things to note as a first step: 1) Clearly understand the problem statements across target industries and personas 2) How tech-savvy the industries and personas are? 3) What should be the playbook? Regulations may not allow too many changes, but identify creative solutions, partnerships, to create a niche 4) Identify the right technology and operating model 5) Experiment, test, course correct and then launch your innovation in the market.

AI amplifies traditional market research, taking it to another level. More and more companies will be coming out that can level up the marketing game for companies. The question is, do you build your own solution, or buy the solution from a provider. That will depend on costs, and access to quality data. Bottom line: AI doesn't just make market research faster and cheaper; it makes it smarter. Appen, Pecan, and Crayon are 3 more that can be used.

Hands down over any AI based solutions: -Trust yourself and the process -Organize,organize, organize!! -Learn SCRUM and Agile

A few things to do during testing 1) Get real customers in design phase, testing. Ask for feedback. Ensure diversity across size, location, digital maturity and strength of your relationship with them 2) Get detailed feedback. All micro and macro level points to be noted 3) Course correct 4) Educational material is important to ensure people adopt the innovation fast

Absolutely, prototyping and testing are crucial, but let's not overlook the power of AI Proof of Concepts. A well-executed AI POC allows companies to test the waters before full-blown implementation. It’s like a 'lite' version of your end-goal AI solution, focused on a specific problem or feature. What does this mean for costs? 1.Reduced Risk: You're not committing massive resources upfront. You’re testing a hypothesis. 2?. Quick Value Check: POCs provide quick wins or lessons, showing the real-world value or gaps in your strategy. 3?. Resource Allocation: POCs help you understand what skills, data, and tech stack you'll really need for a larger rollout.

Prototype and testing is an absolutley vital step. A few insights that have proved useful to me in this area include: Work out exactly what risks the innovation is likely to bring with it, and make sure that the testing and prototyping address those. Make sure the purpose of testing is well understood by everyone - its sad that customers sometimes form a premature conclusion that "the product doesn't work" when they've been involved in testing on protoypes which is undertaken to inform development and identify potential issues. If in doubt don't include stakeholders you can't trust. The growth in AI, and virtual reality and digital testing can be used to reduce the costs, risks, and time associated with testing and prototyping.

Adding to that, don't underestimate the value of AI-driven analytics for optimizing expansion. AI doesn't just crunch numbers; it finds hidden patterns and makes predictive insights. Think of it as your analytics on steroids. The tools mentioned are great tools and can still be used, however AI could bring them all together for quicker and more in depth insights.

Categorisation of business innovation is the first step in my view. Here are a few categories 1) External facing (Products, solutions)- For customers, partners 2) Internal facing (processes, products, dashboard)- Sales, operations 3) Innovation in user interface, UX, customer communications and digital marketing 4) Blue sky thinking- something that's not available in the market right now Critical to allocate efforts (time, resources) across these Business Innovation categories and prioritise