Collaborative Innovation between Clients and Service Providers - by Design

Over the last ten years or so my job has largely focused on developing, delivering and managing innovation between IBM's clients and IBM as a service provider. For a number of years I also led the Special Interest Group on Innovation at the Global Sourcing Association which gave me further access and insights to many other organisations.

During 2016 I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to take a sabbatical break from the day job and do something different for a while. I spent quite a lot of time with universities, wrote a novel and I was asked by Haluk Demirkan and Jim Spohrer and The International Society of Service Innovation Professionals (https://www.issip.org/) to write a practitioner based book focused on making innovation between clients and service providers work.

When writing this book I looked to focus on what I believed clients and service providers need to do (and sometime do quite differently) to make collaborative innovation between them work on an ongoing and systematic basis - by design rather than by accident or not at all.

The book acknowledges that much of the advice provided is equally applicable to any organisation looking to take a thought through approach to developing, delivering and managing innovation but also covers what is different in a client-service provider relationship. There is a view from both sides, with sections providing advice to client organisations and others advising service providers.

The book can be accessed here on Business Expert Press and there is a UK Kindle version also available.

The practical examples included tell stories about successes and equally failures, as we learn much from these. I'm sure the content can be built upon and improved over time as in innovation there should always be something new and different (with a focus on delivery of course so we see the value). I would love to get feedback from readers based upon their practical experiences, as there is so much to be gained from open innovation and collaborative innovation when driven by design between clients and service providers.