How to Avoid the Innovation Trough & 5 Key Insights from the Gartner Symposium 2017

Recently, I attended the Gartner Symposium in the Gold Coast and one quote summed it up nicely: “Your strongest competitors and biggest threats are thinking 24/7 about innovation.”

The speakers did a fantastic job of unpacking what this means and the risks and opportunities it presents for companies of all sizes. Below are the 5 key insights I took from the symposium. I hope you find them interesting and I'd love to hear your feedback in the comments section.

1.   Machine Learning and AI - Adapt or Die

We all know how important Machine Learning and AI are today and how this will be amplified in the years to come. Machine Learning and AI will completely transform the way that companies do business. What most people don’t realise, however, is that the onset of this new age will be matched by a significant skills gap.

Demand will far outstrip supply and the tremors of this are being felt already. You need to identify the gaps now and act on it. Businesses will be split between those who have adapted and those who have not. The fact that you are reading this means that you will hopefully belong in the second category!

2.  Innovation is not a project or an event. It is a culture.

Traditionally businesses have viewed innovation as something sporadic, something to look at when business is good and there’s spare time to do some ‘blue sky thinking’. In a world where companies like Uber and Airbnb are making their competitors look like dinosaurs, we need no further proof of what a disruptor can do to an industry! Innovation is not the cherry on top, it is the machine that makes the ice-cream sundae.

To do this, we need to start building a culture of innovation. Hire for it, plan for it and reward it. Remember that innovation is not a single moment of genius but an ongoing evolution.

3.   The Innovation Trough - How to Manage Expectation

When it comes to innovation, expectations have been set very high by companies like Uber and Amazon. However, the reality of implementing new technology and ideas can be quite different - at least in the short term.

Typically innovation programs are purely a cost to start with and this means that things can get scary before they get better. This can lead to disillusionment (or the trough of disillusionment) and fatigue for both your customer and just as importantly - for your team.

To mis-quote an ancient green philosopher: “Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to poor technology solutions.”

To avoid the dark side, there are a few different things you can do to combat this.

1. Firstly set expectations from the start. Sometimes bravery is honesty.
2. Search for early wins to stay positive and set a clear roadmap with milestones so you are always striving to achieve the next goal.

4. What is the ROI on innovation?

The reason innovation has not been central to most businesses in the past is because it is seen as a cost. In the short term it is exactly that - a cost. It can be challenging, especially for businesses facing headwinds, to present these programs to their CEO or board when there is no clear view of a short to medium term profit.

Acknowledge it from the outset. A lot of these innovations don’t have an immediate pay off. If you purely manage on cost, you will have a lean and short-term successful company. This has worked traditionally but in today’s world - in the long term, you will be outdone and disrupted by those who risk and innovate.

5. Make your Dev Teams Agile

If you want proof that all of the above points are fiction and not science-fiction, have a look at these stats shared at the Gartner Symposium this year:

• Google re-factors applications by 50% every month.
• Amazon releases a new version every 11.6 seconds
• Netflix makes 5 billion internal API calls per day

We may not all have the team and budgets of these big players but this is not necessarily a disadvantage.

To compete with the market leaders, you need to be releasing frequently in a friction-free environment. Smaller companies have the ability to be nimble and pivot quickly to keep up and even disrupt any business.

To create friction-free environments, ensure that you, as a leader, set your dev teams up to allow them to test accurately and swiftly. Removing these roadblocks will yield the optimal results.

At AlreadyBuilt, we do our best to follow these guidelines daily to drive us forward as market leaders in the software sharing community.

If there is one thing I can leave you with it is to remember that “your strongest competitors and biggest threats are thinking 24/7 about innovation.”