MEGA TRENDS - that are Defining Innovation and Redefining Business Models

Innovation isn’t an entirely new concept. Until recently, "innovation" used to be on a business houses’ annual R&D budget, but it lacked the pace of urgency that governs today’s corporates! In fact, it is this current urgency to match pace with the competition, wherein lies the key to surviving disruption in one’s industry. Successful corporate newbies have today usurped many old business models, replacing them with newer and leaner business passageway that innovatively address certain customer pain points.

In the light of the growing significance of this subject, I feel honored to be a part of the upcoming Global Innovation Summit 2016 being held in Dubai at The Atlantis – The Palm, on September 21st, 2016. This invitation-only, 5-star regional conference will see leading minds from the Middle East sharing their thoughts on innovation. And, I, as the Moderator, get to drive a panel discussion with the industry experts on the highly-relevant subject of ‘Mega Trends that Redefine Business Models’.  

Where is Innovation going next?

Everyone wants to innovate. However often we confuse innovation with incremental development or value addition. The most successful innovators are investing to become faster, leaner, and more digital—and are expanding their focus beyond the core. According to BCG’s Most Innovative Companies 2015 report, 79 percent of global innovation executives say that innovation is among the top -three priorities for their companies.

New tools on the block!

From Skype to Uber to Airbnb to as recent as Nintendo’s game changing 48 hours born Superstar Product Pokemon GO - all boast major shifts in their Business Models. While we decide on how innovative and sustainable their business models are; an innovative mega trend that has redefined business models for startups and established organizations alike is a pioneering entrepreneurial tool called the Business Model Canvas (BMC). Winning strategic entrepreneurial tool like BMC is just one example of how new structural changes in Strategic thinking around business modeling is allowing new and old businesses to reinvent or recreate their business models in a proper, organic (disruptive!) way.

Chewing gum while walking!

Innovation is seldom about multitasking or multi prioritizing. Top innovators across the world are leaning towards innovation models that allow them to utilize processes within organization to try out multiple ideas, accept failure and re-iterate fast; to do smaller but repeated cycles of innovation. Innovation Consultants are terming it as achieving balance between exploitation and exploration. While these models help companies focus on speed of innovation in order to keep pace with shifting market realities, it also focuses on lean processes to both drive speed as well as conserve resources. Together, speed and a lean format foster a shift towards a more agile, “test and learn” innovation culture.

Giving a tight hug to Digital!

Probably the most cliched phrases in today’s business lingo are about embracing digital. Innovation evangelists across various industries – from media to consumer electronics to pharmaceuticals – face a perplexed range of new digital opportunities. Although they are paying attention and are eager to participate in these opportunities, yet there are very few lighthouses to help them navigate. Most common narrative on innovation focus on fast-moving startups like Dropbox and Snapchat, or on high-tech celebrity firms like Apple, Google, or Amazon. Unfortunately, to many leaders, stories of these nimble and innovative firms just do not make sense for they head traditional companies that are matured, larger, and burdened with deep-rooted legacies. Leading innovators, irrespective of their position in their life cycle, however are embracing digital tools and big data. And they are incorporating them not only into the innovation process, but also into new products and services. And finally, they are targeting adjacent growth opportunities with new processes that protect adjacent exploration from the exploitation of the core.

Watch this space for more updates on the summit!