What Does Innovation Mean?

In the modern business climate to grow and thrive, it's becoming increasingly important for companies to be innovative and forward-thinking, but what exactly does innovation mean in the business world?

As a concept, innovation refers to the processes that companies undertake to conceptualise new systems, ideas and products, and the new approaches they take to existing ones. Those processes may encompass a wide variety of elements, but essentially, they all equate to digital upskilling – using technology to adapt to today's challenging business climate.

Why Must Companies Embrace Innovation to Help Their Business Succeed?

It's always been true that businesses have had to adapt to circumstances to survive, but it couldn't be more apt in the modern world. Companies that still rely on traditionally doing things are at risk of not only falling behind their competitors but going out of business. The extreme growth of technological advancement over the past ten years has meant that businesses must adapt more than at any other time, and those that have failed to keep pace have almost all dropped out of the race.

Although the need to change and grow presents challenges for businesses, it also presents them with a host of exciting opportunities, giving them an advantage over their rivals when it comes to meeting customers' demands. Adopting innovation can help businesses grow, keep them relevant, and differentiate themselves from their competitors.

How Are Companies Embracing Innovation?

Over recent years, companies have begun to acknowledge the benefits of embracing innovation in their enterprises slowly but surely. As the world has increasingly moved online and begun to digitise, businesses have started to recognise that to stay competitive; they must be more forward-thinking and look for ways to future-proof their organisations.

So, how are they doing this? Primarily by harnessing the power of technology to take their companies to a whole new level. Yet, not only do businesses need to adopt cutting-edge technology, but they need to ensure that their teams have the necessary skills and experience to master it and use it to their best advantage. This is where digital upskilling comes in.

Digital upskilling means allowing teams to gain vital abilities, tools and knowledge. They require to use the ever-changing and advanced technologies they find in their workplace and equip them with the ability to act, think and thrive in today's digital world in a way that can be sustained over time.

What Does Digital Upskilling Look Like In Practice?

Modern businesses are now beginning to prioritise digital upskilling in their operations – adopting new technologies and training staff in their use and managing their team in new ways to enable them to achieve their full potential and develop all the skills they require to future-proof their working environment. However, the COVID pandemic has brought digital upskilling even more prominently to the fore. The lockdowns and restrictions that have been brought into play, have led organisations to look for new and more unusual ways to achieve their typical tasks, and the ever-fluctuating government rules and demands have meant that companies have had to start embracing innovation and technology in ways never imagined before.

With many workforces being required to work from home, remote working tools had to be brought into use, and free apps have become indispensable. Monday, Trello, Asana, and other online portals that can share and organise workloads were all downloaded and used in vast numbers. At the same time, Zoom became the buzzword for video conferencing and networking, and now that the world is returning to a new kind of normal, it's likely that those helpful tools aren't going anywhere any time soon. It appears that remote working and the use of modern digital solutions look set to be common features of businesses for the foreseeable future.

While the pandemic may have presented issues to businesses in terms of adaptation and adjustment, it has also accelerated digital adoption across the board. This innovation will stand companies that choose to adopt it in good stead as they move forward into the next decade.