By Eric van Niekerk, Research Lead, Innocentrix “Why fix what is not broken? We are focused in accordance with our strategic plan and we know how to do that. We have no need for innovation.” Is this a familiar phrase coming from the boardroom in your organisation? This attitude can place organisations in danger of [...]
By Eric van Niekerk – Research Lead, Innocentrix Innovation has a near infinite scope of possibilities and outcomes, if no direction is given to innovation, there can be little control over the outcome. In order to run a successful innovation drive, innovation needs to be the enabler of the organisation’s strategic goals. That is the [...]
By Eric van Niekerk. Despite innovation’s success in the business realm, with specific innovation strategies rocketing companies like Tesla, Unilever, Netflix and Amazon into the global spotlight, the term is often met with scepticism. With less than 50% of South Africa’s top companies sporting a dedicated innovation department, it seems that local organisation have [...]
By Eric van Niekerk – Research Lead, Innocentrix The invention and widespread use of the internet as a communication and networking tool has had a serious impact on how we go about our daily lives. The ability to be constantly connected, to have access to vast amounts of knowledge, and to be directly linked to [...]
Lets step away from the present and into the future to answer an important question: How do I keep innovation alive once it’s established? Quality over quantity An analysis from Accenture shows that how organisations innovate is indicative of their innovation success. According to their analysis, almost 50% of R&D investment is wasted due to [...]
By Eric van Niekerk, Research Lead, Innocentrix Successful innovation does not only require a strong leader, it requires a strong team. Often various teams are working on different lifecycles of the potential innovation. This spans from gathering additional insights and research, building business cases and experimenting, through to piloting and implementation. The innovation team is [...]
By Eric van Niekerk, Research Lead, Innocentrix A recent investigation into innovation in the South African context showed that, amongst South Africa’s top companies, “Leadership and Ambition” is one of the greatest local, innovation-aligned strengths. According to Vodacom’s Executive Head for Innovation, Jannie van Zyl, having buy-in from company leaders is key to innovation success. [...]
By Eric van Niekerk – Research Lead, Innocentrix The importance of an innovation strategy All planned innovation activities within an organisation should begin with the strategic goals of the company in mind. Without a firm, strategic backbone, innovation can be anything from difficult to impossible. The development of an innovation strategy is one of the [...]
By Eric van Niekerk – Research Lead, Innocentrix When the brief is to build a house, the vision of the outcome is quite clear: build a large structure with a few walls and a roof and probably some doors and windows. When asked to innovate though, the final outcome is almost completely undefined, since innovation [...]
By Henra Mayer & Eric van Niekerk – Innocentrix Innovation in the organisational environment will only be sustainable if it is focused on a systematic, result driven approach. A results driven approach implies an ability to measure innovation outcomes and showing impact. Many organisations kick-off an innovation programme hastily - something must be done - [...]
