Anisuzzaman Chowdhury is a seasoned business leader who serves as chairman of Navana Pharmaceuticals, Anowara Construction Ltd and Gas One. This article will look at business innovation and why it is crucial for every enterprise to keep its finger on the pulse, embracing emerging technologies to achieve a competitive advantage.
The words ‘innovation’ and ‘creativity’ are often used interchangeably. Although similar, they are distinct concepts. Creativity is vital in business as it fosters unique ideas. However, creative ideas do not always lead to innovation. For a concept to be innovative it must be useful. Creative ideas do not necessarily produce viable solutions to real-world problems.
Innovation culminates in the creation of products, services, strategies or business models that are both novel and valuable. An innovation need not be a technological breakthrough or groundbreaking new business model. Something as simple as adding features to an existing product or upgrading a company’s customer service facilities could qualify as innovation.
Maintaining an innovative mindset helps businesses to be more adaptable. Organisations that stick to the status quo, come what may, run the risk of becoming obsolete where they fail to adapt to market-wide shifts. Stagnation can be extremely damaging to any enterprise. Great business leaders recognise the need to continuously innovate to help their business and its products stand out in saturated markets.
Businesses are complex, with procedures and processes developed and fine-tuned over the course of decades. Traditionally, business leaders favoured tried-and-true methods over experimenting with new techniques. Nevertheless, where an organisation becomes too attached to outdated operations, the consequences can be dire, impacting the enterprise’s efficiency and compromising its competitiveness.
Requiring collaboration, the ability to overcome resistance from stakeholders and a significant investment in terms of time and resources, innovation is easier said than done. With many ideas failing to make it past the ideation stage, innovation can be a discouraging process. However, the end result can make all the difference between business success and failure.
Entrepreneurs must maintain an agile mindset, remembering that their loyalty lies with the business rather than a particular policy or process. Organisations that fail to experiment with new ways of doing things run the risk of being left behind. Although it may be tempting to adopt an ‘if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it’ approach, technology is advancing at pace, highlighting the need for forward-looking entrepreneurs to continually evaluate their processes and systems – keeping a finger on the pulse in terms of emerging trends that could improve existing systems. Holding quarterly meetings creates scope for discussion, the exchange of ideas and group problem solving.
Businesses that encourage idea generation and evaluation – and recognise and celebrate innovation – encourage future participation and collaboration among teams. Colleagues at every level of the business should be given the time and space necessary to cultivate new thoughts, with leaders promoting idea generation by holding regular brainstorming sessions and innovation workshops.
Innovation in business is complex, but when all the pieces fall into place it can have a game-changing impact, propelling the brand to new hights. Innovation can help businesses to redefine their products, strengthen customer relationships and carve out a distinctive place for themselves in the market. Extending to all business models, innovation has numerous benefits, in particular, helping brands to stand out with unique offerings. It is only by gaining a thorough understanding of customer needs and fostering a culture of continuous development and innovation that businesses can attract new customers and strengthen relationships with their existing clientele. Innovation drives growth by helping businesses to overcome unanticipated setbacks, recognise untapped opportunities and diversify revenue streams.