Long-term strategic growth relies on innovation. However, our digital, connected world changes very quickly, making it challenging to pinpoint appropriate technological advances. Plus, it may be difficult to implement them quickly.

Additionally, today’s investments in innovation must provide meaningful outcomes. Organisations must leverage innovation to create value, a competitive edge, and long-term business health.

The Purpose of Innovation Has Changed

Disruptive technologies have shaken up the way organisations need to implement innovation. Embedding new technology into existing products or services is no longer effective. This patchwork approach can’t provide sustained value and ongoing profit and revenue.

Instead, companies must create a strategy that includes innovation in their long-term strategic growth strategy. The question is how does a Chief Strategy Officer plot their direction and choose from a near limitless number of innovations?

Focused Innovation Creates Value

Businesses must now choose innovations that serve specific needs. Rather than adding new technologies such as artificial intelligence just because they’re available, progressive companies must leverage innovations that provide long-term value. This may include overcoming challenges such as decreasing an organisation’s carbon footprint, improving efficiencies to lower costs, and customizing products to meet customer demands.

Cross-functional teams and external resources can help organisations achieve these goals. The benefits of working outside of a traditional innovation stack are broader, more insightful outlooks, proven experience to help avoid pitfalls, and methods to fail faster without exhausting valuable resources.

Rethinking Risk

Leveraging innovation naturally involves some risk. Yet, organisations tend to shy away from it rather than approaching it systematically to minimize losses.

An excellent strategy from minimizing loss is collaboration. By working with others organisations distribute risk, lower costs, and accelerate change. The ‘fail fast’ formula amplifies and provides more results, faster.

Collaboration Builds Skills

Of course, companies want internal innovation too. Fortunately, collaboration can ramp up internal skills for long-term growth.

Workers know customers better than external parties and can continuously test new ideas. This boosts employee morale and increases job satisfaction, which ultimately reduces employee attrition. It can also improve transparency and communication between workers.

Furthermore, happy workers perform better. This can improve customer satisfaction, increase sales, and lead to business growth. Creating an innovation culture stimulates innovativeness and helps businesses strengthen employee skills they will need for the future.

Leveraging Innovation for Long-Term Growth

A globalized market, ever-changing customer preferences, and rapid changes in technology has revolutionized the business landscape. To remain relevant and retain a competitive edge, leveraging innovation is for paramount importance.

However, innovation cannot occur in a vacuum. It must be part of a strategy with clear objectives and measured outcomes to monitor effectiveness. Fortunately, a Chief Strategy Officer can use a wide array of methods to achieve this goal. EarlyBirds makes it easy and each of their methods provides following benefits:

• Increased productivity
• Improved operational efficiency
• Enhanced competitiveness
• Connections to the best Subject Matter Experts and innovators available
• Simplified process

EarlyBirds Skill Identification Program

Our skill identification program offers potential solutions to organisation to find and retain the best in the current talent pool.

The program is overseen by veterans in the industry with a high level of credibility and expertise that benefits all parties. It also provides actionable data-driven recommendations fuelled by cutting-edge technologies, such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, and predictive analytics.

EarlyBirds Open Innovation Ecosystem

Our award-winning Open Innovation Ecosystem allows both innovation and strategic thinking in all areas of a business, whatever the technical or business challenge or potential opportunity your organisation wants to explore.

With a data pool of over 5.0 million global innovations across many industries, it is possible that solutions already exist that address your organisation’s challenges. Alternatively, your organisation can list your challenges and request solutions from innovators.

EarlyBirds Ecosystem Maps

EarlyBirds’ Ecosystem Maps offer strategic value for decision-making. They empower CSOs, because they provide a full picture of the possible technological advancements in specific domains. This allows them to make informed, forward-thinking decisions.

Each Ecosystem Map contains startups, scaleups, and mature companies involved in specific themes and sub-themes so organisations can plot a path towards innovation. The map also tracks numerous daily and historical news and media articles from across the world.

EarlyBirds Explorer Program

The Explorer Program is tailored towards those who need innovation as a service to supplement existing innovation programs, or to conduct innovation projects when required. It is designed to speed up the process of technological innovation for the organisation as a service.

The Explorer Program includes several features including quarterly and monthly innovation days; regular webinars to help stimulate innovation in the organisation; a focus on types of innovations; a platform enterprise license; and a nominated SME for the business.

EarlyBirds Challenger Program

The Challenger Program focuses on a single organisational or technical challenge. It looks for the most relevant innovators that meet your organisational, technical, and risk requirements.

The program is run by an EarlyBirds’ Subject Matter Expert who identifies your key issues. The SME then searches the data pool to identify and curate options for further evaluation. The most suitable option is chosen and the SME drafts a roadmap of next steps, POC, trial, or implementation.

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The best Chief Strategy Officers need ways to leverage innovation for long-term growth. If you need to find innovations with the most potential, please sign up as an Early Adopter. Alternatively, please request a consultation for a more personalized approach.

Our experience extends to the Food Industry, Retail, Healthcare, Operations & Maintenance, Manufacturing, Finance & Insurance, Energy, Education, Cybersecurity, Sovereign Nations, the Public Sector, and many other areas. We can help you find the resources you need to ensure long-term growth.

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