‘Innovation is the unrelenting drive to break the status quo and develop anew where few have dared to go.’
– Steven Jeffes, Marketing & business expert
To be a successful corporate innovator in the 21st century, you need to put data at the heart of your efforts. Unfortunately, many innovators struggle to get this right. Their approach to data and the tools they use hold them back, which means their projects needlessly fail.
We’d like to help put this right and offer the four biggest secrets we think corporate innovators could benefit from. Let’s explore them now.
Secret #1: Get more (and better) data
High-quality data at scale drives modern innovation. So, when you can access more data, different kinds of data, and (importantly) the data that matters to you, you’ll find it easier to innovate.
For example, if a business can find, ingest, and integrate more data on their website visitors (perhaps through a 3rd party integration on their website), they can gain insights that will improve their marketing. In this example, they might work to better understand why certain age groups leave their site prematurely.
It’s also important to ensure that this new, high value data is readily available to the people who need it, and that the barrier to accessing the data is sufficiently low that it’s viable for staff to make use of it. Underestimating these barriers is a common cause for data not getting utilized as much as it could.
Ultimately, there’s no getting away from the fact that a modern solution will help you find and integrate more of the data you need.
Secret #2: Choose data tools that give you agility
When choosing your data platform, you’ll need to pick the one that gives you the agility you need to move quickly and innovate.
A data management platform can be the one-stop-shop you need to handle all your data needs and get your data management into place. Then, you have one tool for all your processes across the entire life-cycle of your data.
Ideally, choose a tool that has the agility and productivity you need to build a quick prototype so you can demonstrate the value your idea. As well as a tool that has the power and flexibility you need to finalize the solution into production quality.
Secret #3: Demonstrate the value of your innovation
If you can’t demonstrate successful milestones with your innovation projects, you’ll inevitably lose the support of colleagues and the C-suite you’re looking to impress.
For example, if you’re building a reporting platform, start with a single department or even a single important individual. This is better than spending lots of time gathering requirements and scoping the project. Then, build just a few key charts that they and your management team can start using.
Naturally, data-driven results are hard to ignore; they’re what everyone wants. However, dumping Excel tables onto the desk of non-technical staff members often isn’t helpful.
Instead, use a tool that can quickly turn your results into something more digestible. On top of this, using a tool that delivers data models means teams can communicate in a technology-neutral way, but still with enough detail to create physical data structures when required.
Secret #4: Choose a partner who’s crazy enough to go there with you
Traditional data tools, such as Microsoft’s offerings, are a functional option for many businesses.
However, these tools leave you to get on with things alone. For example, you might need to figure out how to connect your platform with an obscure legacy system.
On the other hand, solutions like CloverDX give you the level of support you need to increase your odds of success. Now, that difficult connection can be resolved quickly by an expert who has experience connecting data tools with legacy systems.
Ultimately, with expert guidance and the support of a team that’s willing to ‘go there with you’, your digital transformation projects are more likely to overcome the inevitable challenges that will arise.
Why make innovation harder than it needs to be?
Sixty-six percent of 800 business leaders studied said innovation was important to the success of their organization.
Fortunately, if you follow the tips we’ve covered, innovation is well within reach of every corporate innovator.
So, if you’re curious how CloverDX can support your innovation efforts, reach out for a chat with one of our team today. Or, take a look at some real-world examples, such as when CloverDX helped EE achieve disruptive innovation that delivered radical change.
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