Applying Start-up Concepts to Enterprise Innovation

Author

Gary Zimmerman – Principal Consulting Analyst / CMO

Abstract

Why does so much of the truly disruptive innovation occur outside of large enterprises today? It is because it is difficult for an established company to innovate as historic success builds  barriers that perpetuate the way things are instead of what they could become. The implications of digital transformation and the associated benefits of innovating are rapidly accelerating as technology is becoming infused into every aspect of business. Emerging technologies fuel innovation while innovation drives new emerging technologies. But how does this translate in a large enterprise?

Building a sustainable enterprise innovation program requires a fundamental change in thinking. It starts with establishing an “entrepreneurial-like” model for product and business owners in the enterprise. This report covers four aspects of innovation that are not typically addressed as part of a digital transformation program; mindset, focus, risk management, and financing.  While these are not mainstream “technology” topics, how an enterprise approaches these subjects can accelerate or stifle innovation.

TechVision has been looking at innovation and digital transformation for a while, producing reports such as “Enterprise Innovation,” “The End of EA and IT as We Know It,” and “Organizational Transformation is the Key to Digital Transformation.” This report continues our focus on innovation with specific recommendations for IT and business leaders. Future reports will define a new reference architecture for innovation, applying startup tools and techniques to accelerate enterprise innovation, architectural and organizational topics such as microservices and DevOps, and others as they emerge.  It is time to leverage entrepreneurial skills within the enterprise to achieve sustainable innovation.