“Management of Innovation” has become, with good reason, a popular buzz in the business world and having a good understanding of the organisation’s context is important. In fact, how the organisation tracks and interrogates external and internal issues and trends is key to building a successful organisation.
Organisations can uncover possibilities for innovation and stay ahead of the competition by tracking internal and external concerns and trends through various methods such as:
1. Market research and analysis:
Market research and analysis is a process of gathering and analyzing information about a market, including information about customers, competitors, and the overall industry. This research can be used to inform business decisions, such as product development, marketing strategy, and sales tactics. The goal of market research and analysis is to provide a deeper understanding of the market and to identify opportunities for growth and improvement.
2. SWOT analysis:
SWOT analysis is used to identify an organisation's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats. It can be used to identify both internal and external factors that may impact the organisation.
Strengths and weaknesses lie within the business that give it an advantage or a disadvantage relative to others in the industry.
Threats and opportunities are external factors that could either negatively impact the business or present the business with exploitable opportunities to enhance their current situation.
By understanding the SWOT of a business, a company can make informed decisions on how to improve its performance and achieve its goals. The result of the analysis can help the company identify its core competencies, areas for improvement, and potential opportunities for growth.
3. Employee surveys:
A business cannot thrive without its employees - they are the income producers. and having the right employees with a good employee / company culture should always be measured.
Employee survey findings can be used to pinpoint workplace issues that need to be addressed, like poor communication or low morale, and to implement changes that will enhance employee skills and knowledge or even the interface with customers.
4. Social media monitoring:
Organisations can use social media monitoring tools to track mentions of their brand and identify any external issues or trends related to their industry or products.
The goal of social media monitoring is to gain insight into how a brand is perceived by its audience, identify key influencers and industry trends, and manage and respond to any negative or positive comments about the brand.
Tracking social media assists in the identification of areas of improvement and to make more informed decisions about social media strategies. In addition, it can help businesses to identify opportunities to engage with their audience and to build relationships with key influencers.
Overall, social media monitoring is a valuable tool for businesses of all sizes to track, analyze and engage with conversations on social media platforms, and gain a deeper understanding of their audience, competitors, and industry trends.
5. Key performance indicators (KPIs):
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are metrics that are used to measure and track the performance and success of a business, department, or specific project. They are chosen based on the specific goals and objectives of the organisation and are used to track progress over time.
Regularly monitoring and reporting on KPIs can help organisations to stay on track and to achieve their goals.
6. Incident management:
An incident\risk is any event that disrupts normal operations and can include things like natural disasters, equipment failures, cyber - attacks, and other types of emergencies.
Organisations can track internal issues and trends by implementing incident management systems (Risk Management) that allow them to log, track and resolve issues that may impact their operations, in order to minimize the impact of an incident on the organisation, its employees, customers and industries, and to quickly restore normal operations.
Using an innovation management system allows companies to achieve continued revenue and margin growth, increased market share and strong enduring brands – the primary goals of most companies today.
An innovation management system would and should cover many of the requirements of looking at internal and external factors plus monitoring of the critical criteria for best business practice.