Innovation Management
The Innovation Management (IM) capability is the ability to identify, fund, and measure technology-driven business innovation, which can be:
- Applied within the IT function.
- Applied to the organization's operations.
- Applied to the organization's products and services.
Structure
IM is made up of the following Categories and CBBs. Maturity and Planning are described at both the CC and the CBB level.
- AStrategy and Management
Determines the technology-driven business innovation approach to be adopted.
- A1Vision
Define, communicate, and realize the vision and goals for technology-driven innovation.
- A2Scope
Define the scope and nature of technology-driven innovation.
- A3Funding and Resource Allocation
Identify sources of funding for technology-driven innovation and allocate resources appropriately based on prioritization.
- A4Portfolio Management
Manage decision-making relating to technology-driven innovation projects through an innovation pipeline or portfolio.
- BPeople and Culture
Determines how technology-driven innovation practices, skills, and roles are actualized on a day-to-day basis.
- B1Management Leadership
Provide visible leadership support for technology-driven innovation activities.
- B2Acceptance of Risk Taking
Promote a positive attitude towards informed risk-taking.
- B3Collaboration
Enable employee collaboration on technology-driven innovation — for example, task forces, cross-functional teams, collaboration networks, communities of practice, and so on.
- B4Innovation Skills Development
Develop employees' skills to enable and leverage technology-driven innovation.
- B5Roles and Responsibilities
Define roles and responsibilities within the organization to empower ownership of technology-driven innovation and promote engagement with innovation practices.
- B6Rewards and Recognition
Incentivize people to contribute to technology-driven innovation.
- CMethods and Measurement
Determines how technology-driven innovation is measured and its impact reported.
- C1Methods and Processes
Leverage methodologies and tools (such as idea management tools, innovation prototyping workshops, and project management methodologies) to facilitate an innovation management life cycle — for example, from idea generation and development to implementation and end-of-life.
- C2Measurement of Impact
Measure the impact from technology-driven innovation.
- C3Communication of Value
Communicate the value generated from technology-driven innovation.
Overview
Goal
The Innovation Management (IM) capability helps exploit IT in new and pioneering ways to satisfy business objectives.
Objectives
- Increase innovation throughput from the IT function by fostering a pioneering culture informed by approaches, methods, and tools for innovative thinking and problem solving.
- Incentivize collaboration with other business units to identify novel uses of IT to support business operations, products, and services.
- Improve accountability for innovation management by measuring business value and other meaningful metrics.
- Promote informed risk taking — for example, by:
- Harvesting key learnings from unsuccessful innovation initiatives using non- accusatory approaches.
- Supporting innovative performance of teams and individual employees.
- Providing more control over how employees approach solving business challenges.
Value
The Innovation Management (IM) capability helps improve the throughput of and yield from novel uses of IT and technology-driven innovation to solve business challenges.
Relevance
Innovation has long been recognized as a driver of sustainable competitive advantage in business1. The topic of innovation is increasingly high on the agenda of senior business leaders and, now more than ever, they are looking to the CIO and senior IT managers to support and drive business innovation. The IT function is perhaps uniquely positioned for this challenge because of its connected view of the organization, and its requirement to continually employ strategic technological advancement to keep the organization secure and competitive.
The IT function is, however, regularly accused of holding back business innovation because it does not always share the same cultural, managerial, and practical perspectives as the rest of the organization2. By developing an effective Innovation Management (IM) capability, an organization can implement appropriate innovation practices that fit with its specific context, allowing the IT function to facilitate technology-driven business innovation.
Scope
Definition
The Innovation Management (IM) capability is the ability to identify, fund, and measure technology-driven business innovation, which can be:
- Applied within the IT function.
- Applied to the organization's operations.
- Applied to the organization's products and services.
Improvement Planning
Practices-Outcomes-Metrics (POM)
Representative POMs are described for IM at each level of maturity.
- 2Basic
- Practice
- Focus innovation efforts on cost reductions and/or process efficiency improvements or gains.
- Outcome
- Cost reduction from innovation efforts can be readily visible and can make a strategic contribution to the business.
- Metric
- Financial savings through cost reductions and/or efficiency gains.
- Practice
- Create and encourage development of multi-disciplinary teams within the IT function.
- Outcome
- Increased collaboration on innovation efforts is fostered across the IT function.
- Metric
- Number and percentage of teams with appropriate levels of multi-disciplinary representation.
- Practice
- Provide mentoring and training on technology-driven innovation.
- Outcomes
- Initial training helps primarily with understanding what technology-driven innovation is.
- More in-depth development helps build deeper skills and expertise in technology-driven innovation practices.
- Metric
- Percentage of the work force trained in technology-driven innovation.
- Practice
- Promote the use of collaborative tools and platforms to support technology-driven innovation.
- Outcome
- The collective power of employees can be harnessed by providing more inclusive and comprehensive collaboration and innovation platforms.
- Metrics
- Levels of user activity on various tools and platforms.
- Number of technology-driven innovation ideas supported.
- Practice
- Communicate the impact of technology-driven innovation activities within the IT function.
- Outcome
- There is growing recognition for innovative efforts.
- Metric
- Number of technology-driven innovation case studies captured for communication.
- 3Intermediate
- Practice
- Broaden technology-driven innovation efforts to include enhancing business operations.
- Outcome
- The IT function is seen to drive operational excellence and deliver value.
- Metrics
- Number of innovative solutions that improve operational excellence.
- Cumulative business value of technology-driven innovation solutions.
- Practice
- Encourage and support development of cross-functional teams between the IT function and some other business units.
- Outcome
- Collaborative capability is extended within and between the IT function and key business units, increasing potential to share knowledge and identify opportunities to develop innovative business solutions.
- Metric
- Percentage of teams with appropriate levels of cross-functional representation.
- Practice
- Offer career development opportunities, such as technical leadership career tracks, job rotations, or special assignments to other parts of the organization.
- Outcome
- Cross-fertilization of ideas and practices allows employees to develop the technical expertise and/or business acumen to identify and deliver technology-driven business innovation.
- Metrics
- Percentage of total employees on technical leadership career paths.
- Number of job rotations available.
- Practice
- Catalogue innovation tools for use across the IT function, and share them with the rest of the organization.
- Outcome
- Employees have access to proven innovation tools and practices.
- Metrics
- Utilization rate of innovation tools.
- User rating assigned to each tool.
- Practice
- Validate that innovation metrics communicate the business impact of technology-driven innovation.
- Outcome
- Sharing results increases understanding regarding the impact of technology- driven innovation across the organization.
- Metrics
- Return on investment of innovation spending.
- Cumulative total of business costs eliminated by technology-driven innovation.
- 4Advanced
- Practice
- Broaden innovation efforts to enable the development of new products, services, or business processes.
- Outcome
- The credibility of the IT function to creatively solve business problems is increased.
- Metrics
- Number of new products or services developed through technology-driven innovation.
- New revenue from technology-driven innovation as a percentage of total revenue.
- Practice
- Support and leverage cross-functional and inter-disciplinary teams across the organization for technology-driven innovation projects.
- Outcome
- A collaborative culture is reinforced and the perception of ‘siloed’ innovation efforts across the organization is less prevalent.
- Metric
- The number of distinct functions or disciplines adequately represented in the cross-functional/inter-disciplinary teams.
- Practice
- Formalize innovation champion/evangelist positions across the organization.
- Outcome
- A culture of technology-driven innovation is shared at the organizational level.
- Metric
- Number of job descriptions containing defined roles and responsibilities for innovation.
- Practice
- Integrate and widely use tools and best-known methods for technology- driven innovation across the organization.
- Outcome
- The integration of tools and practices is comprehensive across the organization, so that employees have access to appropriate and relevant supports for enabling technology-driven innovation.
- Metrics
- Rate of utilization of innovation tools.
- Effectiveness ratings for each tool/practice.
- Practice
- Ensure technology-driven innovation proposals that have co-funding from multiple business units receive due consideration.
- Outcome
- The business value of technology-driven innovation proposals receives strong upfront validation and endorsement if they are sponsored by multiple business units.
- Metric
- Percentage of technology-driven innovation projects that are co-funded by other business units.
- Practice
- Communicate the impact of technology-driven innovation activities across the organization.
- Outcome
- Credibility of technology-driven innovation activities is enhanced and generates higher levels of support for engaging in future activities.
- Metric
- Frequency, breadth, and diversity of communications across the organization.
- 5Optimized
- Practice
- Broaden the focus of technology-driven innovation to include organizational transformation opportunities.
- Outcome
- The potential to create strategic advantage over industry peers using technology-driven innovation is heightened.
- Metrics
- Number of new products or services enabled through technology-driven innovation.
- The financial value derived from technology-enabled innovation.
- Practice
- Implement organization-wide guidelines to systematically encourage external alliances for technology-driven innovation — for example, with suppliers, customers, academia, external labs, and so on.
- Outcome
- The IT function is seen as a broker of technology-driven innovation between external parties and internal beneficiaries.
- Metrics
- Number of innovations adopted that originated externally.
- Return on investment from external innovations adopted.
- Practice
- Continue to reinforce desirable innovative behaviours across the wider organization by, for example, providing appropriate incentives, eradicating disincentives, implementing mentoring and coaching programmes, and so on.
- Outcome
- Organizational culture around technology-driven innovation is fully embedded and embraced by all employees.
- Metric
- Number of technology-driven innovation ideas submitted per number of employees, per quarter.
- Practice
- Reinforce a culture of continual improvement regarding application of proven practices and tools that can support technology-driven innovation.
- Outcome
- Constantly seeking and testing novel methods ensures the most effective approaches are adopted.
- Metrics
- Frequency of reviews on technology-driven innovation practices.
- Number of updates to technology-driven innovation practices.
- Practice
- Systematically prioritize win–win opportunities for co-funding IT innovation projects with other business units.
- Outcome
- The business relevance of IT innovation projects receives strong upfront validation and endorsement by business units.
- Metric
- Percentage of IT innovation projects co-funded by other business units.
Reference
History
This capability was introduced in Revision 16 as a new critical capability.
It was deprecated in Revision 18.10, being updated by Innovation Management (18.10).