Why is innovation important?
Ultimately, it links to what we care about. It supports what organisations are doing now but also prepares for business needs in future. A huge part is around being able to explore new fields, being able to try new practices, as well as new approaches we can apply as part of a business. So, organisations can be protected for the future and are able to make decisions now which consider where they are headed.
Our innovation team is focused on a human centred approach, leveraging things like design thinking and user journeys. It is a great way of engaging people, but more importantly ensures our ideas are focused on people – thinking about the steps someone will take, in whatever innovative processes we apply. It is about how people are going to engage with us and our brand.
It is important we understand that clients, in a business-to-business space, are ultimately people at the end of the process - so it is about trying to understand the impact on the individuals who are going to be at the end of that.
We also need to consider the ideas of driving innovation in a business, but also perceive innovation as something which needs to be part of everyone's individual role. And ensuring an organisation has a structure that supports that - trying to drive a culture where everyone in an organisation can adopt that innovative approach. Innovation is important, it should not just be what we do to be innovative & creative, but also part of the embedded culture of business and the way we want to go forward as an organisation.