Employees and customers as a source of innovation

The question of where you can find sources of innovation becomes the key question at a time when the struggle for the market is particularly fierce. Companies must be innovative to meet the demands of both competition and customers. To fight for the market, companies need the change, because today's consumers are more critical of the company's offerings (they are well informed about the market novelties, inter alia, thanks to internet) and go where their needs can best be met, and only after all the competitors are waiting for it. Therefore, companies focus their attention increasingly on two important sources of innovation, such as employees and customers.< Research of the consulting firm "Strategos" has shown that the group called innovators has three basic characteristics in common:

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  They tend to "go against the tide, " that is they look critically at reality they find and the prevailing rules.

R. Florida writes in his book "The Rise of Creative Class", "the creative class members appreciate the stimulation and inspiration flowing with diversity; want to meet people different from each other, to exchange views "

Therefore, the company wanted to increase the creativity of employees, should ensure that they still experiencing new sensations, that they have access to the all possible information. Free access to both internal business information resources and the Internet should be obvious to the modern enterprise. The more so because innovative ideas can be inspired by sheer chance heard or read information, the perceived utterance on "chat" or other experience, seemingly having nothing in common with work performed by the employee. So let's allow employees to easily search for information - you never know, connection the information which can in effect give an idea worth millions of dollars and determine the future of the company. As P.F.Drucker writes - in employees need to see not only employees, but most of all the people who are the biggest opportunity the company.

As for customers, as a source of innovation, companies has long worked with clients on new products, but not once happened that customers responded on question of how they would see a new product, product development team realized heard suggestions, and then the product was not selling. The cause of such failures is usually the fact that the customer in their suggestions based on what we have already experienced, but not talking about solutions, with which he has yet had nothing to do. Therefore, the competition, whose creative staff focus on inventing an entirely new solution can sometimes achieve more success than the company that require only on imagination of customers on possible improvements. What's more matching product to the customer requirements notified in writing or orally, is very time consuming and slow. Now, thanks to modern technology with the Internet, the time needed to create a product having a chance the interest shown by client has dramatically shortened. The relevant software has enabled collaboration with the client to give a whole new form. Instead of direct meetings with client, the analysis reported by his demands - can become an active part of the client in creating innovative product, no errors reported in listening to customer needs. The company supplies the customer-innovator with in special "tools" on web pages that help him in creating a new product in order to optimally fit their needs.