Innovation. Why?
“If I’d asked my customers what they wanted, they’d have said a faster horse." – Henry Ford.
Somewhere there’s got to be a similar line from Steve Jobs as well. And both have successfully belted out product after product that changed the automotive, mobile and media business, forever. All without involving the customer in a meaningful way.
So why are customer and employee led innovation programs all the rage at organizations today? Idea Management Platforms such as Bright Idea, Spigit and others are selling like hotcakes. And Enterprise 2.0 platforms such as Jive Software and Newsgator single out this one purpose driven component and offer it as well.
Chevrons doing it, SAP’s doing it, Intuit’s doing it and lots and lots of others. And they are all involving customers, partners and employees to help them find and refine the next big idea or ways to streamline operations within organizations as a way to reduce cost and mitigate risk. And they’re saving or making millions doing so.
Come find out what the hoopla is all about at the Innovation Meetup in Mountain View this Tuesday, the 23rd of March at 6:30 pm. I’m moderating an awesome panel with Susie Wee, CTO of Client Cloud Services at HP, Tad Milbourn of Intuit and Marco ten Vaanholt, VP of SAP’s Community Network.
At Sovos, were also working on some high profile innovation programs with clients right now so it should be a lively discussion. We’re going to discuss the drivers, challenges and as important execution and follow through of successful innovation programs. Collecting ideas is one thing. Doing something about it is another. We’ll find out how the experts do it.
The event is hosted by Tatyana Kanzavelli whose now legendary in Silicon Valley for producing intimate, high quality events.
More about the event from the Meet Up website:
Innovation has been dubbed as one of the more promising purpose-driven applications of social and collaborative technology in the enterprises. Whether as a way to encourage customers or internal employees, Innovation Programs in enterprises have unlocked critical ideas at well known enterprises that has ultimately led to the conception of new product ideas, significant cost savings internally and finally, operational efficiency. Sameer Patel, founding partner at the Sovos Group will moderate a session to highlight the opportunity and challenges that organizations face as they seek to unlock critical insight coming from customers, partners and employees.
Learn more about the panelists and the event and register on the Meet Up site here. It’s $20 online and $30 at the door. Food and wine included.
Hope to see you there.
