5 Tips to Make Your Digital Innovation Strategy Work
Succeeding in a digital marketplace through constant evolution
What is a digital innovation strategy?
In our increasingly digital world, the interconnected online market has forced businesses to establish new approaches to innovation.
Generating growth and securing a solid market share in this new environment requires a well-defined digital innovation strategy.
A robust digital innovation strategy involves the nurturing of digital skills and culture and applying emerging technologies, as well as adopting disruptive business models and breaking into new market areas.
In this article, we’ll explore five ways you can make your digital innovation strategy work best within a highly competitive online economy.
1. Outsource the digital skills
In the pre-digital past, the task of business innovation was usually left to company leadership and an internal, centralized R&D department. This used to simply be the only way for a business to reach and stay at the cutting edge of its market area.
Free from the limitations of geographic location and time zones, today’s digital economy offers the possibility of decentralized knowledge-sharing and practices at a reduced cost.
Companies can now take advantage of external sources of innovation, including from IT companies, startups, highly specialized academics, software and consulting companies, their own customers and company suppliers.
2. Embrace New Tech
Emerging digital innovation processes demand new and dynamic tools for businesses.
By increasingly relying on new digital technologies developed outside their organization, companies can partner with software solutions providers and consultants to reduce costs, increase product innovation and efficiency, offer faster services, as well as to gain access to previously unreachable market sectors.
As software often adds value to physical products, successful online businesses can innovate by staying up to date with all available digital business practices.
3. Know Your Customers
Apart from generating new ideas and innovation, data analysis in the digital market offers unprecedented insights into both existing and potential customers.
Customer trends and competitor moves can be monitored from a wealth of user-generated data, often stored in vast and unstructured databases.
With a strategic combination of human intelligence, creativity and network analytics, it is now possible to explore customer preferences, provide personalized offers and services, as well as understand patterns in funding opportunities, patenting and scientific literature.
4. Speed-Up and Be Flexible
Speed and agility are the two most essential advantages of digital technologies.
E-commerce success means fast adaptation to an ever-changing online business climate. Companies can deploy digital tools and techniques such as simulation and prototyping to test and develop business ideas while simultaneously receiving and analyzing customer feedback.
Ultimately, digital innovation processes not only translate to better and more efficient products; they also provide an increased speed of service which is now vital for attracting and retaining online customers.
5. Distribute Digital Products and Services
Consider how companies like Amazon managed to radically transform the way high street businesses operate – any business able to offer digital products and services is essentially a global shop.
Try to imagine ways you could distribute your company’s most crucial assets digitally and within the online market ecosystem. Whether it is key team skills, niche products, specialized experiences or ideas and innovation, a world-wide audience of customers means business access in previously inaccessible markets and sectors.
At Bocasay, our IT outsourcing expertise is nurtured by staying ahead of the latest tech trends. Do you have an idea that could benefit from a digital innovation strategy? Get in touch to find out how our dedicated teams of IT developers based in Madagascar, Mauritius and Vietnam can help you achieve your tech goals and evolution.
