Succeed in an age of Digital Disruption.

Technology is growing exponentially – doubling every 18 months. This is resulting in the flattening of barriers to entry and business model innovation that is threatening the upheaval of almost every industry.

The impact?
– More than 50% of the S&P500 will be replaced in 10 years time at current rates of churn
– More than 1 in 3 listed companies face delisting in the next 5 years alone
– The average company lifespan has dropped from 60 in the mid 20th Century to just 12 today

The challenge for large organisations is that they’re not built to respond to these changes.
Large organisations have existing, repeatable, scalable business models that they are designed to deliver. They are not designed to search or discover new business models. Doing so requires a fundamentally different mindset and management approach.

However, corporate innovation is not as easy as flicking a switch.

The structure and culture at large organisations is fraught with policies, processes, systems, values and incentives that align themselves with delivering what is, instead of discovering what’s new – and you’re dealing with mindsets and behaviours that until now were rewarded for operating in ways that are the very antithesis of innovation – certainty first, minimise risk, cut costs, maximise short-term returns and maintain the status quo. After all, that’s how we make money today. Unfortunately, what makes money today won’t make money tomorrow.

If every idea your employees raise requires a business case and the projection of financials, even though the market is unknown or may not exist yet, then disruptive innovation is likely to be the last thing your organisation will commercialise. The reality is your organisation is probably more adept and geared towards sustainable, incremental innovation than anything else. But in an era where change is so rapid that it has already relegated the iPod to the annals of history, incremental improvements aren’t enough. Organisations need to move from stretching their existing S-curves to catching the next S-curve.

Initiatives in isolation are never enough. Training your employees in design thinking or some other methodology is great, but not if the surrounding structure doesn’t support its practice or there is no pathway to take ideas coming out of a design sprint further. In fact, it can actually be damaging to employee morale as well-intentioned corporate innovation programs often degenerate into what we call “innovation theatre” – all bark, no bite and disgruntled employees who often lose faith in and therefore investment in innovation programs.

So how do large companies go about flicking the switch on corporate innovation?

Culture change is a marathon, not a sprint, and while there is no silver bullet for corporate innovation, there are a number of things that large organisations can do to radically transform their ability to become more innovative, become adept at discovery and thrive and survive in an era of rapid change and increasing uncertainty.

We provide organisations with end-to-end corporate innovation solutions that address structural challenges, without throwing the baby out with the bathwater, develop employee capability and provide a number of pathways for organisations to discover, leverage their existing strengths and skate to where the puck is going.

With offices in Singapore and Melbourne, we can help companies with their corporate innovation agenda across all of Asia-Pac.