US business management gurus are pointing chief executives
to their IT directors to help identify groundbreaking
innovation.
The internet experience has brought into sharp relief how small,
agile start-up companies can take on innovative technologies,
create new markets and then scale up to challenge incumbent
corporations. Now, management gurus are building methodologies for
larger organisations to cater for such innovation alongside their
traditional processes.
A buzzword for this, coined by Harvard business professor Clayton
Christensen, is "disruptive innovation". In essence, this is
identifying technologies or processes which when used in new ways
can create step change.
This does not necessarily mean using the latest or the most
sophisticated technology. Disruptive innovation often uses
lower-level technology in a new way to open up new opportunities or
to extend existing markets by widening the pool of customers with a
simpler product or reduced functionality to facilitate what they
are already doing.
Take EasyJet, for example, with its use of passports as tickets it
achieved a step change reduction in cost and complexity.
The more IT directors understand their businesses, the more they
become the natural ally to help chief executives bridge the gap
between innovation and business processes. IT chiefs have a hand in
every part of the business, and they are used to leading change and
refining and developing new business processes.
They are in an ideal position to identify the best use of
innovation - which is all about fostering half-baked ideas,
integrating hazy business cases, drawing on gut feelings and
guiding inventive mavericks. They also understand the data
gathering and iterative experimentation that is so vital in
introducing step change innovation.
IT directors really can help forward-looking chief executives here,
and that message, given the seal of approval by Harvard professors,
is now official.