Innovation is the key to the sustainable growth of an organization. So what exactly is innovation? Innovation is basically finding something new. When a company comes up with some innovative products in the market, people find those fascinating and the company’s sales shoot up. An organization needs to respond to the varying customer needs quickly to gain an advantage in the highly competitive market.
The companies who fail to understand the market dynamics and carry on with their existing portfolio without doing the much-needed changes fail to thrive in the long run. Let’s take the example of Kodak. Kodak held a dominant position in photographic films for a long time. However, with the advent of digital cameras, Kodak was reluctant to shift to the digital photography business and it led to the company’s downfall.
Similar to Kodak, Nokia never thought of moving towards the smartphone business and other companies moved way ahead of Nokia and they lost their dominant position in the phone market.
The above examples of Kodak and Nokia signify the importance of innovation in a business. We all know Google, Facebook, Apple, Amazon have been extremely innovative and that is how they are able to survive. Let us have a look at some of their innovations that brought a revolution to the entire world.
1. Innovations in Apple
Apple revolutionized the smartphone industry when it launched iPhone in 2007. Not a single multitouch phone existed during that time with all the features iPhone had. iPhone had its own Operating System and it was quite easy to navigate throughout the phone with our own fingers. Users were able to access lots of apps through App Store and Apple created a platform for 3rd parties to develop apps and get those available in the App store. As a result, millions of apps became available in the App store. Can you imagine how cool was all of that? Other companies followed Apple and nowadays almost everyone has a smartphone. This is a path-breaking innovation and it helped Apple to increase its revenue.
2. Innovations in Google
Millions of people use Google’s products. Google is a part and parcel of almost every individual. Can you imagine how many companies are relying on Google for their businesses? The number is quite high. Google’s innovative products are the key to Google’s success. Take for example the Google Translate tool. What a beneficial tool this is! If you go to a foreign country and you don’t understand the country’s language, you can use the Translation tool. Then there is Google Assistant through which you can search for anything using your voice commands. Google Maps is widely used for navigation purposes and many companies like Uber and Ola are using Google Maps for their businesses. I haven’t mentioned Google Search here but I guess you know the impact of Google Search on our lives on a daily basis! Likewise, there are hundreds of other innovative products in Google. Check here how Google is fostering the culture of innovation within the company.
3. Innovations in Facebook
Before Facebook came into this world, how much were we connected with our friends and families? It was not an easy job to keep in touch back then as in most cases, you were not having their phone numbers. With the advent of Facebook, how easy it became to remain connected with friends and relatives! This is what is innovation. Mark Zuckerberg felt the need for this kind of platform so that people can remain connected. Companies like Facebook believe in the internet as a disruptive technology and they are utilizing the internet to bring even more disruptive technologies in the future. It’s very easy to put an ad for your business on Facebook. Within a few minutes, the ad will reach a wider audience and more people would be aware of your business. That’s how Facebook made people’s lives easier.
4. Innovations in Amazon
We are heavily dependent on Amazon in our day-to-day life. Who would have imagined getting any kind of items delivered at their doorsteps before Amazon came into this world? You can just order the items from the comfort of your home. Jeff Bezos was a visionary and he was able to foresee the future and now he is the second richest person on the planet. This was possible only because of the innovations that Amazon brought over the years. Amazon Prime is one of the innovations where you can get an order on the same day. Then there is the Amazon Prime Video service where people can watch unlimited content at the same price they paid to become Prime members. Amazon also launched the Amazon Go store in the US where there is no concept of queueing in a line to pay your bills. It’s a self check in and check out process. This is a next level of innovation which would disrupt the entire retail industry.
5. Innovations in Microsoft
Microsoft started a program called Microsoft Garage in 2014 where the company encourages its employees to participate and work on ideas which may not be related to the core business of the company. This was mainly created to enhance the culture of innovation within the company. Microsoft made our lives simpler with products like Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Outlook. Xbox was one of the great innovations of the company where you can play games virtually. You can learn more about some of the other innovations by Microsoft by clicking here.
Conclusion
All these top companies were able to stay ahead of the race because of continuous focus in innovation. If you believe in traditional methods and don’t want to change, you may not be able to survive in the long run. Some other competitor may knock you out of the game with some ground breaking innovation if you keep doing the same work over and over. That is why, it is very important for organizations to foster the culture of innovation within employees. We have seen above how lack of innovation and not willing to change led to the failure of Kodak and Nokia. You would not want to repeat the same for your organization. Innovation is the key for a company to sustain over a longer period of time.
What according to you will help companies to innovate faster?
