Innovation – The Success Weapon [Tips 2019]

Innovation: The Success Weapon [Tips 2019]

Innovation has been a hot topic of discussions in the business community for last few decades across the glob due to it’s impact on business. All major venture capital firms are constantly searching for entrepreneurs with innovative and fresh ideas. Innovation is The Success Weapon For Entrepreneurs, in fact it has always been the most effective tool in the arsenal of Entrepreneurs. When markets get saturated and competition increases due to the continuous influx of new entrants into any field of business, then Innovation becomes the savior.

Innovation opens up new markets by creating better products and improved services. Future belongs to Innovation. Entrepreneurs with sharp focus on innovative products and services will be able to survive and grow in future.

Innovation always comes with a surprise element for people. Whenever we see innovation in anything it leaves us puzzled, as to why we could not imagine such a simple solution before. Most effective innovations have always touched hearts of people and have attracted great business opportunities for Entrepreneurs. 

There is only one thing stronger than all the armies of the world: and that is an idea whose time has come.

-Victor Hugo

WHAT IS INNOVATION

Innovation is redesigning a product or redefining a service according to the market needs. 

An example of simplest innovation is a Data Cable. Yes you read it right, a Data Cable that we use for all our mobile devices.

Innovation : Data Cable

Before this simple innovation, people were using different slots and separate cables in their devices for charging and data transfer. Innovative idea in this design was to standardize the size of the connectors so that it can be used globally with any device. This simple innovation in the product design could pull millions of dollars for businesses, as it made things easy for people. It opened up a whole new market and created a new industry. 

Small Businesses with big ideas have achieved historic success!!

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Innovation of Light Weight Drone: 

Photo by Jared Brashier on Unsplash

According to a Wall Street Journal report, use of non-military drones, began in 2006. Government agencies started using  them for border-surveillance, disaster-relief and wildfire-fighting, while various corporations began using drones to inspect pipelines and spraying pesticides on farms.

In 2013, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos announced that the company was considering using drones as a delivery method. 

 Now the Drone Technology is growing exponentially, Many startups are developing drones. Light weight drones are being used for multiple applications.

Photography is probably the most benefited industry by this innovation.

It was very difficult to take areal video shots earlier. Now a drone can take beautiful shots with enormous ease. Big and heavy equipment like cranes and trolleys are obsolete now as light weight camera mounted drones have successfully replaced them. 

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Innovative Idea [Tip for 2019]

Drone industry has a bright future and it should be taken seriously by entrepreneurs, who are interested to capitalize the benefits of a whole new market. A vast business opportunity is coming into the field of Automated and Artificially Intelligent (AI) Drones. 15 years from now, imagine the use of AI Drones will be changing the world completely. This is going to be a fortune making business for those who are working on it today. 

 INNOVATION BRINGS UNEXPECTED BUSINESS

Sometimes an Innovation shows us, what was needed or what was missing earlier. 

For example: Everyone is familiar with the QR codes (abbreviated from Quick Response Code).

Innovation : QR Code

It’s an innovative advancement of the traditional bar codes. The QR code system was created back in 1994 by the Japanese company Denso Wave. A QR code is used to store and retrieve information. The largest version of QR Code can encode 3000 bytes of data. Unlike traditional bar code which is one dimensional and uses one row of lines, QR Code uses two-dimensions which allow them to store a lot more data in the same area of space.

This simple innovation in design has given such a wonderful solution that now it is used across all industries. Android market has given it another boost. Today almost every Android App is using QR Codes for quick data transfer in a transaction or digital verification process. It worked as a life line for many Mobile Wallet Apps.

In the year 2016, Indian Government suddenly announced to demonetize it’s currency notes of 1000 and 500 denomination. This unforeseen move created a sudden cash crunch in the market for few months. 

Paytm, an Indian startup, founded in 2010 which is basically an e-commerce payment system and a digital wallet platform, looked at this situation as a business opportunity. Paytm made it’s QR Codes available through their Android App to the merchants across the country. For the first time in India, people realized the power of QR Code. It made the cashless transactions fairly easy and convenient. This opportunity helped the startup to capture the majority of market share and Paytm become the market leader in India. It is still the market leader in the year 2019. 

Innovative Idea [Tip for 2019]

Sometimes few innovations comes before their time and nobody knows where will that innovation be used. 

Can you think about a three dimensional QR Codes, that can store massive data or a four dimensional code that can store even more data, that varies with respect to time. 

A three dimensional QR Code can possibly replace the existing micro-chips being used in Debit and Credit Cards and many other cards that are using micro chips. Even it can possibly replace the existing SIM Cards being used in mobile phones. 

It is going to create a huge business opportunity and a new market place for newer devices which will provide a cheaper alternative to the existing technology. 

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TYPES OF INNOVATION

Innovation can be broadly bifurcated into two types. 

1. Product Innovation

For example: LED (Light Emitting Diode) was invented in the year 1962. LED Displays were in existence for many years but they were never used ever before the way they are used now. This invention was waiting for a simple innovation in it’s design to make it affordable and useful for the masses. 

Innovation : LED Lamp

As of 2010 some LED lamps replaced higher wattage bulbs. It is claimed that a 16-watt LED lamp is as bright as a 150 W halogen lamp.

Today LED lamps have replaced the old CFL and Filament light bulbs completely. 

During this time period TV Manufacturers also started mass production of LED TVs, which completely vanished the market of old Cathode Ray and LCD TVs.

This is an example of Disruptive Innovation which brings the paradigm shift in the markets and business with cost effective and superior user experience. LED technology with few innovative advancements has opened up a huge market and business opportunity for Entrepreneurs. 

Innovative Idea [Tip for 2019]

Face Recognition Technology is currently in it’s infancy. It can recognize a person from very short distance only.

Can you think about an advanced camera, backed up with a face recognition mechanism that can identify a person from a very long distance. A micro camera system that can identify a person even in a huge crowd.

An artificially intelligent system that has a database of people with their identities that can keep a constant watch on crowded areas 24/7. It can identify criminals and people with suspicious behavior in a crowed place like Airports, Railways Stations, Public Gatherings etc.

Such innovation can help the security services and police in a great way across the world. It has a huge business opportunity as with the increasing crime rate, world needs this innovation immediately.  

2. Service Innovation

Service Innovation can be defined as: creating value in a service by devising newer ways to serve the customer with better user experience and by making it cost effective at the same time.

Food Delivery Business:

Innovation : Food Delivery Business

Android / IOS Apps like Uber Eats, Food Panda, Zomatto, Swiggy etc. are examples of Service Innovation.

Ordering your favorite food from your desired restaurants was not so easy before. With increasing number of working professionals, food delivery business has a bright future. This business is flourishing exponentially.

What is innovative in this business?

Innovation in this business is to bring all the nearest available restaurants at one place where you can compare the prices and get the customer ratings, that helps the consumer to choose the best one. They can offer you the maximum discounts, which they fetch directly from the restaurants. In turn restaurants are getting more business. Restaurants are getting new customers and their reach has increased into area where they not even imagined before.

Service Innovation: Taxi Service

 Service Innovation: Taxi Service

Taxi Booking Apps like Uber and Ola have redefined the taxi services or rental car business. 

Ola, one of the fastest expanding car rental business, now covers over 100 cities across India. It offers an order of vehicle types: small cars, metered cabs, standard sedans. Additionally, there’s Ola Auto for hailing tuk-tuks.

Since Ola provides verified drivers, cleanliness, safety and comfortable trip, Ola Cabs’ riders are very satisfied with the services they get. Ola Cabs’ prompt confirmation of the booked ride and the app interface that indicates the location of the ride, Ola Cabs has become one of the most extensively used ride-hailing apps in India. 

Ola has expanded it’s business now in the UK, Australia and New Zealand. 

There are further subcategories of innovations defined by few experts, that are just the combination of these two types of innovations based on their impact. 

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How to Manage Innovation?

A business has to focus on Innovation Management for continuous results.

Innovation management for a business is: creating an environment where all activities are carried out to create something new and to improve the existing products, processes and services offered by the business.

Many experts argue that Innovation can’t be managed due to it’s very nature of being anonymous. However it’s more about a culture and environment that drives innovative thinking. Innovation can be managed just like any other aspect of business by encouraging creativity. Innovation comes from defining the problems clearly. Understanding the problems or difficulties clearly, is the key to innovation. 

Large organizations like Apple Inc., Microsoft, Google etc. have a proper Innovation Management in place. It ensures continuous innovation which attracts newer business opportunities for them. Apple Inc. is coming up with new product-designs every year. Microsoft keeps improving it’s Windows Software and brings in new versions every couple of years. Google every year comes up with new products and services and improves the exiting ones. 

CONCLUSION

Now the questions is: How to innovate? 

Today customer is the king. If something can make your customer happy, it will bring more business for sure. There are four parameters that make an innovation useful for the business. If the customer will get the benefits on these parameters, the innovation will create a grand success. An entrepreneur has to look for the answers to the following 4 parameters, does the Innovative idea:

1. Saves time
2. Saves money 
3. Brings more convenience
4. Ensures dependable availability 

Innovation is the success weapon, it works as a game changer. In today’s tough market place where competition is cut throat, every entrepreneur needs something new to be able to create new markets to survive and grow. With every innovation a new space is created for businesses. So focus on innovation, create something new and become the leader. 

As Steve Jobs has said:

“Innovation distinguishes between a leader and a follower”. 

Wish you all the best..!!

Akhil Mantra

Grow higher stay rooted..

Please write below in the comments box your comments on whats your innovation plan is. 
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