Technology Innovation vs Process Innovation - What's the difference?

In order to keep up with customer needs, most businesses realize they need to innovate. Companies must evolve in order to remain competitive and not be left behind, with technological advancements disrupting all industries.

In order to generate new ideas, about 61% of PwC Innovation Benchmark survey respondents embrace open innovation. Adopting an open approach to innovation to generate new ideas is definitely something that any organization recognizes as beneficial. You will be able to include a wider community in solving your current business challenges with open innovation.

Innovation Benefits

Innovation refers to creating processes, products, and ideas that are more efficient. It could mean introducing fresh ideas for an organization, enhancing services, or developing dynamic goods. Innovation will help you to achieve success by giving you some benefits, like:

1. Easily solve problems

To solve certain issues in your company, you need to come up with a solution. Many times you'll face challenges that don't seem to go anywhere. But, you need to look beyond the box by seeking an innovative approach to making your organization better.

2. Raising your productivity

It's time for you to become more productive if you ever feel that you are sidetracked with work and struggling to get everything done. Start to find a new process solution in order to do this.

3. Market your innovation

To make your company stand out from the crowd, you can use diverse creative ideas and innovation. You’ll need innovative ideas in order to make people remember your company.

4. Beating your rivals

When you think innovatively, beating your competitors becomes very easy. You just have a little creativity to put in and you can easily come up with better ways to design products and connect with customers. In addition to this, creativity will help you find the right marketing techniques to help grow your business.

According to the GE Global Innovation Barometer, business executives say that 40% of innovations over the last five years have had a positive impact on the bottom line of their company.

2 Kinds of Innovation

In the industry, there are many types of innovations. But, not all of them are equally relevant. Some are more significant than others at different stages of business evolution. Here are two examples of innovations:

1. Product Innovation

Innovation in products refers to a shift in the product. Product innovation is crucial because it can help you build new markets. You will find an audience and meet customer desires in a way that is unique and exciting by finding what they want.

When you develop an existing product or introduce a new feature to an existing product, this form of innovation may occur. One example of product innovation is the dual cameras on iPhone 7, which did not exist on previous iPhones.

2. Process Innovation of procedures

Innovation in processes focuses on the innovation in equipment, expertise, and technology used to manufacture and deliver goods and services. In contrast to product innovation, the effects on consumers are not as noticeable. For example, Amazon uses robots for labor in its warehouse.

This type of innovation can also be applied to processes connected with workers and human resources. 

Between those two, product innovation is the best way of reducing technological and market uncertainty in the early stages. As a result, product innovation is useful in the early stages. 

But, later on, companies focus on efficiency as technological and market uncertainty decreases. Therefore, process innovation becomes important in that stage.

To guarantee success, creating an innovative product is not enough. It is important for achieving operational success to have the right variables in order. By incorporating the people, process, and technology framework, you’ll create a balanced process that’ll allow your business to thrive.

This framework applies to the methodology in which the balance between humans, systems, and technologies drives action: to streamline and optimize processes, individuals conduct a certain style of job within an enterprise using technology. 

Many businesses only rely on technologies and process, while almost missing the people involved. But, you need to involve with people you're working within decision-making processes for better quality development.

Few businesses make the mistake of relying too much on the processes and forgetting the people. One individual using successful processes can be as successful as a dozen individuals using weak and ineffective processes.

Also, take a serious look at the technology that you already have and ensure that you use it to its fullest potential. You may find that your current solutions offer a utility that you haven't even tapped into yet.

You need to learn how to adapt to a change. In the corporate world, a failure to innovate will leave you behind your rivals who are flying because they have opted to upgrade their strategy.