SystemicLogic recently held an innovation workshop in conjunction with GIBS Business School where the Social Based Innovation concept pioneered by SystemicLogic was discussed.

Highlights of the workshop discussion are summarised below;

Innovation will have a crucial role to play as organizations seek to maintain or create a competitive advantage. The rules of the game have changed and innovation is seen as a prerequisite for organizational growth and future competitiveness. This new landscape has seen the emergence of people arranging themselves into self organized communities. These crowds have the ability to rapidly assimilate and disseminate information, and organizations can therefore no longer rely solely on classical market segmentation techniques. Social interaction and crowd behaviour has meant that new approaches to segmentation are required in order to augment the existing methodology.

It is also clear that organizations are still highly segmented. This is a hangover from industrial era companies that were designed for a command and control structure. Given the availability and access to information and the rise in service companies it is clear that this is an outdated approach and severely limits the flow of information, ideas and discussion. Innovation is also still largely linked to technology and is viewed as an ethereal concept that is not subjected to the rigour of traditional methods and measures. This also explains the inability of many organizations to fully grasp and implement innovation.

Customers are increasingly looking for simplicity in their interactions. Innovation clearly has a role to play in meeting these needs. For many of today’s customers time is a precious commodity. It is therefore important for customers to engage with products and services in a way that minimizes time and that is in a simple and efficient manner. The nature of the engagement should determine the channel and the level of complexity. The paradox is that a product or channel may be appropriate for a customer in a certain situation but may not be adequate in other situations. Innovation therefore has a role to play in assisting customers to engage with companies at their prerogative.

In this new paradigm the ability to meet and exceed customer expectations through innovative and simple solutions will result in a valuable asset: loyalty