What is the percentage of revenue that comes from new products or services in your company? If the percentage is lower than 20%, then August Brown may be able to help. There are five specific barriers that prevent companies from attaining their full revenue potential from their innovation focused products and developments. Some of the most prominent barriers include: (1) Inability to experiment quickly; (2) Inability to work across silos; (3) Risk averse culture; (4) Lack of corporate vision; (5) Lack of marketing integration. August Brown has addressed all these problems in various forms for many clients.

This article offers at least one best practice solution that has helped our clients overcome barriers and develop revenue impacting innovation during the past several years.

1. Inability to experiment quickly: Remove all approval barriers required to perform low level experiments. If possible, place an expense cap for personal projects below a fixed amount (ie $1,000-$5,000) for a calendar year where no approval is needed. Such a move will increase employee independence and encourages innovation at every level of an organization.
2. Inability to work across silos: Help organize and support regular “lunch and learn” events where colleagues from different departments (or companies) share their work. This will provide an opportunity for cross-silo ideas to be shared and could spur prospects for “open innovation” outside of the business.
3. Risk averse culture: Give awards to those who display breakthroughs in innovation. The breakthrough does not necessarily have to lead to a patent or a new product. The goal is to demonstrate to the technical staff that management is paying attention to the details. Encourage employees to search for solutions to difficult problems.
4. Lack of corporate vision: While this may not necessarily have a direct impact towards innovation projects, regularly discussing and providing examples of the corporate vision can encourage creative developments. This can fuel innovation projects that actualize the vision. The ultimate goal is to create the space for innovation within the long-term projects that support the strategic goals for the organization. Make this a regular event and use it as an opportunity to highlight key wins.
5. Lack of marketing integration: The marketing team should be involved at all steps of the innovation and development processes so that marketing and a revenue model are integrated within the new product or service before market launch. This change in process can lead to greater savings in development and stronger upsides in the future with more clearly defined marketing outcomes.

We hope this article spurs you toward a wider path of options to overcome the revenue impacting innovation issues that companies can face. To learn more, “Contact” from our main menu and schedule a free appointment.

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