Product, Service, and Process Innovation for Small Business

Product / Service / Process Innovation

Innovation is no longer an optional advantage; it is a mandatory objective for all businesses. Its benefits are numerous, and it helps build market and mind share. But more than that, true innovation creates attraction, and allows us to capture heart share by overstepping the competition, making our products and services more memorable and by achieving greater efficiency and a smoother customer experience.

Companies typically innovate at one of four levels: Standard, Specialized, Extraordinary and Breakthrough. Standard innovation merely allows us to keep pace with the changes in the industry. Specialized innovation occurs when an organization adapts their product or service to a specific marketplace or subgroup. With extraordinary Innovation organizations leverage their capabilities to deliver a level of uniqueness that their competitors choose not to offer. Think about the IPOD.

Breakthrough innovation occurs when an organization makes a revolutionary advancement in one or more of the innovation processes. In this case, a company will deliver a level of innovation that their competitors are not capable of offering. This is where innovation meets the exclusivity: the level of innovation achieved is clearly evidenced by the creation of an exclusive solution. Innovation isn't always about changing the product or service itself. Innovation can and should occur in several different areas of business development. We can create innovation in processes as well. Many organizations have gained market advantage by innovating internal variables such as their production process, delivery, technical support, or customer service elements. The SBA Network facilitates breakthrough innovation in the following ways:

Process, work-flow analysis and product/service innovation strategy
Innovation continuum mapping, analysis and recommendations
Creation of departmental standards, process metrics and integration planning
Creation of succession plan strategy with touch-points and evolution map
Development of web-based applications to remotely monitor and manage processes
Documentation of business plans and operational targets with appropriate metrics and follow-on systems