Innovation is vital for a business to establish a competitive advantage. Putting it to work is another challenge in itself, however, and success often comes only after a protracted period of trial and error.
Take CLP’s digital solutions platform Smart Energy Connect (SEC) as an example. Its ability to rebound from the setbacks it encountered in offering an indoor air quality solution provides a useful lesson in the value of persistence.
Health and wellbeing are increasingly important to people today, with a raft of innovations aimed at health-conscious customers. This is also an area of interest for SEC, which offers a suite of energy innovations for businesses to fulfil their digital demands, enhance their operational efficiency, and reduce their carbon footprints.
From discussions with customers in schools and offices stretching back two years, the SEC team realised there was a common concern over indoor air quality. The team responded by coming up with the idea of finding an Internet of Things (IoT)-connected air quality sensor which could be integrated into its energy solutions app. The sensor would then help customers monitor and control their power use in one place.
To gauge customers’ needs, the team interviewed potential buyers to see what functions they would like to have, before deciding on an air quality sensor to integrate into the energy solutions app.
However, when the team started to pitch its solution to more than 20 potential clients, most of them said they found the offer incomplete. The customers wanted the device to not only monitor air quality but also purify the air when pollutants were detected.
The team carefully thought about the question: If there were already purifiers with sensors, why weren’t they good enough for customers? It drilled down to the current market gaps and found potential for its IoT sensor to replace the standard air quality sensors built into air purifiers.
The SEC team’s journey demonstrated a number of factors in putting innovation to work. They include four key lessons:
1. Stay focused on your goals
Only a well-designed innovative solution can earn long-term success. Beware of the temptation of a quick fix. Provide strategic insights and guide your team to focus on what customers really want in order to address market gaps. Never innovate without a specific target or need. Innovation is not a process of reinventing the wheel but rather satisfying customers’ known or hidden needs.
2. Know your market
Remember you are not the only one pushing ahead with business innovations. Always watch out for market trends to see what your potential competitors are offering. An in-depth analysis could help you identify the white space in the market and assess the resources needed for a new project.
3. Learn from failure
Innovation is never easy. Overcome fear of failure. The way to progress is to keep learning from your own experience or other people’s experiences. Failure could just be a stepping stone to innovation success.
4. Prioritise the core need
Make sure you find the real problem you’re trying to solve rather than just managing the symptoms people may be experiencing.
