No one can deny the huge role innovation and technology play in the success of any given business these days. Regarded separately, they both could contribute to the company’s success, but in today’s business world, it is hard to imagine any kind of innovation without adopting new technology. Therefore, managing and merging both in one single process is an issue that business owners must learn to efficiently carry out. A problem that most business owners face is that managing the merge between technology and innovation is a very tricky task and mismanagement of the process could impede, or even hurt the goals of the business. In broad terms, the process of adopting technology for the purposes of innovation or the action of dealing with any technology-related innovation withing a business is called ‘technology innovation management’, which is the scope of this article.
What is Technology Innovation management?
While ‘innovation’ itself might seem not to need any kind of definition, the approach you take, as a business owner, to view it will help you have a better understanding of technology innovation management in the long run. For instance, the Oslo manual (OECD, 2005) defines innovation based on what is innovated rather than how an innovation might be produced. OECD’s definition includes four types of innovation: Product innovation, Process innovation, Marketing innovation, and Organizational innovation. In general, we can say that ‘Technology Innovation management’ is the process of controlling, guiding, and managing the creation and execution of corporate strategies and technical advances.
The correct execution of technology innovation management could have numerous positive impacts on a business. It can help you increase revenue and design products according to what customers demand. As technology’s main function in a business is to boost growth and facilitate operations, a good management of technology and innovation can finally help you keep ahead of your competition.
Core Components of Technology Innovation Management
Since defining ‘innovation’ is very tricky, it is probably necessary to list the major components of Technology innovation management.
- Culture:
gradually building a culture that fosters creativity in a company can be considered a prerequisite to any technological innovation
- Rapidity in the Market:
keeping ahead of the competition and introducing fresh innovative ideas will definitely increase the market share of a company
- Constant Learning:
employees must be constantly encouraged to level up and increase their knowledge, as keeping abreast of the latest knowledge is of crucial importance in technological innovations.
- Facing cognitive obstacles:
everyone in a company must know that problems occur and they are inevitable. Therefore, the staff at a company must learn to have proactive mentality and not regard problems as ‘evil’; instead, they must try to overcome problems every time they occur.
- Abilities and Capabilities:
for a company to be able to innovate, it must know the capabilities of its staff. This includes a wide range from insights, expertise, and practical skills to other areas such as the company’s information capital and tacit knowledge the staff possess.
- Strategizing:
having an appropriate strategy in technology innovation management will give you the confidence to launch new ideas and also to select the best course of action.
- Competency:
as a business owner, you must know the areas in which your company excels at compared to your rivals.
How Technologies impact on businesses
There is a long list of how technology can impact your business. The following list includes the most significant ones:
- Enhanced communication:
adopting the latest communication and information technology can help businesses to stay connected all the time, which will in turn increase their efficiency and productivity.
- Optimization of the production:
since technology allows you to optimize your production process and also its management, it can really enhance your production. In fact, thanks to technology, today even a small-sized company can compete with bigger-sized ones in terms of efficiency.
- Improving security:
technology can help you keep your critical data secure and away from harm.
- Global existence:
for a company to succeed, going global is a necessity today, and this is not imaginable without adopting the right technology. Technology can help you do business with people all around the globe.
Technology Adopters
No matter how useful and effective your innovation can be, acting fast is of crucial importance. In a book titled ‘Crossing the Chasm’, Geoffry Moore described the life cycle of technology adoption (Moore, 1991). In his book he offers a diagram which represents the whole market as a bell curve and introduces five types of technology adopters:
1- Innovators
Innovators are the ones who take the primary risks, innovate, and, therefore, have the highest social positions. They also have access to scientific sources and are connected to other innovators
2- Early Adopters
The first ones who adopt this innovation are the people with a higher social status and have the highest capability for leadership
3- Early majority
These people have a relatively higher social status than others but they don’t occupy leadership positions
4- Late Majority
These people follow next and are the ones who are very cautious in adopting anything new
5- Laggards
These people are the last ones to adopt the new invention and have no leadership qualities
Why is Technology Important in the Innovation Management?
By analyzing businesses, one can realize that most innovations are the result of adopting new technology. This is because technologies can change consumer behavior and create totally innovative business models. There are three ways that technology affects businesses:
- It boosts innovative processes
- It improves human capabilities
- It also creates new market opportunities in the whole business area
Implementing Technology Innovation Management
According to the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills in the UK (BIS), Innovation is ‘the process by which new ideas are successfully exploited to create economic, social, and environmental value’.
As this definition emphasizes the successful exploitation of new ideas, innovation is a process and this process is central to the management of technological innovation. Therefore, this process incorporates a series of activities that start from ‘idea generation’ (invention) and ends in ‘marketing and adoption in the market place’ (diffusion).
What is the difference between Technology Management and Innovation management?
While both these terms have merged in today’s business models, they originally have different definitions. Technology Management can be regarded as the correct handling of tech sources whereas Innovation Management focuses on creating and handling new ideas.
Conclusion
Innovation has played a crucial role in the success of businesses throughout history. Any given instance of business success that you might think of at the moment will surely have at its heart an innovation that drove the society forward. On the other hand, and with the advent of modern communication and information technology, innovation has become ever more intertwined with technology and it is hard to tell one from another. Therefore, all business owners must be able to have a correct strategy in implementing Technology Innovation Management in order to use the perks of both technology and innovation.
