1. Establish a dedicated product team: As a client selecting an agency, consider this: Do you want to go with a one-hit wonder or a firm that’s at the top of the charts month after month? One-off innovative success can happen outside of a dedicated team, but the agencies that perform well consistently do so because they have a dedicated product team. Ask the agency (or ask yourselves) some key questions (Who creates offerings? Who selects your technology partners? It’s important to dig past that one amazing case study or client example and figure out how this is operationalized in the organization.
2. Have a clear charter for the team: The success of our product team depends on knowing who we are. We are a technology-driven media and services company. We have a roadmap of development efforts that are prioritized based on client opportunity, competitive analyses, technology and marketplace developments, and how we want to grow our business. Our job is to create offerings that allow us to execute on our clients' objectives.
3. Collaborate! Facilitate and encourage thought diversity: Product development is a collaborative process. The product team understands technology and how to build solutions; it is the steward on the path from idea to development to operationalizing a solution. The strength of this function comes from diversity of thought within the agency as a whole. Product teams have to be the conduit for shared ideas. They have to bring subject matter experts together to brainstorm, tackle tough questions, and get feedback.
4. Balance your roadmap: Clients always want to see the fresh offerings that use brand new technology and give access to new media or new media efficiencies. This is key to building your capabilities. While the new should always be in your roadmap, this needs to be balanced with improving existing offerings as well. This includes re-evaluating current technologies and tools to ensure you’re using the best, and developing internal tools to drive efficiencies. Improving existing offerings needs to happen to ensure your teams are delivering the best work and doing so in the most efficient way possible. While clients may simply recognize this as table stakes, it’s critical work. An agency that doesn’t do this will fall behind.
At the rate of technological change, this model helps agencies stay at the forefront of new opportunities and forge a new way forward. Clients expect more from us. We can’t only parade new shiny technologies in front of our clients. We need to figure out how to use them reliably for our clients’ benefit. Our agency business requires us to deliver in a way that is operationally sound to ensure consistent quality and needed margins so that we can sustain great work from great team members—and continually delight our clients. Saving Changes...
I agree with your approach in this wonderful article. I would even appreciate it further if you could establish the link between creativity and innovations. Saving Changes...
arlene trimbleAssistant IT Director| Local GovernmentAlamo, Ca, United States
I agree with Suhail. What you have presented are some steps or tips to have an Innovation Team.
What I am looking for is how do you really introduce innovation in business? What are the processes and sources for these recommendations? How is innovation going to be eventually defined by the organization? Yes, how do you encourage innovation and creativity in the organization? Out of the box thinking is encouraged in what way in the organization? Saving Changes...
Very good points. There is still need to define a clear linking between innovations and business value. Innovations with clear value and business proposition is the real meaningful innovation. Saving Changes...
