Innovation Management Tips for a Successful Business

By Tomas Donovan

Innovation is essential to a business' success. Many companies simply do not know how to encourage and discover innovation, and can sometimes discourage it; although it may not be on purpose. Innovation management is the technology of managing the process of creativity and can be used for the development of new ideas, products, or organizational innovation.

Innovation management includes multiple tools and methods that enable professionals to work within a recognized understanding of the objectives, goals, and targets. In order to achieve a breakthrough development in innovation, the emphasis must be on research and development, almost entirely.

Innovation management discovers the practices and actions that can turn an idea into a reality for the purpose of business value. Some tips for innovation management are outlined below:

Take action immediately. Include collection and analysis of data as part of your innovative strategy. This makes you better capable of identifying needs and problems so that an appropriate solution can be devised. Welcome employee participation. Invite feedback from your customers as well as within the company. Know the difference between good and bad ideas.

Make your team more diverse. They can provide different outlooks and points of view. Sum up your staff of experienced, skilled, and academic qualities. Do not limit yourself to one set of ideas or opinions. Diversifying your staff increases your chances of success.

Know the difference between good and bad conflict. With the diversity of staff, expect conflicting ideas and opinions. However, as long as the conflicts do not escalate into a problem, conflict is good for coming up with a successful innovation strategy.

Select teams for who they know as well as what they know. This helps to develop a well connected team. For instance, an employee with connections to a media marketing employee may be able to provide useful pieces of innovative media strategy that can be utilized within your own corporation.

· Pick a leader and provide them with the tools necessary to be successful.

· Build a team to identify gaps in marketing or marketing in the gaps.

· Find team members that are good story tellers. Your team needs members that acquire the skill to communicate new business ideas.

· Set goals and measure progress.

· Think like a newbie entrepreneur in the sense that they have a heightened level of motivation and focus.

· Ensure members to dive in with both feet in the water. Let them know you want their all and not to be fearful to provide just that.

· Beneath the surface of media companies' innovative media strategies lies a treasure trough of data. You may wish to partner with a media company in order to send the right messages that reach the right audience at the right time.

· Social media press is becoming a game maker in innovative media strategies. Also, reaching to the mobile audience.

These useful tips, in combination with further research, will give you a heads up on innovation management. This can be a difficult task, but with the correct education and research can prove to be highly rewarding.

If you are interested in innovation management, check this web-site to learn more about innovation management.

Big Data: An Explosion in Our Digital Universe With Business Opportunities

By Julio A. Olivares

As websites, banking transactions, online flight reservations, image applications, social networks, mobile devices, apps, etc. are flooding all areas of information and communications, a new concept is born: Big Data. This term refers to data sets that are so disproportionately large that it is impossible to treat them with conventional database tools and analytical applications.

The current explosion in our digital universe is transforming, as the size of Big Data (BD) is constantly changing and growing rapidly. For example, in 2012, it scaled from a dozen terabytes to multiple petabytes of data in a single data set. This increase has generated a large number of contents, requiring new systems and tools for their optimization and protection.

This huge mass of data has become a highly valued currency for businesses, and its economic value is constantly growing. The same is true for the rise in information. However, we must not forget that the effectiveness of BD is directly proportional to the analysis made of the information.

Big Data technology is generally applied in all sectors of society, but especially in critical areas that benefit from this technology in a number of aspects, such as: loyalty and customer retention, because they can create behavior patterns; promotion of new products and services, since they can anticipate the needs of their clients; forecasts and projections, because commercial transactions have also been digitized; and optimizing production and distribution methods, which is where logistics systems come into play.

An emerging market

The figures speak for themselves. A study conducted by Gartner indicates that the so-called Big Data has emerged as one of the ten strategic technologies for the years between 2012-2015, and this tendency is taking place globally. In Spain, for example, MuyComputerPRO magazine published a study performed by IDC Spain stating that the BD market in 2012 is in a phase of emergence. Specifically, the report indicates that currently 4.8% of all the companies that make up the Spanish business sector have incorporated Big Data technology into their business systems, and this number is expected to reach 7.6% by the end of 2012. In fact, the explosion of the digital universe, which according to IDC Spain will reach 2.7 zettabytes by the end of this year, is pushing the needs of organizations to manage, capture and analyze their information.

Despite the crisis, it seems that companies are focusing on technologies that generate greater organizational efficiency and provide new business opportunities based on data. This means that capturing, managing, storing, retrieving, distributing and analyzing information have become major corporate challenges.

Business opportunities

Document technology companies have been able to detect these new needs and have designed appropriate solutions that allow businesses to easily manage large volumes of data at the correct time and place, enabling these organizations to be much more competitive.

Once again, innovative companies are the first to act, with a firm commitment to Big Data systems. However, the speed at which this technology will be adopted will depend on the business volume and the sector of the company. The sectors with the most promising technological future that have already adopted BD systems are the distribution or logistics sector in the first place, and financial businesses in the second place.

As expected, technological transformations lead to changes in the corporate architecture and in the mentality of Management and workers. This is logical, as Big-Data productivity will be the result of allowing all employees to work with different types of data.

Standardizing safety measures

Big Data is taking off on an international scale. For this reason, the non-profit Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) announced the creation of a research group that aims to standardize protocols and security systems for technologies that manage the interrelated Big Data systems and Cloud Computing.

The goal of the CSA is to make BD and Cloud environments safer. Therefore they also created the Big Data Working Group, with the purpose to develop solutions to security and privacy problems that may arise when using large volumes of data or working in the Cloud environment.

There is no doubt that Big-Data technology promises a new way of working that will redefine client-company relationships. Organizations will be able to adopt and manage concepts that could not be adopted and treated so quickly before, such as the perception of a brand conveyed and shared by social networks. Ultimately, Big Data will give a new strategic perspective that will enhance its competitive edge to any organization with a vision for the future.

Julio A. Olivares
President and founder of DocPath
Web: docpath.com

Four Rules of Brainstorming

By Dave Bochichio

Brainstorming is the art of bringing a group together to solve a problem. In a brainstorming session, ideas are brought to the table by each group member and added to by other group members. If done correctly, a decision is made after the session based on a combination of the highest quality ideas merged into a solution.

There are four rules to brainstorming that assists in facilitating the session.

• No Criticism: There should not be any evaluation of material during the session. Saying, "Yes, and... " to add value is a common technique to brainstorming, and does not criticize existing ideas. All materials brought to the table should be considered to have value during the brainstorming phase. By not criticizing others' thoughts, all members will feel more comfortable brainstorming with the group.


• "Freewheeling" Welcome: The concept of "freewheeling" is that all participants should be encouraged to say whatever idea comes to mind, even if it seems odd. Sometimes, the best of solutions come from freewheeling. Encourage everyone to have a free discussion.


• Quantity Desired: The more ideas, the better. While not every idea will provide as much value as others, when there are more options on the table, the chances that the best options are present increase. In a brainstorming session, it is not surprising if less than a quarter of the ideas are "quality ideas". Aim for quantity at this phase.


• Combining/Improving Ideas Encouraged: Since all of the proposed solutions belong to the same group, try merging as many of the relevant one together to obtain the best solution. This also enables the feeling of contribution to all members of the brainstorm. By merging ideas, everyone on the team is a part of the solution.

There are many ways to conduct a brainstorm. Following these four rules will bring a more successful session. These rules can be applied to different types of brainstorming sessions. In a "Yes, and," session, participants take turns adding ideas to the previous participant's idea by saying "Yes, and... " and then adding an idea.

There is no criticism and the idea is passed around the group until no one can think of anything else to add.

These rules can be applied in individual brainstorming sessions, as well. Individuals can write down every idea that comes to mind about the issue that is trying to be solved and then bring it to a group meeting where the ideas are shared.

Dave Bochichio is a coach/consultant and works with IT organizations to build stronger and higher performing teams. Dave also works with individuals looking to better their careers.

Why We Need a Rail Road Think Tank for Future Innovations

By Lance Winslow

In the United States we have far too many industrial dinosaur industries. I have nothing against the strength of our industrial capacity, but there's no reason to use 19th-century technologies when we now live in the 21st century. Let's talk about the railroad industry in this country. Yes, we can move freight inexpensively on tracks, and we can move a lot of it. It makes sense to do this as it is a good distribution method, especially during periods of drought, and the reality that we don't have large canals moving from market to market over mountains and through the passes.

Still, we can do better than this. The current railroad technology isn't exactly adequate, the track is too narrow, and the railcars are too wide, and they go up too high. They fall over too much to be quite blunt, that is to say they often derail. The railroad also makes too much noise, and the reason that it gets away with all this is because it has been grandfathered into our current rules and regulations. Why you ask, well because the railroad lobby is quite strong, and it is a key element in our economy. It is also controlled by the unions.

Interestingly enough, this is perhaps why Warren Buffett has invested in the railroad. This fits in his scenario of a good investment because it has "motes" around the business model protecting the castle or the company. That is to say there are barriers to entry, and no one can buy up all the land and put down a railroad track to compete. In many cases it's a monopoly or at least duopoly in some places at worst. This is not to say that there isn't at least some innovation in the railroad industry, it's just that there isn't enough. Still, maybe some of that is changing.

In the Austin Business Journal was an interesting article posted on December 12, 2012 titled; "Union Pacific opens tech development center in Austin," by Christopher Calnan which stated;

"Another major company has opened a tech development center in Austin TX. This time it is Union Pacific Corp. the nation's largest railroad operator. The company will open a software development center in Northwest Austin that could employ up to 40 workers."

Yes, software and computer systems can make the railroad more efficient, safer, and eventually all the trains will be autonomous without drivers or in this case conductors. This saves labor costs, and makes the railroad more efficient, but what about everything else? What about all the new materials, why are we still making the tracks and wheels out of steel? Steel rusts, and steel on steel makes too much noise. I think we can do better than this. This is why I believe we need a railroad think tank for future innovations.

Not just for software and the computer systems, but all components. General Electric is making better locomotives, and there are new designs on the horizon, we need not stop there, and so, I hope you will please consider all this and think on it.

Lance Winslow has launched a new provocative series of eBooks on Innovation in America. Lance Winslow is a retired Founder of a Nationwide Franchise Chain, and now runs the Online Think Tank; http://www.worldthinktank.net

Big Data: An Explosion in Our Digital Universe With Business Opportunities

By Julio A. Olivares

As websites, banking transactions, online flight reservations, image applications, social networks, mobile devices, apps, etc. are flooding all areas of information and communications, a new concept is born: Big Data. This term refers to data sets that are so disproportionately large that it is impossible to treat them with conventional database tools and analytical applications.

The current explosion in our digital universe is transforming, as the size of Big Data (BD) is constantly changing and growing rapidly. For example, in 2012, it scaled from a dozen terabytes to multiple petabytes of data in a single data set. This increase has generated a large number of contents, requiring new systems and tools for their optimization and protection.

This huge mass of data has become a highly valued currency for businesses, and its economic value is constantly growing. The same is true for the rise in information. However, we must not forget that the effectiveness of BD is directly proportional to the analysis made of the information.

Big Data technology is generally applied in all sectors of society, but especially in critical areas that benefit from this technology in a number of aspects, such as: loyalty and customer retention, because they can create behavior patterns; promotion of new products and services, since they can anticipate the needs of their clients; forecasts and projections, because commercial transactions have also been digitized; and optimizing production and distribution methods, which is where logistics systems come into play.

An emerging market

The figures speak for themselves. A study conducted by Gartner indicates that the so-called Big Data has emerged as one of the ten strategic technologies for the years between 2012-2015, and this tendency is taking place globally. In Spain, for example, MuyComputerPRO magazine published a study performed by IDC Spain stating that the BD market in 2012 is in a phase of emergence. Specifically, the report indicates that currently 4.8% of all the companies that make up the Spanish business sector have incorporated Big Data technology into their business systems, and this number is expected to reach 7.6% by the end of 2012. In fact, the explosion of the digital universe, which according to IDC Spain will reach 2.7 zettabytes by the end of this year, is pushing the needs of organizations to manage, capture and analyze their information.

Despite the crisis, it seems that companies are focusing on technologies that generate greater organizational efficiency and provide new business opportunities based on data. This means that capturing, managing, storing, retrieving, distributing and analyzing information have become major corporate challenges.

Business opportunities

Document technology companies have been able to detect these new needs and have designed appropriate solutions that allow businesses to easily manage large volumes of data at the correct time and place, enabling these organizations to be much more competitive.

Once again, innovative companies are the first to act, with a firm commitment to Big Data systems. However, the speed at which this technology will be adopted will depend on the business volume and the sector of the company. The sectors with the most promising technological future that have already adopted BD systems are the distribution or logistics sector in the first place, and financial businesses in the second place.

As expected, technological transformations lead to changes in the corporate architecture and in the mentality of Management and workers. This is logical, as Big-Data productivity will be the result of allowing all employees to work with different types of data.

Standardizing safety measures

Big Data is taking off on an international scale. For this reason, the non-profit Cloud Security Alliance (CSA) announced the creation of a research group that aims to standardize protocols and security systems for technologies that manage the interrelated Big Data systems and Cloud Computing.

The goal of the CSA is to make BD and Cloud environments safer. Therefore they also created the Big Data Working Group, with the purpose to develop solutions to security and privacy problems that may arise when using large volumes of data or working in the Cloud environment.

There is no doubt that Big-Data technology promises a new way of working that will redefine client-company relationships. Organizations will be able to adopt and manage concepts that could not be adopted and treated so quickly before, such as the perception of a brand conveyed and shared by social networks. Ultimately, Big Data will give a new strategic perspective that will enhance its competitive edge to any organization with a vision for the future.

Julio A. Olivares
President and founder of DocPath
Web: docpath.com
Business Document Management Software

Four Rules of Brainstorming

By Dave Bochichio

Brainstorming is the art of bringing a group together to solve a problem. In a brainstorming session, ideas are brought to the table by each group member and added to by other group members. If done correctly, a decision is made after the session based on a combination of the highest quality ideas merged into a solution.

There are four rules to brainstorming that assists in facilitating the session.

• No Criticism: There should not be any evaluation of material during the session. Saying, "Yes, and... " to add value is a common technique to brainstorming, and does not criticize existing ideas. All materials brought to the table should be considered to have value during the brainstorming phase. By not criticizing others' thoughts, all members will feel more comfortable brainstorming with the group.


• "Freewheeling" Welcome: The concept of "freewheeling" is that all participants should be encouraged to say whatever idea comes to mind, even if it seems odd. Sometimes, the best of solutions come from freewheeling. Encourage everyone to have a free discussion.


• Quantity Desired: The more ideas, the better. While not every idea will provide as much value as others, when there are more options on the table, the chances that the best options are present increase. In a brainstorming session, it is not surprising if less than a quarter of the ideas are "quality ideas". Aim for quantity at this phase.


• Combining/Improving Ideas Encouraged: Since all of the proposed solutions belong to the same group, try merging as many of the relevant one together to obtain the best solution. This also enables the feeling of contribution to all members of the brainstorm. By merging ideas, everyone on the team is a part of the solution.

There are many ways to conduct a brainstorm. Following these four rules will bring a more successful session. These rules can be applied to different types of brainstorming sessions. In a "Yes, and," session, participants take turns adding ideas to the previous participant's idea by saying "Yes, and... " and then adding an idea.

There is no criticism and the idea is passed around the group until no one can think of anything else to add.

These rules can be applied in individual brainstorming sessions, as well. Individuals can write down every idea that comes to mind about the issue that is trying to be solved and then bring it to a group meeting where the ideas are shared.

Dave Bochichio is a coach/consultant and works with IT organizations to build stronger and higher performing teams. Dave also works with individuals looking to better their careers.