SEPTEMBER 2019CIOAPPLICATIONS.COM 19480 AD, DalmatiaThe sky was shimmering with tinges of orange flickering in irregular patches. The Dinaric Alps stretching in miles across the Adriatic Sea was looming large like a sentinel through eons. It was not far away, where Julius Nepos, the Roman Emperor of the west was strolling at a rapid pace on the parapet of the fortification. The scouts have just informed that, Odoacer, the head of the Germanic Foederati with his army is only few miles away. Nepos slowly glanced back at his palace constructed by his ancestors centuries ago `I would be back, I will reclaim you very soon.' However, little did he imagine that his would be the last hands to clasp the scepter of the Roman Empire passed from Caesar to Octavian and through the glorious ages of PaxRomana or the Roman peace.He never knew, later in the history, this would go down as the end of the Roman Empire of the West and he as the last Roman Emperor!Rise and Fall of EmpiresFrom the Roman Empire to the likes of Pan Am World Airways, there are umpteen examples of fall of the high and mighty all throughout the human history, from the biggest of the empires to the mightiest of the corporations. Much has been written on the reasons, many hypotheses will still be formed; however, delving deeper leads to the only one reason--their rate of innovation was not synchronous with what was exacted by the changing environment. In simpler words­they fell because they failed to innovate. Innovation is so near yet so farThe subject of Innovation is protean, and so are its various notions. Innovation, as viewed by Porter is, `A new way of doing things (termed innovation by some authors) that is commercialized.' The OECD Oslo Manual has defined innovation as, `the implementation of a new or significantly improved product (good or service) or process, a new marketing method, or a new organizational method in business practices, workplace organisation, or external relations.' My book Monetizing Innovation perpends innovation from the perspective of business results and has defined it by the following simple equation referred to as the Innovation Equation:Innovation = Creation + Commercialization + Business ResultHowever, what is perplexing here is, if innovation is so simple to create and invoke results, why do high and mighty like Roman Empire and Pan Am World Airways fall from grace? This reminds me exactly one of Aesop's famous fable:A Fox DilemmaDuring one of his sojourns to the neighborhood jungle, this worldly cat happened to meet a contemptuous fox, who was known for his artful exploits in many skills. However, when a pack of dogs from the village surged at him furiously, the fox was at his wit's end which skill to apply till the dogs actually bucked on him.Unless equipped with a structured approach, the woe of driving innovation in a firm more often than not starts right here. The Fox Dilemma of being confused with too many options or the wrong option surfaces every time one contrives an initiative on innovation. This has become more and more defining in the context Monetising InnovationGAUTAM BORAH, VP CUSTOMER OPERATION, VODAFONE, AUTHOR OF THE BOOK MONETISING INNOVATIONcXo insights
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