![\"evolution](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lornemitchell.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/AdobeStock_94946121.jpg?resize=525%2C350\")
<\/a><\/p>\nInnovation can come from suppliers – but you can’t really differentiate your company if that is all you rely on. \u00a0Such is the fate of many telecoms companies: they continue to develop new features on top of their already bloated stack of product features that were offered last year. \u00a0The latest gizmo. \u00a0The latest bell or whistle. \u00a0A price war starts and the cost cutting initiatives cut\u00a0even deeper. \u00a0No, suppliers, are not the best answer.<\/p>\n
What about the young folk<\/strong> who have just joined the organisation? \u00a0Straight out of University or School, they bring a fresh set of thinking. \u00a0They are the next generation! \u00a0Surely they hold the answer? \u00a0Give them a difficult problem and let them brainstorm their ideas to create something truly whacky. \u00a0Too risky, I say! \u00a0They will not understand the product and how it is used, yet. \u00a0They might come up with some good ideas., but \u00a0 Good ideas are not the same as innovation. \u00a0The newbees are not the best source of innovation either!<\/p>\nSo where should we go next? \u00a0To customers<\/strong>, of course! \u00a0Customers that use (and misuse) your existing products and services! \u00a0Customers who suffer day-to-day from trying to work the processes that you have under-designed and waste your customers time and effort. \u00a0They are loyal customers until they suddenly vanish. \u00a0And if no one contacts them to see where they have gone, then innovation dies on the vine!<\/p>\nCustomers are an incredibly cheap this source of innovation, too. \u00a0Not just cheap, but very valuable! \u00a0By asking a few simple questions of customers every time you interact with them, you can increase your profitability, customer loyalty AND innovation in one fell swoop!<\/p>\n
And what are those questions? \u00a0Well, you will have to read the next few Thursday Thoughts to find out my thoughts on this. \u00a0In the meantime, try and work out what you think they might be and comment below!<\/p>\n
Oh, and thank you so much for reading this far. \u00a0I hope, at least, it has made you think a bit more about one of the most important aspects of business and human life!<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The news this week that the upwards-ever-upwards iPhone sales are finally stalling was a stark reminder that even the greatest companies struggle to keep the juices of innovation flowing year-on-year. \u00a0The Apple Watch couldn’t replace the iPhone and the iCar (if it ever arrives) is still a few years out. Most companies that I study … <\/p>\n
Continue reading “The Best Source of Innovation”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[42,63,5,32,68,101,107,84,81,65,49,60],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6DQGK-rY","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1748,"url":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/?p=1748","url_meta":{"origin":1734,"position":0},"title":"The Stage Gate Process Kills True Innovation","author":"Lorne Mitchell","date":"04\/02\/2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Last week\u2019s Thursday Thoughts raised many comments from readers: which has certainly made me think a lot more about innovation in the past week! \u00a0Many thanks for those of you that engaged in the conversation! \u00a0 My hypothesis that customers were the best source of innovation was challenged by quite\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Cycles"","block_context":{"text":"Cycles","link":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/?cat=80"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lornemitchell.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Design-Process-Crossed-Out.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":529,"url":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/?p=529","url_meta":{"origin":1734,"position":1},"title":"Innovation at the Edge of Elecricity","author":"Lorne Mitchell","date":"30\/05\/2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Although this is almost exactly a year old and quite US-centric, the video below \"Innovation at the Edge of Electricity\" was made. It has some great stories that may well make the minds of anyone living in the US or Europe boggle at how true innovation is happening in the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Big Ideas"","block_context":{"text":"Big Ideas","link":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/?cat=42"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1429,"url":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/?p=1429","url_meta":{"origin":1734,"position":2},"title":"The Seven Questions of Innovation","author":"Lorne Mitchell","date":"01\/07\/2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Sometimes you get stuck. \u00a0You can't think of a way out. Well, it's not the first time! \u00a0Mankind has a long history of innovation. This video explains it beautifully - and gives us seven questions to ask when you get stuck: Go on! Try it! \u00a0Ask the seven questions: 1.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Animated"","block_context":{"text":"Animated","link":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/?cat=70"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1782,"url":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/?p=1782","url_meta":{"origin":1734,"position":3},"title":"Form, Function and other “F” words","author":"Lorne Mitchell","date":"16\/10\/2017","format":false,"excerpt":"When I started this blog in 2010, the first article was called \"Form follows Function - or does it?\". I've been fascinated by the idea of form following function ever since - and have been trying to work out what might follow function itself. 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Even if you have seen it, watch it again: it will\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Animated"","block_context":{"text":"Animated","link":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/?cat=70"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1734"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1734"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1734\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1746,"href":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1734\/revisions\/1746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1734"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1734"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.lornemitchell.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1734"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}