Why Innovation is Crucial for Your Company’s Success

When we think about innovation, quite often it’s new inventions and products that first spring to mind. Whilst these are important elements of a company’s ability to innovate, it’s so much more than that. As German mathematician Georg Cantor once said: “Great innovation only happens when people aren’t afraid to do things differently.”

Many organisations make the mistake of not spending enough time and energy making themselves more innovative, which can be detrimental to long-term business success. Which begs the question, why is innovation so critical for a company’s success?

Innovation promotes company growth

Regardless of what sector your company services, developing a strong innovative culture will ensure your growth going forward. Companies that have tried and tested methods or processes tend to be more knowledgeable and know exactly how to best deliver for their customers. Although the creative or trial and error process is never easy, adopting this culture within your company ensures that you are always offering your customers the very best products and processes. This will in turn work wonders for your company’s success.

You’ll stay ahead of the curve

Why wait for the next best product or service when you can create it yourself? Innovation requires some outside the box thinking, and with that often comes the best ideas. To stay ahead of the curve, and ultimately your competition, you should always be asking yourself, is there a better way we can create this product or is there a better way we can offer this service? The modern world is changing at a rapid rate and being able to create innovative products and services show continuous improvement which will also keep you at the forefront of your market and ahead of the competition.

 

Increased productivity

By promoting innovation within your organisation, this will have a positive knock-on effect on the company’s overall productivity levels. Innovation will decrease the amount of time your workforce will spend on repetitive tasks and encourage them to focus more on high value projects. The more time your workforce has to spend on creating new products, improving services, developing processes and problem solving, the more likely you are to deliver solutions that directly impact your customers. Better productivity can also lead to reduced costs and an increased turnover, which are both major pluses in terms of business success.

 

Improved company culture

Establishing an environment of personal development and continuous learning means that your workforce will be comfortable sharing their ideas and most importantly, will not be afraid to make mistakes, which is vital when it comes to finding out what works and what does not. Employees will also feel more valued if they’re being asked for their ideas and if their skills are being utilised. A positive company culture encourages employees to participate and uses each person’s individual strengths to help move the company forward. It truly is a team effort but that’s what makes the innovation journey so worthwhile.

 

If you need assistance with improving your company’s innovation, CforC in partnership with EFQM, have a number of programmes available. Call: 028 9073 7950, our Dublin number: 353 1 969 5919 or email: compete@cforc.org.