Entry ticket week 39 - Ave Nurmeots (0)

Entry Ticket Week 39 – Ave Nurmeots (62-130)

• To be able to compete within the today ’s marketplace (continued success and differentiation).
  
• It is not enough anymore just to come up with an innovative product or its features . To achieve a bigger and more sustainable competitive advantage different types of innovations should be combined together.
  

• I really liked the example of Microsoft reinventing integrated office tools. When I think about it in today’s context , it seems very logical – a lot of companies do that. But that must have been an amazing innovation for that time. They used:
  
  • Profit model – instead of paying for the different applications separately, they combined them into one package that the consumers can purchase for a cheaper price (compared to the total price of purchasing the applications separately).
    
  • Process – constant data collections from users of the sofware -> continues improvement of the software.
    
  • Product system – it was introduced as a suite of desktop applications both for Windows and Macintosh.
    
  • Channel – making use of the rise of the Internet , they made the MS Office web-compatible.
    

• Our MA1 project operates within the Education industry.
  
• Our competitors use various e-learning sources (e.g. Library, different school already have their own systems). But we don’t know of any similar platform in Denmark .
  

• For a long time many companies and organizations have been doing things the same way ( work schedules, company structures, taking care of the finances , etc.). But in today’s dynamic and rapidly changing world that doesn’t make sense anymore. The companies and organizations should think outside of the box and try to come up with innovative solutions to change the way they do things, even the smallest changes can make a big difference .
  

• Network : the main function of the platform is dependent on the interaction of the customers (customers are the creators and users of the content on the platform)
  
• Product system: future opportunities (e.g. access to audio books , finding tutors)
  
• Service : people should trust the information on our platform, therefore we need to make sure how to make it trustworthy
  
• Customer engagement: since the platform is based on interaction between two different types of customers (the ones looking for information, and the ones uploading information), we need to make sure that the customer journey on the platform is user friendly for both sides and also that it will be trustworthy.
  
• Profit model: because the ideal platform we imagine is something that students would like to use, but most of them don’t want to pay for it. So our second idea was to give the access to the platform for free, and use another way for earning profit (e.g. advertisements , collaboration with schools )
  

• Step 1: Understand all the 10 types of innovation
  
• Step 2: De-emphasize reliance on products and technology ( these are two innovations that the competitors can easily copy, compared to an innovative way of structure in the company, which is not usually so visible for competitors)
  
• Step 3: Think about categories as well as types (don’t focus only on the separate 10 innovation categories, but try to also think of them as combined elements : configuration, offering, experience .)
  
• Step 4: Use the types that matter the most (try to find the types of innovations in a specific industry that is usually overlooked -> bigger competitive advantage)
  
• Step 5: Understand what your users really need (know your customers thoroughly, do research, try to figure out which types of innovations could surprise and attract them more)
  
• Step 6: Use enough of the types to make a splash (Using 5 or more types together will nearly always guarantee great success)