5 steps of the innovation process for businesses

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Innovating means disrupting previous traditional models . Currently, many companies still have difficulty innovating, that is, making any change that puts the current business model at risk because they believe that success is tied to it.

However, with globalization and the worldwide reach that the internet – and especially social networks – offers, the success of a new product can reach billions of people in a few days, or it can also destroy it in a few hours.

The COVID-19 pandemic is a great example that showed the power of reinvention for the sake of business survival .

Have you ever stopped to think about what your business will be like in a few years? Will the current model really be sustainable in about 5 years?

If you want to review or create a new business model in a structured way, you need to check out 5 steps of the innovation process for businesses.

The book Business Model Generation, a reference kenya whatsapp lead in innovation, uses the canvas framework , a structure for innovating business models that has special content here on the blog , consisting of 5 steps:

Mobilization
Understanding
Design
Implementation
Management
So, check out everything about each step below!


1. Mobilization
This is the moment when it is necessary to raise awareness and motivate everyone involved in the team. Therefore, the presence of at least one member of senior management is essential to highlight the importance of collaboration across all areas.

It is the initial phase of structuring the project, a stage for creating, analyzing and discussing models, establishing a language with people from different areas, functions and levels of experience.


2. Understanding
This is the stage of research and analysis of the general scenario. There must be an immersion in general knowledge about the environment (external and internal), customers, technology, etc. Inputs must be collected through interviews with experts, customer studies and potential problems. It is essential to be able to see beyond the status quo , to “think outside the box”.

This phase can happen together with the next stage, Design.


Tip: this phase is the time to question yourself about existing models and defined standards, so it is very interesting to analyze competitors' models.

3. Design
The main challenge of this phase is: generating new sustainable models.

This is the stage designed to transform the information and ideas collected in phase 2, Understanding, into business model prototypes that can be explored and tested. It is a time to question and evaluate when the various business model options will be tested and to choose the most viable alternatives.

At this point, it is important to focus on the advantages and risks of each option, and also think long-term about issues such as: What are the biggest obstacles to these models?

. What is the profit projection? And the loss?

. What will be the behavior of existing customers?

. How can this new business model affect the brand?


4. Implementation
With the ideas more defined in the design stage, it is time to implement them, establishing the goals, those responsible for carrying out each task, the necessary budget, etc.

In the case of large companies that already have a defined model, it is necessary to pay close attention at this point, as the convergence of the existing model and the new one will occur here. Therefore, it is necessary to ask new questions:

. Will the new model be an independent entity?

. Will it be part of a parent company, i.e. the current model?

. Will the new model use resources from the current one?


5. Management
The final stage consists of monitoring, analyzing, adapting and changing the business model according to its performance in the market. This is the phase of evolving the business model in practice.