Service Innovation or Innovation Service?

Service Innovation or Innovation Service- What do you want to choose from. Well, of you are thinking that these two are same and there isn't any difference between the two, give it a second thought. Many of us would be aware that innovation is the most important thing in today’s world. Not just business, innovation is much beyond it now. Few years back, innovation was considered as a major competency of the company but now it doesn't remain a competency. It has to be transformed into a core competency to stay in business. Trust me; it is not as easy as it sounds. Creating a core competency can take companies years and even decades at times. So, what should we do? We can’t lose out to our competitors just because we are not able to put in many efforts for innovation in the company.

Now, go back to the first line and read it again. ‘Innovation Service’, does this click something in your mind. Well, let me put some light on it. We all agree that adopting and sustaining innovation is a tough process with many obstacles like lack of resources, manpower, motivation etc. Big companies have been somehow little successful in adopting innovation in their service delivery systems. Service innovation refers to any new practice which an organization adopts which creates a better impact on overall service chain of the company for its stakeholders and not just consumers. However, this alone doesn’t make them win the battle to stay in market. Interacting with various managers and other senior officials make me realize they can never allocate resources towards innovation properly and other things take priority. Saying this, they also want to ensure that innovation doesn’t take a back seat in any case in their company.

Innovation service is the concept, which is actually not very new as it started off many years back but was not recognized until lately. There are few companies in the world which are working constantly and with full dedication towards creating innovation. Now, they don’t do this for themselves. They all do this for their clients. One of them is Imagintik, which is one of the biggest companies providing innovative solutions to the companies. Imagintik was started by two Doctorates and later developed it as a business house just to provide new and innovative ideas to their clients. It has big clientele now ranging from GE, HP, IBM to Kraft, Whirlpool and UCB. It caters to almost all kinds of industries in the world.

To conclude, I am more positive about innovation service in today’s scenario. If you are aware of tale of Winklevoss Brothers, who filed a lawsuit on Mark Zuckerberg, initially went to their President at Harvard, to seek some justice, believing Mark had used their idea. However, president just ignored this quoting that it wasn't a big deal and such ideas are not powerful. The President was wrong. That idea has become a daily addiction for me and almost all of us. We call it Facebook. If you have an idea, make sure you don’t just give it for free. But be sure that it is a idea worth something. Companies need innovation, it’s just that you need to realize and make sure you sell something which is really innovative and adoptable for the company. This doesn't need you be very intellectual and have excellent grades. Fresh ideas come in fresh brains and I believe people of my age have the best fresh brains around. Don’t save your ideas for future or lock them in some treasury. Use them and do that smartly. Keep going and innovating!