Innovation? Here’s how to make sure it’s not a buzzword
Every company is an IT company, a phrase we hear more and more often. After all, Uber is not a transportation company, but one that uses smart technology to bring travelers and passenger transportation providers together. Airbnb is not a vacation rental park, but an online marketplace for accommodation. Thuisbezorgd.nl is not a restaurant, but an app that brings supply and demand together. But innovation need not immediately be about high-flying inventions. Innovation is also working just a little smarter, better and faster tomorrow.
Introduction of something new
When we talk about innovation, we often think of very complex, innovative inventions, which a Willie Carrot-like type spends nights wracking his brains over. In our view, innovation is simply the renewal of an idea, product, service, technology or organization. That’s also how Van Dale defines innovation: “introduction of something new, such as a new technology. No more and certainly no less. The most important reason for wanting to innovate is embedded in a company’s vision. There is a profound reason why you want to do things differently – more innovatively – than you do today. This may be to provide better service, make more margin, achieve growth or stay ahead of the competition.
Transformation from manufacturing organization to service-oriented organization
In the manufacturing industry, for example, we see a trend emerging called servitization. Platform Smart Industry describes servitization as the movement to stop focusing on the product and instead focus on your customer’s needs. You guarantee him or her a certain output, with all the services that go with it. A good example is the transformation of Philips Lighting (now Signify). They used to produce lamps and lighting fixtures, today they ensure that for the FC Bayern Munich soccer stadium that the complete lighting installation is produced, installed and all lamps are replaced in a timely manner.
High expectations
Several studies, including those by PA Consulting Group, the international consulting, technology and innovation company, show that companies that have already integrated this model are seeing their margins on services increase by up to 35 percent. As many as three-quarters of industrial manufacturing companies expect servitization to dominate their business in the future, yet only one-third actually have a servitization strategy in place.
Taking improvement steps quickly thanks to low-code
Today we see that in many organizations over eighty percent of the IT budget is spent on management. At the same time, we see that twenty to thirty percent of sales are lost due to inefficient and complex systems and processes. If you want to continue to make a difference as an organization, you have to make sure you have the tools to do so. By embracing low-code technology, you get a solution that gives you speed and flexibility to continuously improve, easily integrate systems and processes, and have the latest trends in data & analytics and artificial intelligence. Thus, you too can start taking improvement steps in a short time.
Low-code in practice:
For one of our clients, active in technical wholesale, we investigated how they could provide their customers with an even better service. We have developed an application where installers can access instructions on how best to install products. This is a progressive step in their market that competitors have not yet taken. Because they have chosen to make the Mendix platform central to their IT landscape, it is quite easy to access and display the necessary information to the user.
Wondering how you too can innovate?
Contact us and challenge us! We like to think with you to achieve operational efficiency in short steps or to realize your vision with intelligent IT tools.