Cost vs. ROI in achieving and sustaining a culture of innovation

Most leaders agree that creating a culture of innovation is a must for achieving a competitive edge in the marketplace. But when budgeting for innovation, hard questions arise. What moves should we make? How much should we spend?  What's the risk? What could be the return?

The answers will be different for different entities, depending on many variables. But if you are a senior executive with a vote at the table, hearing that "it depends" doesn't help much. You have the opportunity—and responsibility—to make decisions that will have a critical impact on the future of your business.

It feels smart to just play it safe with small moves that fit nice and tidy within your current offerings and systems. However, the reality is that these types of moves often cannibalize existing money makers and do very little for stimulating ROI and growth. Do you need some snazzy financial data to help you find your courage?  

Here’s how one financial analyst estimates—in dollars and cents—what may be the ROI on Apple's current investment in innovation. If just 3 percent of existing customers purchases one new product, their return will be something like $2.3 billion per year in sales.That's a powerful figure.  

You may be thinking, yeah that's Apple. They have millions of customers buying their cool products, but what does this mean for the average organization?  Aha! That's a good question.  Are you tired of being average yet? 

If the answer is yes, there is something you can do about it. Make investments in creating a structure for sustainable, organizational-wide innovation, and do it now, before it's too late.This is not an overly dramatic statement. It's a serious call to action.

We have a free document  "Most innovation efforts fail - unless you find a New and Improved way forward" that will help you to identify gaps, opportunities for improvement and even what you're doing right. Email njenkins@newandimproved.com and we will send it to you.