Throughout 2014 a well worked internal innovation strategy has been an extremely important area that we have seen companies looking to master. There is a clear understanding that in order to deliver business growth you must have the steps in place to allow your employees spend time on innovation. Customers drive growth, customers demand innovation.

For start-ups, this is relatively easy. The cost of failure is small, whereas the benefit of success is great.

It’s the larger companies that find it more difficult. With so much red tape and sign off to go through before a new idea even gets considered most of them get strangled along the way and will ultimately end up forgotten or lost in the myriad of other things going. Senior management must buy in to the process and put in place the steps to allow their staff time to spend on innovation.

At IGNITE in November 2014, David Bulman, Director of Technology at Virgin Atlantic Airways (VAA) spoke to us about the need for businesses to rethink the way they identify new ideas and evaluate their potential effects. At VAA, David has implemented what he calls a ‘matrix of virtual teams’ – a system of cross-departmental, collaborative working groups for assessing new ventures. He explained: “We have put together a process to bring together people from across the organisation into a small, central chain. They consider all of the different ideas that have surfaced and decide which offer the biggest value to the customer, and are feasible considering risk, cost and capacity.” For David, it’s about becoming more methodical about innovation, getting a holistic view of business value and focusing everyone on the same aims.

This infographic by innovation strategist seed strategy demonstrates why companies are investing so heavily in innovation and what it takes to have a winning innovation strategy.

Where do you think innovation is heading? Email me at dom.murphy@nimbusninety.com.