A revolution is now underway. Most innovation occurs first in software.1 And software is the primary element in all aspects of innovation from basic research through product introduction:
- Software provides the critical mechanism through which managers can lower the costs, compress the time cycles, and increase the value of innovations. It is also the heart of the learning and knowledge processes that give innovations their highest payoffs.
- In many cases, software is the core element in process innovations or in creating the functionalities that make products valuable to customers. In others, software is the “product” or “service” the customer actually receives.
- Software provides the central vehicle enabling the inventor-user interactions, rapid distribution of products, and market feedback that add most value to innovations. Consequently, customers — and the software itself — make many inventions that the company’s technologists, acting alone, could not conceive.
All this demands a basic shift in the way managers approach innovation, from strategic to detailed operational levels. Some portions of the innovation process may still require traditional physical manipulation, but leading companies have already shifted many steps to software. And those who do not will suffer. Managers can shorten innovation cycles through other means, but through properly developed software, they can change their entire innovation process, completely integrating, merging, or eliminating many formerly discrete innovation steps.2 In the... To read the complete article, login or sign-up using the form below.
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