Innovators, don’t create!

I argue that Innovators aren't researchers, so stop the creativity stuff

An Update on Spigit EMEA

How things have been going since I left the Civil Service in January

10 Tips for Intrapreneurs

If you're doing innovation inside a corporate, some things a clever person told me

Innovation by the numbers

Why making the number is an important skill for an innovator

Beware the Company Killer

Why is that noone seems to spot a competitive threat till far too late?

Hope you enjoy! 

I really enjoyed my time in Government, but the time has come for me to rejoin the private sector.

I’ve decided to leave DWP in order to join Spigit, which in my view is one of the most exciting innovation management companies around today. The company has grown at an extraordinary rate over the last 3 years, and I’ve had  a relationship with them for a lot of that time.

Now, they’re large enough that a dedicated international presence is needed. I’m going to be helping them to build it. Here’s a press release from them on what’s happening.

This also marks another important transition for me. When I left Lloyds, I continued this blog under the moniker BankerVision, because I anticipated that I’d continue to talk extensively about innovation management in financial services as well as Government.

But, frankly, I think my posts have gotten more and more random over the last year. I’m off topic as much as on, so I’ve decided to refocus myself.

Consequently, this will be the last post on Bankervision. I no longer deal exclusively with banks anyway, so it is time for a change*.

In future, I’ll be blogging over at my new site, Innovator Inside. I’ll be much more focused on my first passion, which is innovation management in large organisations. I’ll probably still talk a lot about banking – since that’s where most of my experience is – but as I’ll be working across sectors in my new role, I’ll have plenty to talk about from other industries as well.

I hope many of you have faithfully read me here for the last four or so years will transition with me to Innovator Inside. But whether you do or don’t, I want to thank all of you for your support, encouragement and feedback while I was Bankervision and at the DWP.

* I’ll stay @bankervision on Twitter though.

As an HSBC customer, I was jealous that other banks were offering something I couldn’t use.

Well, last week, HSBC released their iPhone app to customers of its direct banking unit First Direct. It is an excellent first step.

The App itself has been getting pretty good reviews on the App Store. Oh, there are a few people who don’t see the point and say so (“The website does more, why bother?”), but generally, everyone seems really pleased. When I checked a minute ago, it had a 4.5 star rating.

I think HSBC have done something that should make them pleased, though. By creating their own application, instead of going the generic route with the same vendor as everyone else has done, HSBC have created a space for themselves to iterate and innovate.

If they’re serious about mobile, that’s going to be a pretty big advantage they have over everyone else.

First Direct say in their press release that:

“…plans for the next generation of mobile banking applications already afoot. In a post on "talking point", first direct's customer forum, the bank… plans to collect online feedback in order to understand which new features are most in demand”

Now, it may not quite be customer co-creation, but this is rather more than anyone else is doing, frankly. And, by owning their mobile technology, First Direct are in a position to actually do something when customers make a suggestion.

The interesting thing to watch unfold in the coming months will be whether the bank pushes its platform advantage in mobile. It will be quite obvious and transparent if they’re doing so: the app will update regularly in the AppStore and we’ll all see every time it does.

Good on them.

There’s another morsel in the press release too:

"We chose to go with the iPhone first because that's where our customers are. Over the last 12 months, the iPhone has grown to become the 6th largest source of visitors to our website and whilst Android is growing rapidly, it's nowhere near the iPhone just yet."

Why is that interesting?

The most recent data I can find on iPhone demographics suggests that owners are richer and older than those on other handsets. It is pretty well accepted there are more Androids selling than iPhones now. And in terms of overall handsets in use, my understanding is they’re neck and neck.

Conclusion?  First Direct must be doing more stuff right than just releasing a halfway decent mobile app if it is seeing its online demographic skewing in this interesting way.

Anyway I instantly tried the new First Direct app with my HSBC accounts, hoping it would work. It didn't.  I'm guessing  it will soon though: there were 303 reviews on App Store this morning: a sign that people want the thing and are passionate about it. I can't imagine the bank will ignore this early success for the rest of its customers.

I understand you’ve been given responsibility for innovation. I’ve heard on the grapevine that you’re excited about it, and planning great things. I think it will be thrilling to see what you create.

But I hope you’ll take a few words of advice from someone who has been in the position you’re now in.

Firstly, you’re going to have a hard time convincing anyone that your new responsibilities are important. Oh, everyone will say they think innovation is important, but when the rubber hits the road, they’ll be watching to see if you screw up the line-of-business things you’re responsible for now, not waiting to celebrate your innovation success.

So my first word of advice is to believe in your new responsibilities, even if most of the time you’re the only one who does. Success will come with time, if you let it. 

Secondly, everyone will have an opinion on what you’re doing and all those opinions will be as far apart as the Earth and the Moon. There are no right answers if you have to run an innovation effort, but there is a wrong answer. The wrong answer is trying to satisfy everyone who has an opinion on innovation. If you try to do that, you’ll never get anything done. You have to believe in what you believe is right.

This is my second piece of advice: you are senior, and you are responsible. You aren’t going to make anyone happy with innovation no matter what you do. Every time you try something  new there will be winners and losers. So take my advice, and start new stuff regardless. If you wait for consensus, you’ll never be able to start anything at all.

Finally, you may be senior and empowered to make decisions, but the fact is you won’t be the one implementing them. You don’t have time, and anyway implementation will probably require lots of specialized skills besides your own.

Though you’re in charge, there are lots of less senior people who can do things to stop innovation.  They will never deliberately disobey and obstruct, but they will certainly go-slow if they don’t like or don’t understand what you’re doing. Change in any form is very frightening to those who aren’t making the decisions.

So my final piece of advice is this. You need to build your innovation effort from the bottom up as well as from the top down. The little people at the front line are just as important as the ones in the center who make the decisions. It is the front line and their managers, after all, who will be affected by anything you do. If they love your innovation effort, they will make sure you succeed. If they don’t, you will certainly fail.

My best wishes for your future success.