Improving Innovation Performance Systematically

COLOGNE and ESCHBORN, Germany, February 5, 2013 /PRNewswire/ --

"What gets measured gets managed." These words of the management theory pioneer Peter Drucker also apply to corporate innovation. To control and improve your processes you must first measure them and define objectives. Classic indicator systems, however, are not always suitable to also evaluate innovation in a meaningful manner. Financial returns are only available after a time lag, while the results of innovation are in any case very difficult to view in isolation separately from fundamental business activities. It is, nonetheless, possible to make innovation performance permanently visible and to deploy continuous improvements by means of target agreements and control measures. ICT management consultants Detecon International present a modified model of innovation performance assessment along with an extensive set of parameters in an opinion paper entitled Innovation Performance Management.

"Most innovation management models can only be applied to a limited extent," says Dr. Eric Dulkeith, Director of Strategy & Innovation at Detecon International and one of the paper's authors. "They either do not cover all relevant aspects or focus too much on hardwired financial results." To improve innovation capability in general, Detecon International recommends working with an adapted model based on the Management Measurement Areas Framework. The model defines six measurement areas that cover the entire innovation process; from the development of new ideas to their performance and results. Its main focus is on core activities and success factors rather than on hard findings.

For each of these areas Detecon has developed a series of useful measurement methods that are based on hitherto unconsidered findings of applied innovation research. ICT innovation experts at IBM, Microsoft, SAP and other Silicon Valley companies have confirmed the effectiveness of these measures in interviews with the opinion paper's authors. "Many companies," says Steven Schepurek, another author of the publication, "still use methods that either lack an appropriate theoretical basis or have even already been empirically disproved." To base research and development expenditure on the dictum that "a lot helps a lot" is not a suitable indicator for assessing successful innovation management because R&D spending & intensity has shown to have no significant influence on an innovation project's future prospects.

Companies can use the model and the performance measurement methods that are presented to develop an innovation performance measurement initiative of their own. In principle, the processes to be recommended for checking the status of innovation performance and identifying strengths and weaknesses are those that are used as an orientation in planning and controlling further measures. "If companies adapt these processes to their strategy and the requirements of their industry," Dr. Dulkeith says, "they can be sure to promote and strengthen their innovation performance."

The Innovation Performance Measurement opinion paper is available in English to download free of charge at http://www.detecon.com/innoperformance.

Detecon International GmbH

Detecon is one of the world's leading consulting companies for ICT management consulting. Our services focus on consulting and implementation solutions which are derived from the use of information and communications technology (ICT). They encompass classic strategy and organization consulting as well as the planning and implementation of complex, technological ICT architectures and applications. Detecon's expertise bundles the knowledge from the successful conclusion of management and ICT consulting projects in more than 160 countries. Detecon is a subsidiary of T-Systems International, the business customer brand of Deutsche Telekom.

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SOURCE Detecon International GmbH