How to Innovate in IT Architecture
Luc Bories
- 3 minutes read - 520 wordsI have just reviewed the Boston Consulting Group report, “Most Innovative Companies 2021 – Overcoming the Innovation Readiness Gap – April 2021.” Let’s explore how to innovate in IT architecture.
This report summarizes interviews with 1,500 innovation leaders worldwide.
The key takeaway is that innovation has become one of the top three priorities for their organizations.
Before examining how innovation applies to IT architecture, let’s walk through this report.
One striking aspect of the top 50 most innovative companies list is the dominance of technology firms.
Analysis of Innovative Companies
Within the top ten most innovative companies, you’ll find hardware and software players, an e-commerce giant with a technology arm (Amazon and AWS), an electric vehicle manufacturer (Tesla), and a pharmaceutical lab (Pfizer).
Another angle is the national origin of these top-ranked companies.
The United States dominates, but South Korea, China and Japan each have a representative in the top ten.
However, can you still pin a sprawling multinational to a single country?
Perhaps in terms of governance and management style, but most operate research, production and commercial entities across multiple nations.
Unsurprisingly, Apple holds the top spot, thanks to its ability to ride trends, reinvent itself, and satisfy customers, employees and shareholders.
But the COVID-19 pandemic allowed certain organizations to showcase rapid innovation under new pressures:
- Pfizer, Moderna and Merck & Company developed vaccines in under a year, overhauling R&D, design and manufacturing processes.
- Abbott Labs delivered a diagnostic test in mere weeks.
- Amazon and Walmart reconfigured their logistics to meet new constraints.
How the Ranking of Innovative Companies Has Evolved over 20 Years
What Are the Key Drivers of Innovation?
BCG identifies five differentiating factors:
- Having clear ambitions: why innovate and for what purpose?
- Identifying innovation domains: where to seize opportunities and what benefits to deliver.
- Performance management: creating metrics for true success factors, recognizing leaders who champion new ideas and know when to halt failed experiments.
- Project management: forming small, autonomous, multidisciplinary teams that leverage market signals and customer feedback, empowered to make decisions.
- Talent and culture management: valuing innovation and assigning top talent to innovation projects.
Organizations that excel foster strong collaboration across functions—especially sales, marketing and R&D. A misalignment between these groups hinders innovation ROI.
Good News for the IT World
So, how do you innovate in IT architecture? Digital transformation is now a top priority for 75% of executives, and 65% of companies are accelerating efforts in this direction.
BCG highlights six success factors:
- Align digital and business strategies
- Secure strong commitment from the CEO through all management levels
- Build a core team of recognized digital talents
- Adopt flexible data and technology platforms
- Implement agile governance
- Track progress effectively against goals
Organizations may take time to transform, but deploying specialized agile teams that iterate continuously delivers visible improvements.
In conclusion, BCG emphasizes that listening to customers to guide R&D and taking calculated risks are the two essential keys to becoming innovation leaders.
So, how does your organization—or your client—measure up on these six success factors?
And how do you apply these ingredients for success in your daily work?