Partnering for innovation
by
Charlie Bess
I came across a blog entry on strategies for outsourcing innovation. This would seem to be a counter intuitive statement, since outsourcing is typically something done with a commodity, not an aspect of the business as core as innovation.
On the other hand, no company can be innovative on every front. Finding the right partner who has an innovative core that aligns to your needs (and weaknesses) can really make a difference. Something that is a commodity from your perspective, can be core to someone else - and they better be innovative around it.
When we're talking about having an Agile Enterprise that uses SOA to create an extended virtual enterprise, having a set of innovative partners should make the sum greater than the parts.
I attended a session called a Thinking Expedition a while back. One of the concepts we used in "level 5 thinking" is to borrow from others and leverage relationships to add new insight to your organization. Diversity is a crucial aspect of removing latency from the collaborative creative process.
This flexibility will be an expectation in the future.
