What IT Can Do

CIOs and IT managers are well aware of the innovation imperative. But they may not be aware of the role that they can play in enabling employees to execute on the innovation visions of their CEOs. "[CIOs] have a big role to play," Chow says.

First, it's important that IT managers understand the paradoxical relationship between process and innovation, Chow points out. "The more discipline you actually have in this [innovation] process, without being bureaucratic," he says, "the more innovative you can actually be, and the more you can tap into bigger swaths of the organization, rather than just letting the R&D organization just have all the fun."

According to Chow, there are three key elements of a sound innovation system. First is what he calls foundation. This is a measure of an organization's ability, through its combined skills, capabilities and processes, to drive new market insights. "You're not going to get much further than your competitors unless you have a different view of the marketplace, customers and trends," Chow says.

The second element is conversion: an organization's ability to take new ideas and develop them into launchable, profitable products. "It's no good to have a set of good ideas unless you can actually convert them and deliver them to the marketplace," Chow says. "And still, we see time and time again, companies continue to be frustrated [by this] when they're exploring into new [product and service] territories."

The third item is consistency: an organization's ability to repeatedly execute on their innovative ideas, new product and service creations coming from not just the R&D department but all corners of the company. "We know that things like incentives, leadership, tools and techniques that are available throughout the whole organization and are part of an idea management process give people a foundation to not only learn how to innovate but execute," Chow says.

Underneath those three pieces, IT infrastructure and networks of information can offer "insights into where customers' heads are at and what their needs are," Chow says. "There are lots of technologies out there that enable companies to really understand the pulse of what's going on in the marketplace."

These tools and techniques include idea-generation and workflow applications that can provide "portfolio-level views of where the company's ideas are and what kind of benefit they are going to be extracting from them," Chow notes. "And all of that requires infrastructure, process and technology to become disciplined."

Besides providing the expertise on the back- and front-end enabling technologies, Chow also sees an opportunity for CIOs and IT executives to partner with other executives and demonstrate leadership. "It's the perfect opportunity for partnership," he says.

Unlike many other C-suite execs, the CIO has a unique, end-to-end perspective on "how the system works, how the corporation works and how to deliver, from front to back, through the innovation process," Chow says. "It's a great opportunity for CIOs to step up and work with CMOs, CTOs and heads of R&D and manufacturing to make this work from end to end."