Responses have been edited for clarity.
How has the nature of innovation changed in recent years, and how do you see it evolving in the future?
Very few companies aren’t innovation-minded right now. Innovation is now table stakes, but there’s been an evolution from “innovation is good and necessary” to “who can innovate fastest and who can get the most relevance out of innovation.”
In the early days, there was a lot of wastefulness in the innovation cycle. As we’ve graduated to a more mature state, not only do businesses have to move faster, but they also have to be really cognizant that the effort they expend on innovation comes at the cost of not doing something else. So, the impact of the innovation must be measurable and relevant to their business.
You also have to reorient precious corporate resources toward the future. The only vehicle that really works to actually get large companies to change and move toward disruptive innovation models is a top-down decision making model and a top-down resource allocation model.
Why is creating consensus around innovation so difficult, and what’s the solution?
When you set an innovation agenda, there’s enormous institutional inertia to not really want to do it because it requires change. The reality is you have this conflict between existing work and future work. The question becomes: Are you willing to give up some existing work to enable future work to happen?
Then you have a skilling issue. People who do the old work need to learn a new set of skills to participate in innovation. It’s challenging to get people to make that shift.
You're always going to have this dynamic tension between “the way we’ve always done it” and “the way we should do it.” In almost every situation, I’ve found the only real way progress happens is that eventually the CEO, CTO or CIO makes a decision and bets on that future.
of C-suite executives said they are fostering a culture of innovation to achieve growth.
Source: Forbes Research
“You’re always going to have this dynamic tension between ‘the way we’ve always done it’ and ‘the way we should do it.’”
John Roese, Global Chief Technology Officer, Dell Technologies
How can organizations build teams to foster more ingenuity?
You cannot, as a large enterprise, hire enough people to build your digital capability. There just aren’t enough out there, and you probably couldn't afford it.
People are retrainable; people can learn. Modern software isn't all about how technical you are. Sometimes, it's about how you can frame the problem and contextualize it. Today’s tools make it easier for less technical people to build and innovate. So leaders have to look at their broader population and create a model where they at least have a nucleus of the future, and a mechanism to transfer that knowledge and upskill within their employee base.
Tomorrow’s C-suite leaders don't have to be technologists, but they must be aware of what’s going on. It used to be that your company was only your products, people and brand. Now, it also includes technology. The technology stack is probably the most valuable new tool you have.
Source: Forbes Research
of C-suite executives said they will make upskilling a priority over the next two years to achieve growth.
How can solution providers like
Dell help their customers settle innovation debates?
If you bring us in as a trusted partner, we have many assets and resources to help you fully contextualize all of the technical opportunities, and more importantly, you can leverage our cross-industry experience. What we’ve found is that you can transfer best practices across industries.
Fundamentally, our value is to be on your team and be a technology partner on your digital transformation journey. Our uniqueness is our scale, diversity, ability to leverage learnings across industries and to apply resources to accelerate that innovation outcome.