How can Indian companies harness technology advancements with an Innovation Architecture

Large companies in India are increasingly focusing on digital transformations due to greater awareness of new operating models, essential to survive disruption. The adoption of the Internet of Things (IoT), automation, robotics and artificial intelligence (AI), combined with design thinking, extends beyond digitally-intense industries such as retail, media and telecom.

Even manufacturing, transportation, logistics, financial services and energy companies are beginning to work in new ways. However, most Indian companies are stuck with their current business models and lack key aspects such as good customer experience, data security across multiple channels and smooth collaboration with other industries. Attempts at innovation peter out due to lack of funds or leadership interest, or the inability to rapidly scale the innovation.

Disruptive models involve radically changing both the customer interface as well as the enterprise operations. But Indian companies largely focus on transforming enterprise processes and much less on the customer experience.

Unlocking Trapped Value

Unlike agile start-ups, large established players  struggle to scale innovations in time. Such companies fail to realize the opportunity to identify and unveil the tremendous amount of value trapped within their current business models.

Unlocking the trapped value involves three simultaneous steps. Starting with transforming the core business, companies need to build competitive agility and cost structures to stay profitable in the core business and expand investment capacity.

They must use the new investment capacity to drive top-line growth in the core business, identify and scale an innovation. And, most importantly, they should know when to pivot to the New by balancing investment between old and new business. The pivot to the New requires a disciplined approach and an architecture that will help the company move its innovative idea from concept stage and pilot to execution at scale and speed.

Pivoting too slowly could mean being decimated by a disruptor. Pivoting too fast to the New could mean triggering financial risks. Most Indian companies find it difficult to carve practical paths to innovating and leading in the New.

Companies need to collaborate and generate game-changing ideas through co-creation, use open innovation to shape emerging technologies, build prototypes, rapidly scale up solutions and industrialize the solutions for sales and delivery.

Both existing and new capabilities should be brought together through an innovation architecture to create a step-change approach in outcomes for end customers.

Innovation Architecture

Based on our own transformation journey and our work with clients, we have designed the Accenture Innovation Architecture to help companies innovate using the structural elements of disruption from idea generation to industrialization, combining technology platforms.

The Accenture Innovation Architecture brings together our various capabilities such as Accenture Research to identify game-changing trends and ideas, Accenture Ventures for partnering and investing in companies creating enterprise technologies using an open innovation approach, Accenture Labs for prototyping, Accenture Studios for solutions, Accenture Innovation Centers to scale solutions and demonstrate their impact, and Accenture global delivery centers to help scale up and industrialize solutions.

Companies in India need to start building or leveraging innovation architectures if they want to effectively harness technology advances for their innovation priorities at speed and scale.

Many companies in India need to leverage technology advances in artificial intelligence, IoT, robotics and 3D printing. They must also integrate these into the value chain-from manufacturing, supply chain, sales and marketing-to create new models for development, delivery and service that can propel game-changing innovation in the industry.

The Author is Anindya Basu, Country Managing Director, Accenture in India