Kick-Start IT-Led Business Innovation

The CIO is not considered a strategic partner. The business may be satisfied with IT services, but no one is looking to IT to solve business problems or drive the enterprise forward.
Even if IT staff do generate ideas that will improve operational efficiency or enable the business, few are ever assessed or executed upon.

Our Advice

Critical Insight

Business demand for new technology is creating added pressure to innovate and executive stakeholders expect more from IT. If IT is not viewed as a source of innovation, its perceived value will decrease and the threat of shadow IT will grow. Do not wait to start finding and capitalizing on opportunities for IT-led innovation.

Impact and Result

Start innovating right away. All you need are business pains and people willing to ideate around them.
Assemble a small team and arm them with proven techniques for identifying unique opportunities for innovation, developing impactful solutions, and prototyping quickly and effectively. Incubate a reservoir of ideas, both big and small, so that you are ready to execute on innovative projects when the timing is right.
Once you have demonstrated IT’s ability to innovate, mature your capability with a permanent innovation process and program.

Kick-Start IT-Led Business Innovation Research & Tools

Start here – read the Executive Brief

Read our concise Executive Brief to find out why you should create innovation processes, review Info-Tech’s methodology, and understand the four ways we can support you in completing this project.

Kick-Start IT-Led Business Innovation – Executive Brief

1. Launch innovation

Sponsor a mandate for innovation and assemble a small team to start sourcing ideas with IT staff.

2. Ideate

Identify critical opportunities for innovation and brainstorm effective solutions.

3. Prototype

Prototype ideas rapidly to gain user feedback, refine solutions, and make a compelling case for project investment.

4. Mature innovation capability

Formalize the innovation process and implement a program to create a strong culture of innovation in IT.

5. Working Through Complexity and Chaos Deck – Take innovation beyond buzzword status at your organization by identifying how IT can enable the organization to succeed where it has failed previously.

Consider new ways of working and approaches to prioritization that will set you up to deliver strategic innovation. Explore a case study of a client that enhanced innovation across their organization.

Learn more in this Info-Tech LIVE 2024 presentation.

Member Testimonials

After each Info-Tech experience, we ask our members to quantify the real-time savings, monetary impact, and project improvements our research helped them achieve. See our top member experiences for this blueprint and what our clients have to say.

Client

Experience

Impact

$ Saved

Days Saved

Testimonial

Grain Craft

Guided Implementation

9/10

$13,700

This was very beneficial as we look for ways to involve others in the company in driving technology innovation.

Innovation

Innovate now - formalize later! This course makes up part of the Strategy & Governance Certificate.

Please note that Academy course and certificate tracks will be updated on June 1, 2025. Please complete any current course you are enrolled in before this date or your progress will be lost.

live

00:00

Course Modules: 5
Estimated Completion Time: 2-2.5 hours

Now Playing:
Academy: Innovation | Executive Brief

An active membership is required to access Info-Tech Academy

Kick-Start IT-Led Business Innovation visualization

Innovate now – formalize later! Digital transformation won't wait.

About Info-Tech

Info-Tech Research Group is the world’s fastest-growing information technology research and advisory company, proudly serving over 30,000 IT professionals.

We produce unbiased and highly relevant research to help CIOs and IT leaders make strategic, timely, and well-informed decisions. We partner closely with IT teams to provide everything they need, from actionable tools to analyst guidance, ensuring they deliver measurable results for their organizations.

What Is a Blueprint?

A blueprint is designed to be a roadmap, containing a methodology and the tools and templates you need to solve your IT problems.

Each blueprint can be accompanied by a Guided Implementation that provides you access to our world-class analysts to help you get through the project.

Table of Contents

Need Extra Help?
Speak With An Analyst

Get the help you need in this 4-phase advisory process. You'll receive 14 touchpoints with our researchers, all included in your membership.

Guided Implementation 1: Launch innovation

Call 1: Introduce innovation and set objectives.
Call 2: Select a team to begin facilitating innovation.
Call 3: Prepare to roll out the innovation process.

Guided Implementation 2: Ideate

Call 1: Identify opportunities for IT-led innovation and review any finalized problem statements.
Call 2: Discuss ideation techniques and review any completed idea documents.
Call 3: Establish an idea prioritization approach and help select top ideas.

Guided Implementation 3: Prototype

Call 1: Discuss prototyping techniques and review any completed prototype design work.
Call 2: Overcome prototyping challenges and review any user feedback.
Call 3: Prepare to submit business cases for completed prototypes.

Guided Implementation 4: Mature innovation capability

Call 1: Document the target innovation process.
Call 2: Create an action plan to operationalize the process.
Call 3: Identify innovation program components.
Call 4: Create an action plan to implement the innovation program.
Call 5: Assess innovation progress and address challenges.

Authors

Eric Dolinar

Abiella Schneider-Friedman

Contributors

11 organizations contributed information to assist with the development of this blueprint. Due to the sensitivity of the information, all contributors requested confidentiality.
Lorraine Howell, Vice President of Research and Development, Illumiti
Kris Woyzbun, Senior Design Lead, IDEO
Dr. Patricia Morgan, Dean of Research and Innovation, Humber College
Michael Katchen, Founder & CEO, Wealthsimple
Debra Allison, Former CIO, Miami University
Michael Stilger, Partner, Qmarkets.net
Rob Hoehn, Co-Founder & CEO, IdeaScale
Steve Bell, Director of Product Marketing, Brightidea
Alf Martin Johansen, CEO and Founder, Induct
Barbara Marcolin, Associate Professor, Faculty of Management, University of British Columbia
Kin Lee-Yow, VP of IT, CAA
Aiden Beattie, IT Strategy Coordinator, Canadian Blood Services
Natalie Woyzbun, Co-Founder, Tablo Inc.