Over-commitment on projects, lack of leadership, poor processes and an ongoing resistance to change are some factors leading to innovation gap in the Asia pacific region.
Asia Pacific region sees fewer than 20 per cent of innovation focused projects coming to life, according to a new report from cloud company, Oracle.
This innovation gap is primarily caused by lack of focus and leadership, poor processes and an ongoing resistance to change, the study noted.
The survey of 1,850+ decision makers across the Asia Pacific region in the cloud solutions and software market also showed that despite a clear link between growth and innovation, most of the companies interviewed have little plan to be proactive in innovation over the next three years.
“While Asia has taken a lead globally in innovation, the research confirms the growing feeling that there is an impending innovation winter coming,” said Andrew Sutherland, Senior Vice President, Technology and Systems, Oracle APAC and EMEA.
Key findings of the study
According to two third of the respondents, 80 per cent of innovation projects never make it to the market.
One quarter of those questioned said lack of process is hampering their innovation efforts (26 per cent), but lack of vision (27 per cent) and lack of commitment from business (23 per cent) are found to be the major barriers to innovation.
However, the study observed that 86 per cent per cent of companies experiencing strong to significant growth are investing in innovation.
Over-commitment of resources is preventing companies from bringing their innovation initiatives to life, with over one third of companies admitting to being overwhelmed by too many projects.
The issue was particularly evident in high-growth companies, with 41 per cent reporting an excess of parallel initiatives. Having the innovation team too separated from core business was also identified as a key barrier.
Insufficient commitment from the business in terms of leadership support, investment and vision, coupled with a lack of clear ownership, were shown to be key barriers to a company’s success in innovation.
Customer engagement now used as indicator of success
The study also pointed out that organizations are moving away from traditional critical success factors measuring success of employee productivity (52 per cent) and revenue (53 per cent), and increasingly looking towards areas like customer experience (57 per cent) and retention (52 per cent) as the key measures for return on investment (ROI).
Sutherland noted, “In today’s highly competitive global economy, companies cannot afford to sit back. Those who do risk being outpaced with little hope of catching up. Instead they need to look at the barriers and actively seek to address them. With an effective and supportive culture, clear vision from leaders, the prioritization and funding of chosen projects and new approaches like co-innovating, activities in this area are more likely to see success. Being innovative isn’t just about ideas, it’s about execution.”
The report, “Having a successful innovation agenda” is based on a global survey of 5,000+ decision makers in cloud solutions and software.
The respondents represented companies across 24 markets, comprising Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Korea, China, Japan and India within the Asia Pacific region, with revenues of up to £500 million and workforces of 100 to 50,000 employees.
