American Chamber of Commerce for Brazil - AMCHAM ... · PDF fileThe American Chamber of...
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Transcript of American Chamber of Commerce for Brazil - AMCHAM ... · PDF fileThe American Chamber of...
American Chamber of Commerce for Brazil - AMCHAMInternational Affairs Department
Brazil, 2016/2017
*This guide is part of the project
We are experiencing an unprecedented moment in Brazil. We have discovered, albeit recently, the benefits of an economy open to innovation and creativity, two fundamental tools to make tangible the value we discuss and pursue so much in our work. Every day, we uncover new ways to create products, services and, above all, experiences to keep users at the center of our processes, resulting in more assertive and truly distinctive solutions. Thus, in partnership with Amcham Brasil, we developed this study, which functions as a guide to possible paths to innovate in a constantly changing market, with different priorities and extremely dynamic. Design Thinking has been our great ally, and it may be the missing tool for companies to create solid, well-structured innovation strategies, especially in Brazil.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTSThe American Chamber of Commerce for Brazil, being the largest Amcham outside the United States is serving its members building bridges for Brazilian businesses worldwide. Our foreign investment attraction efforts are a key mission for Amcham. The “How To” guides published by Amcham Brasil are part of this initiative. With the support of some of our members and Brazilian States and cities, we are putting together strategic information on the most various aspects of doing business in Brazil and its opportunities. As part of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) and representing the 9th largest economy of the world, and the 6th largest destination for foreign investment, Brazil has an intrinsic importance for the global market. More than ever it is a strategic time for businesses opportunities in Brazil. We welcome you and hope that the information you are about to read will contribute to your commercial and investment decisions linked to Brazil.
Deborah Vieitas - CEO, Amcham Brasil
Mauricio Vianna - Global CEO, MJV Technology & Innovation
Ysmar Vianna - Chairman, MJV Technology & Innovation
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INTRODUCTION
INNOVATION AND THE BRAZILIAN MARKET
DESIGN THINKING
TRENDS AND PROSPECTS
AFTER ALL, HOW TO INNOVATE IN BRAZIL?
ABOUT OUR SPONSOR
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What does it mean to innovate? In practice, what does it mean to keep users at the center of processes to create or improve products and services? At this moment, executives at numerous companies may be asking themselves these and other questions, concerned to achieve targets, sell more and beat their competitors, among other challenges. First of all, it is important to understand that strategic innovation – generating real and tangible value – is part of a structured and systematic process, which needs a practical, clear approach. Accordingly, the principles and tools of design may be extremely useful, as well as its way of observing the world and seeing people and interrelationships. Design Thinking, or “designers’ way of thinking”, is not just revolutionizing organizations’ traditional paradigms, but also significantly affecting their results. The way Brazilian companies adopt – or could adopt – these skills is still a field to be explored, presenting countless possibilities. To find out a little more about this universe and the real investment that organizations are making in innovation initiatives, it was undertaken this study.
Design Thinking advocates innovation to fundamentally carry out a change of thought and behavior, affecting everything from operational bases to shareholders. Mistakes, for example, no longer need to be seen as a waste of time, but rather an opportunity to improve quickly to meet customers’ needs more readily. Concepts such as brand loyalty take on an even more complex character given the diversity of options, technologies and consumer habits. Being digital no longer expresses merely being in an environment of virtual interaction with the customers – it is about being integrated with their lives and influencing value propositions, business models, among other things.
Consequently, it is fundamental for companies to understand the habits of consumers – who are ever more informed, connected and demanding – not only in order to adapt, but also to become sustainable in a fickle, challenging market. These “new” customers are driving innovation opportunities in Brazil and across the world, as it will be seen on the following pages.
01.INTRODUCTION
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02.
WHAT IS INNOVATION?
Stop for a moment and think about the number of companies that exist in your city, in your country and in the world. It is hard to measure, is not it? Now quickly think of three companies that are recognized and admired globally. What makes them stand out from thousands of others? They contain innovation and its principles in each of their cells.
Business people often talk about the importance of innovation for growth and differentiation. However, the very meaning of the word innovation is still nebulous – there is no consensus as to its definition. And if it is hard to define the concept, putting it into practice is even more challenging.
The term innovation can be defined in a very simple way: the use of creativity to add value, whether economic, social, psychological or aesthetic. In the business world, this value creation is directly related to change – incremental, radical or disruptive – in business models, products, services, systems or experiences, in order to have a significant and sustainable impact for a company.
In terms of products, innovation can help introduce a new option to the market, as well as incorporate improvements for an existing product, the so-called incremental innovation, which adds value to more immediate needs. New functionalities, changes in package design and other possibilities are included in these improvements.
Service innovation follows the same logic as product innovation and it generates value to the customer by taking advantage of opportunities and creating new jobs, mainly in the traditional service sector, in which tangible goods are not offered. These opportunities often make companies change their business models and transform the market, increasing competition, which embodies a radical innovation. Following this reasoning, there is disruptive innovation as a result of the transformation or introduction of a technology related to a service, product or specific market that enables finding new consumers (unexpected or simply ignored by the existing players) when remodeled.
As for process innovation, it occurs by implementing new methods, flows or solutions in the companies’ operational and strategic processes. The goals may vary from accelerating productivity to reducing costs and implementing sustainability practices.
Thus, innovation is now the foundation of successful companies across the world, providing a path to obtain a sustainable competitive advantage. However, in their relentless pursuit of growth, higher profits and customer loyalty, organizations have developed new technologies, products, processes, content and services, which are often unsuccessful. Although innovation is a precondition for differentiation and survival in the global market, investment in it does not always generate
INNOVATION AND THE BRAZILIAN MARKET
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the expected results; the path to profitable innovation, although pursued by many, is not known to all. In fact, many follow an unstructured and fragmented journey towards innovation, without understanding the real needs and desires of those for whom their products or services are intended.
STRATEGIC INNOVATION
According to American magazine Business Week, the innovation process consists of recreating business models and constructing entirely new markets to respond to as yet unmet human needs, especially to select and execute the right ideas, bringing them to market in record time.
However, this is not an easy task. Planning and structuring a business strategy are all needed.
When it is relied on one-off or accidental acts of creativity to promote innovation, the result tends to consist merely of incremental improvements. In contrast, strategic innovation involves a structured and systematic model that leads to continuous and planned innovation with the potential for high returns. It is in the context of strategic innovation that design thinking is applied – a structured innovation approach focused on human beings, aimed at generating solutions that combine users’ desires and needs with value creation for businesses. To this end, this approach has been incorporated as a principle at large companies and universities throughout the world.
1 Rotman School of Management (Canada)2 University of California, Berkley (USA)3 Massachusetts Institute of Technology (USA)4 Carnegie Mellon University (USA)5 INSEAD Business School (France)
6 Stanford Graduate School of Business (USA)7 Copenhagen Institute of Interaction (Denmark)8 Delft University of Technology (Netherlands)9 Harvard Business School (USA)10 COPPEAD - Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (Brazil)
Renowned institutions added design to their programs
The importance of design for business is confirmed. Here are some prestigious Universities in the world that added Design Thinking to their programs:
Source: MJV Innovation & Technology
1 - Source: Folha de São Paulo, August 2015, available in: http://goo.gl/xf7lFx2 - Source: Portal da Indústria, May 2015, available in: http://goo.gl/lYXBvv
Despite the financial crisis, most of the companies stated
that they plan to increase their investments in innovation in the
coming year.
BUSINESS INNOVATION IN BRAZIL
Brazil still maintains a low level of investment in innovation. This statement is based on studies and calculations made by several national and international agencies in recent years. Data from the Business Mobilization for Innovation (Mobilização Empresarial pela Inovação - MEI), released in 20151, show that Brazil can take up to 34 years to reach the level of investments held by economies like China and the European Union. Today, the country invests about 1.2% of its GDP in research and development, while the Asian nation and the European block spend about 2%, which is about the same as the US.
An important aspect pointed out by most studies shows the responsibility for investment and acceleration in the growth rate. This responsibility would fall, in part, upon the private sector, and not the government, as suggested by common sense. However, a research conducted by the National Industry Confederation (Confederação Nacional da Indústria - CNI) with leaders from small, medium and large companies2 shows that, while innovation is an integral part of their strategies, the business community sees the level of innovation in Brazil as low or very low.
This is a reflection of the technological gap accumulated over the years, which means that the domestic industry will eventually import or copy what has already been done in other countries. In the interviewee’s opinions, there is
a lack of innovation culture in Brazilian organizations in general, aside from the lack of incentive policies, the difficulties for interacting with other companies and universities, as well as underqualified professionals.
These aspects are not seen as impediments: most leaders from organizations in several different sectors are optimistic about the changes for the next five years. A quantitative research was conducted between November and December 2015, in which more than 500 executives were heard; 75% claimed to have done some sort of innovation project in the previous months and 14% claimed that innovation is not only important,
but it is also among the company’s highest priorities.
Among the main themes for innovation leaders, three emerged, besides internal processes, infrastructure and the company’s internal culture:
•ANew products and/or services;
•ACustomer experience; and
•ADigital transformation.
In relation to the main drivers of innovation, 64% of the participants considered the most significant factor to be “improvement in the quality of existing services or products”, followed by “meeting of customers’ expectations”, “development of new products or services”, “expansion of business to new customers and/or sectors”, and “improvement in operational efficiency”.
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Finally, the data for 2016 seems to be optimistic: despite the financial crisis, most of the companies stated that they plan to increase their investments in innovation in the coming year. Among the survey participants, the sectors that invested the most in the area in 2015 were food,
financial services and insurance, and they stated that this trend will continue in 2016. In particular, the agriculture and machinery sectors reported that they will be investing heavily in innovation in 2016.
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03.DESIGN THINKING
INNOVATION AND DESIGN
Although the word “design” is often associated with the quality and/or aesthetic appearance of products, design as a discipline is aimed above all at promoting well-being in people’s lives. Designers see as a problem everything that harms or interfere in experiences (emotional, cognitive and aesthetic) and well-being. Consequently, their main task is to identify problems and generate solutions. To this end, they understand that it is necessary to map culture, contexts, personal experiences and processes in people’s lives, in order to obtain a more complete vision, identify the causes and consequences of difficulties and be more assertive in the pursuit of solutions.
As the name suggests, Design Thinking refers to designers’ way of thinking, which uses a different reasoning that is unconventional in the business world: abductive thinking. Through this unconventional logic in the business world, there is a need to ask questions through the comprehension of phenomena, that is, questions that will be answered with the information gathered during the observation. In this way, designers constantly challenge their standards, propose and disprove conjectures, and find opportunities
for innovation. The ability to disengage from logical thinking allows designers to remain “outside the box”. However, while designers have maintained this type of active thinking in their profession, human beings are “design thinkers” by nature – observing the world and generating new solutions is a human ability. Based on this assumption, one of the principles of the design thinking approach is collaborative work between members of a multidisciplinary team, containing not only designers, but also professionals in areas such as administration, sociology, psychology and engineering. This pooling of different knowledge and experiences acts as a catalyst in the innovation process.
As managers in many business fields have realized, innovation guided by design makes use of a specific way of seeing and dealing with everything that appears as a problem during people’s interaction with products, services, processes or companies. This approach complements the market view that in order to innovate, the focus shall be on developing or integrating new technologies and opening up and/or serving new markets: in addition to these technological and market factors, design thinking innovates above all by introducing new meanings to products, services and relationships.
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Design increases the value of the shares
Currently design has become a critical element of business. The Design Value Index3 (DVI) was created in 2013 to measure the impact of design on large companies
USD 45,000
USD 40,000
USD 35,000
USD 30,000
USD 25,000
USD 39,427.34
USD 17,999.37
DVI
S&P 500USD 20,000
USD 15,000
USD 10,000
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219%
share value, comparing companies that have design as part of their DNA to companies that do not. The comparison showed an impressive return of 219% on the Standard & Poor’s 500 index (S&P 500) in 10 years.
Design Conscious Companies
•AApple
•ACoca-Cola
•AFord
•AHerman-Miller
•AIBM
•ANewell-Rubbermaid
•ANike
•AProcter & Gamble
•AStarbucks
•AStarwood
3 - Survey conducted by the Design Management Institute.
•AStanley Black & Decker
•ASteelcase
•ATarget
•AWalt Disney
•AWhirpool
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WHAT IS DESIGN THINKING?
Design thinking is a structured innovation process that leads to significant, high-impact solutions, with high potential for user participation and generating real business value. It is at the intersection of technological
USER NEED
tEchnology FEASIBILITy
BUSinESS VALUE
feasibility, users’ needs and business value that innovation opportunities are found.
The approach is based on the following pillars:
•AFocus on people: Design Thinking begins with deep empathy and understanding of the needs and motivations of those involved, whether they are end users or other stakeholders.
•ACollaboration: many minds together can be more intelligent and perceptive than the brightest of individual minds. Therefore, it is important to work with multidisciplinary teams in a collaborative manner.
•AExperimentation: in this process, making mistakes is not just permitted: it is necessary. Mistakes are one of the main sources of learning. Consequently, it is fundamental to test things to quickly make mistakes, learn, iterate and reach the ideal solution.
•ALearning by doing: thinking with your hands is the best strategy. By constructing prototypes, hypotheses are rapidly validated and ineffective solutions are eliminated at the start of the process, thereby avoiding further investments of time and money.
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immERSion UNDERSTAND
AnAlySiS ANALyZE
idEAtion CREATE
PRototyPing TEST
imPlEmEntAtion APPLy
DESIGN THINKING PROCESS
The Design Thinking process transforms thought into action through five structured stages:
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•AImmersion: the first phase of the Design Thinking process is called immersion. At this moment, the project team gets closer to the context and the different users and stakeholders involved in the challenge. The aim is to understand their needs, desires, dreams, doubts, anxieties and frustrations, in order to identify challenges and opportunities. During this stage, empathy is the watchword.
•AAnalysis: during immersion, a lot of information and insights4 are collected, which need to be analyzed in order to identify patterns, extreme behaviors and possibilities for innovation. Many tools can help when it comes to analysis, such as insight cards, affinity diagrams and personas. This is a very important stage in the process, as it produces inputs for the generation of ideas.
•AIdeation: the ideation phase is the moment when solutions are generated for the project’s challenge. Synthesis tools are created in the analysis phase to stimulate creativity and generate ideas in line with the context. This stage often starts with brainstorming sessions to stimulate the generation of many ideas in a short space of time.
•APrototyping: the prototyping phase has the auxiliary function of validating the selected ideas. Although it is presented as one of the last phases of the Design Thinking process, it may take place throughout a project, alongside immersion and ideation. The objective of this stage is to make ideas tangible, test them and then refine them.
4 - Insights consist of reflections based on real perceptions obtained during immersion. They are findings that point to opportunities to solve a challenge.
Designers think by doing, without fear of making mistakes, which is part of the process, helping to develop mature and assertive solutions.
•AImplementation: after creating, testing and refining a product or service, it is time to implement it. In this stage, it is necessary to understand which people or company areas need to be involved and what the costs, difficulties and key points will be. That is, producing a plan, selling the idea and making things happen. This is the stage of the process in which the innovation in question is taken on wholeheartedly.
DESIGN THINKING IN THE BRAZILIAN MARKET
Brazil is experiencing rapid, constant transformations, in a world of uncertainties that may lead to unprecedented success or immediate failure. Brazilian companies, like all others, are also threatened by rapid and frequent changes in the environment and consumer profiles themselves.
The country is heterogeneous, in terms of its culture and consumption habits. Each Brazilian state has its own specific features and influences, due to its vast size and colonization process, through which several countries participated in the formation of its identity. In this context, Design Thinking is a powerful tool to map and see opportunities in line with all these characteristics, constructing a singularity from various profiles of users and consumers. This methodology presents a holistic vision for understanding consumers’ habits, behavior and context, enabling companies to
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adapt – and innovate – through the co-creation of more assertive, viable and creative solutions.
There are situations which Design Thinking can be applied as a support tool for innovation strategies, as it can be seen from the examples ahead.
GAMIFICATION TO ENGAGE CALL CENTER EMPLOyEES
Gamification is a technique that applies game mechanics to promote engagement. A large insurance company has used this technique to increase productivity of call center employees and reduce turnover rates.
Researchers followed the routine of an insurance company’s Health area to understand the context in which the different agents involved in decision-making processes and operations are inserted. Attendants and managers took part in the process collaboratively and helped creating ideas, which aimed to encourage new behaviors related to competitiveness, productivity, proactivity and cooperation.
More dynamic electronic devices for qualification and training were created and the support process for the service was redefined, which helped reduce costs. Researchers used Gamification with Design Thinking to create methods to speed the process up, or even reduce doubts and maintain focus on lowering the rate for the average service time. Thus, the attendants’ task has become more involving, stimulated through healthy competition.
TRANSLATING THE INSURANCE LINGO
Another insurance group needed to enhance communication with its clients and improve reliability to help in business growth. To do so, the company had to simplify the complex language in its offers and insurance documents by using Design Thinking to understand the behavior and difficulties related to the insurance consumer and stakeholders.
In order to facilitate the comprehension of the contracts and policies, it was necessary to suppress the complex language (the insurance lingo) and create communication devices that were accessible to users, both offline and online. This not only improved the company’s sustainability rates, but also increased the client satisfaction rates.
THE GAS STATION OF THE FUTURE
A large energy and gas company in Brazil needed to verify its potential to apply new technologies and solutions, as well as offer efficient ways to communicate its services and sustainability initiatives.
To understand the service from the user’s perspective, researchers spent a few days at a gas station using Design Thinking techniques to observe people and their behaviors. Through this approach, they noticed possibilities to improve the interaction between consumers and the gas station by using sustainability and green technology concepts, as well as the collaboration from the attendants.
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Culture of innovationUser-centered products
and servicesNew business models
CHANGE MANAGEMENT USING GAMIFICATION
A company specialized in energy management needed to inform and engage its employees on a system change defined by the organization’s Direction, while avoiding any impact on the daily work.
Once more, Design Thinking techniques were used alongside the Gamification principles to create a game that would portray the activities as knowledge gain, exchange of information and participation in the adjustment. Finally, through a collaborative process with the company, researchers created a communication plan that aimed to clarify the employees over the project’s schedule, their roles, the benefits of the adjustment, among other aspects.
THE IMPACT OF DESIGN THINKING
Design Thinking enables both users’ needs and business demands to be considered, taking into account what
can be done from a technological point of view. It is through in-depth understanding of this context that “design thinkers” help companies to develop a corporate innovation culture, create new products and services, and rethink business models.
Problems cannot be solved with the same type of thinking that created them: looking at things from new angles and challenging corporate norms is the basis of design thinking. Abductive thinking gives us the freedom to make mistakes and the need to collaborate. It is fundamental
to take risks, be bold, test things and make mistakes quickly to arrive at assertive solutions. Design Thinking is a structured way to promote this culture, stimulating teams to be collaborative, take risks and innovate.
More than a process, Design Thinking is a way of thinking that makes us transform complex
challenges into opportunities to create high-impact solutions. By permitting these principles to be part of its everyday routines, a company incorporates innovation into its essence.
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04.TRENDS AND PROSPECTS
CULTURE OF INNOVATION
As already mentioned, the path to profitable innovation, especially in the Brazilian market, is pursued by many, but it is not in fact known to all. The drive for innovation through one-off or occasional acts leads to incremental changes, generally of little impact and not sustainable. On the other hand, the journey to continuous innovation with high potential returns is based on a structured, systematic model, in which innovation is not just thought of externally (such as through the development of new products), but also incorporated as a part of the company’s culture. After all, a company’s stance, products and services directly reflect its spirit – an innovative image is not sustained if innovation is not in its essence.
A corporate culture is composed of a company’s values, norms, policies and attitudes – aspects that directly affect the behavior of individuals and groups within the organization and relations between different stakeholders. A cultural change therefore depends on the development of a series of aptitudes and the personal transformation that each team member experiences when working in accordance with new paradigms and processes. It is a reflection of the reality of everyone who is working together.
An ever-present subject at large Brazilian corporation today is the implementation of a “culture of innovation”. This means a culture in which innovative thinking and practices are stimulated, so that innovation is not seen as “extra work”, but the normal way of working, underpinned by the natural impetus of human beings to look for and suggest improvements. However, the incorporation of an innovation culture demands time and active participation by leaders. Especially when it comes to a traditional organization such as the majority of insurance companies, it is difficult to rely on a movement growing stronger from the bottom up, even if it is started at upper levels. Leaders must offer the necessary support and infrastructure in order for innovation to become part of their company’s everyday routines, besides removing internal obstacles that could hinder the appearance or implementation of innovative proposals.
Certain aspects contribute to the building of a corporate culture of innovation:
•AFavorable environments: environments that stimulate creativity and informality, that bring together people from different areas and that convey security and fun are capable of awakening within employees innovative thoughts and
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attitudes, which arise more rarely in conventional work spaces.
•ADiversity is fundamental: multidisciplinary work groups, characterized by a plurality of profiles, visions and experiences, produce much better results in solving complex problems. Through differences and the pooling of distinct points of view, projects become more assertive and comprehensive, with a higher likelihood of achieving innovation.
•AIntegration leads to collaboration, which leads to innovation: to innovate, it is necessary to construct new ideas and visions based on combinations of different knowledge, points of view and ways of thinking existing at an organization. It is important to stimulate the sharing of know-how among employees from different areas and specialties.
•AMake mistakes quickly to learn quickly: at different organizations the constraint of mistakes can be observed when in fact they could be a major source of learning. Mistakes generated by negligence or misconduct should not be gladly accepted, but it is healthy to create an atmosphere that encourages experimentation, based on the philosophy of fast and low-cost making of mistakes so as to arrive quickly at a solution.
•AStructure for prototyping: ideas appear every day, but it is essential to identify their relevance
and potential before determining whether people should develop them further. The habit of rapid testing through simple prototypes allows bad ideas to be eliminated early and new ideas to be generated, thereby feeding a cycle of trial and error that invariably leads to innovation. To this end, there must be a structure aimed at rapid testing, which may consist of a dedicated space and the provision of kits containing a variety of materials.
•ASupport and guidance: it is essential to support and guide employees. There is no point of making available new environments and materials if no guidance is provided regarding their use and what results are expected.
•AAlignment with company’s strategic vision: for a culture of innovation to be disseminated, not only must leaders provide strong encouragement, but all employees must also be aligned with the company’s strategic vision and operations.
PRODUCTS AND SERVICES CENTERED ON USERS
One usual challenge for many companies is the configuration of their products and services. Companies often create them based on an internal perspective, or they are more concerned about making their products the same as competing ones than ensuring that they genuinely serve consumers. Consequently, the results generally do not meet users’ real needs and desires.
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It is common, especially at large Brazilian corporations, for decisions to be taken in an environment far from reality, in closed meeting rooms, out of contact with the “real world”. Efforts to innovate and create new products and services are based on quantitative market research. However, numbers alone do not give the reasons why a customer chooses one company rather than another. It is not created for numbers, but for users. As a result, it is fundamental to be very clear about who they are, their characteristics, their habits and what they value, that is, getting closer to customers.
The path to design innovative, well-aligned products and services certainly differs from one company to another. In all cases, however, the efforts should not be restricted to the company’s interests and needs, to the detriment of customers’ interests and needs. When this happens, it cannot be expected anything other than dissatisfaction among users and difficulty in retaining them. There is a single solution: having an in-depth understanding of the different profiles of consumers, and putting them at the center of the development of products, services and business strategies. This is the main reason why design thinking has been increasingly adopted around the world: the focus on human beings permits the creation of products and services that combine users’ desires and needs with value creation for businesses.
DIGITAL DISRUPTION AND RELATIONS WITH USERS
Many people believe that “digital disruption” means creating apps or having a major presence on social networks. What is seen in Brazil today, especially at robust companies, is the establishment of a digital strategy as a by-product or “an arm” of traditional business strategy. Social networks, digital customer services and apps are generally created to support the physical world.
Digital disruption consists of the continuous journey of business digitalization, based on insights about consumers’ relationships with new technologies. The success of large companies that were born digital is due to a business strategy that was designed from the start to be digital. Today, the biggest company in the transport sector does not own a single vehicle, the world’s most popular media provider does not produce any content and the retailer with the largest market capitalization does not possess any inventories.
Modern consumers experience a continuous stream of information on different channels on different devices, formed of short and frequent interactions with a variety of services. A mobile phone is carried as if it were a part of the body and people use it whenever they want to obtain
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information practically instantly. Concentrating services on phones and other mobile devices is not just a matter of convenience, but of respect for social and behavioral changes. In a reality inarguably based on smartphone
usage, how can you make users remember the name of your company? How can you make them turn to you when they make their decisions? How can you make them seek you out when they need advice or a swift response?
In this context, companies should keep in mind certain principles:
•ASimplification is the path to a better customer experience;
•AIt is necessary to provide an excellent self-service system, involving online tools and useful, direct information; and
•AIntegration is fundamental, both to simplify
customer relationships and to use data in a smart way.
“Digital disruption” does not refer to the development of a digital strategy, but a business strategy for the digital age; a new era requires new value propositions. And to respond to all these demands at the speed that the market demands, there is only one path: to incorporate a digital-first and flexible corporate culture (permitting greater agility not only to react, but also to anticipate) and to have people, their values, and social and cultural aspects as the focus of business development.
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BUSINESS STRATEGy
BUSINESS STRATEGy
FOR A DIGITAL WORLD
DIGITAL STRATEGy
What many companies do today What should be done
05.AFTER ALL, HOW TO INNOVATE IN BRAZIL?
Despite the difficulties, it is possible to see that the Brazilian scenario contributes to innovation. Undoubtedly, there are unexplored options waiting to be discovered, and methodologies, such as Design Thinking, might be just the right tool to take advantage of the great existing opportunities.
In Brazil, the main investments should be made to structure, that is, preparing the terrain for innovation by creating an appropriate arrangement for it to occur; empower process drivers (or “innovation actors”); and apply useful knowledge, such as Design Thinking, to study the market steps and to understand the consumer in order to create the most assertive (and competitive) solutions for their needs. BRINGING INNOVATION “INTO THE HOUSE”
Researches such as “The Map of Innovation in Brazil”, developed by MJV Technology & Innovation on December, 2015, and previously mentioned studies indicate that the country is in a maturity state that corresponds to the “adolescence” in terms of innovation. This means there might be an uncertain future ahead, but also potential possibilities that have not yet been explored. So, first of all, it is essential to bring the concepts related to innovation to the heart of the debate and initiatives,
such as collaboration, creativity, focus on the user and the culture of experimentation (i.e., test the solutions before releasing them on the market), among others. In practice, this means demystifying the term “innovation” and making results and gains tangible, which can bring structured innovation methodologies such as Design Thinking to Brazilian companies, taking into account the new context brought about by the digital age. Moreover, it means using technology as an ally to drive the process – considering, for instance, partnerships with startups that have digital thinking at its roots to reduce costs and overcome an unfavorable scenario. PREPARING LEADERS TO CONDUCT THE PROCESS
Every innovation comes from an idea, which in turn comes from someone in charge of making it tangible for others. However, simply generating (new) ideas is not enough; one must be properly prepared to prove its viability and to respond quickly to the challenges to which the task of innovation is associated.
Since this is one of the major barriers that prevent innovation from happening in Brazil, it is essential to empower leaders, providing them with the subsidies and skills necessary (through training or through the support
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from executives or collaborators). This allows leaders to focus on thinking strategically, extending their vision to the market, studying the habits of internet users and bringing them to the center of the creation process for new products or services, for example. With this, it is possible to create and customize solutions based on the specific characteristics of the country’s consumers, and not simply reproduce the models used abroad. Therefore, this may lead to an improvement of the user experience and to disruptive innovation. USING INNOVATION METHODOLOGIES TO UNDERSTAND THE BRAZILIAN CONSUMER As mentioned before, a number of factors give Brazil its unique culture and behavior. Although this process began recently, the Brazilian consumer has become more
demanding and aware of issues, such as how they are treated and how products/services meet their needs. In this sense, the shift made by the country’s companies to prioritize the customer and seek competitive advantage must be followed by specific methodologies to ensure that the greatest strengths of the innovation process, such as Design Thinking, are fully explored. Methods, such as Design Thinking, recommend approaching the client’s context whenever necessary in order to bring immediate contributions to new processes, products or services. Finally, another great advantage, as mentioned previously, is observing every step of the deliverables and prototypes, verifying the economic and technological feasibility of the developed ideas in practice. This avoids wasting time, resources, as well as social and financial capital, which are extremely valuable in a shortage scenario.
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06.ABOUT OUR SPONSOR
Since 1997, MJV Technology & Innovation has been working with some of the world’s largest companies on their business challenges. Based out of offices in Europe, the United States and Latin America, the consultancy now has a multidisciplinary team of more than 300 members.
MJV is composed of three pillars structured in complete synergy:
•ABusiness innovation: development and implementation of innovative solutions to reduce costs, increase revenue and generate new business models.
•ATechnology consulting: development and implementation of customized services on Business Intelligence (BI), IT and Internet of Things (Iot); and
•ADigital strategy: development and implementation of corporate strategy and user experience in a way that the digital mindset becomes intrinsic to the business model.
For MJV, innovation lies in the alliance of design principles and technology – empathy, creativity and user centered processes lead to relevant and impacting
solutions that generate real value for business. Distinct challenges require diverse approaches. Therefore, MJV’s consultants combine diverse expertise – Design Thinking, Service Design, Gamification, User Experience, Big Data, Lean Methodology, Internet of Things, among others – in order to transform complex challenges into innovative solutions.
The company seeks to share the insights and knowledge acquired in its projects by publishing books and articles, holding webinars and through its blog, which is fed with up-to-date and relevant content about technology and innovation. All this material is available for free on the following websites:
For further information, please contact:
MJV Technology & InnovationMauricio ViannaGlobal CEO, [email protected]
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Atlanta75 5th Street NW, Suite 424 - 30308Atlanta, GA - USAPhone: +1(404) 771-7187
BarueriAv. Sagitário, 138 - Gr. 2205 - 06473-073Barueri, SP - Brasil Phone: +55(11) 2898-4731
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