Reinspire existing teams
As businesses adapt to digital, they place new expectations on established teams. Their R&D may still follow standardized processes, which have been in place for decades.
“We taught people for decades that they should work in closed systems,” says Michael Nilles. “Now we are saying ‘Hey, you should work in open systems and ecosystems, you need to exchange data.”
Motivating people to think differently means bringing together individuals who used to work separately, to share ideas in collaborative and innovative environments. To further encourage idea-generation, Henkel plans to introduce a digital innovation fund that enables teams to turn raw ideas into prototypes.
Embed data and start-up thinking
Manufacturers are well-aware of competition from digital-native competitors. They recognize that data can make their innovation more consumer focused.
“We need to better understand our end-customer,” says Michael Nilles. “We anticipate what they want, whether that’s personalisation or a direct-to-consumer experience, so we can keep their loyalty in the future.”
With this ambition in mind, Henkel is conducting real-time market research with a turnaround time of 24 hours. It is also striving to act faster with its findings. Instead of embarking on long-term market research into new products, as was the case in the past, it is developing minimal viable products to test in the market.
