By Erik Nijveld, Co-Founder and CEO of TechnologyCatalogue.com
Over the years we have supported multiple companies with streamlining their technology delivery. Our Technology & Innovation Framework has thereby proven to be very powerful. In this article, we provide a high-level overview of the framework.
The Technology & Innovation Framework consists of the building blocks as per the picture below.
Let's take a look at the items of the Technology & Innovation Framework
1. The starting point: Business Needs
Item 1 is a collection of business needs, at the right level of granularity. The business needs thereby need to be kept up-to-date.
2. Technology Database
Moving to item 2, an evergreen overview needs to be kept of relevant technologies that can address the business needs.
Needless to say that TechnologyCatalogue.com can help you with this, specifically with our Insights Navigator.
Insights Navigator
TechnologyCatalogue.com, with over a hundred thousand users in 2021 alone, is a gold mine for data on technology and innovation for the Energy Transition.
We can generate data that can be translated into actionable insights needed in finding and selecting the right solutions for your business, of course fully compliant with GDPR.
The technologies in the database may come from your internal R&D department (in case your company conducts in-house R&D).
In most cases though, the technologies would come from outside of your organisation. It is thereby important that one or more persons in your organisation are responsible for finding and selecting the most relevant technologies (something we can help with is feeding them with data and insights). In many cases, people would fulfil such a role next to other responsibilities they have. It can also be a combination of one or more full-time roles, in combination with multiple part-time resources across the organisation. In the text below, we further use the term Technology Team.
3. Technology Scouting
There are multiple arrows going downward from item 3, the reason being that the database can be populated with mature tech as well as tech under development.
In order to find & select the most relevant technologies, the Technology Team needs to have access to the latest business needs. Therefore there is a feedback loop from Item 1 to Item 3.
4. Market Insights and Trends
For the selection of technologies, the Technology Team also needs to make use of market insights & trends, item 4. For example, the trend to use robotics to reduce cost and improve safety.
5. Technology mapping
With the business needs and technology database available, technologies can then be mapped against the business needs, item 5. From time to time, it is useful to have dedicated technology workshops, although it should also be part of your daily work routine.
For the mapping, we recommend using a visual (Deployment Matrix), in combination with an underlying database. It is common that you thereby identify far more opportunities than your organisation can handle, and ranking of the opportunities is thus important.
6. Treat every technology deployment like a project
Once you have ranked the technologies and taken decisions, you need to essentially treat every technology deployment like a project; including flawless execution and a proper review. See item 6. The results of the technology deployments are thereby fed back to the Technology Team, such that they can capture the learnings.
Technology & Innovation Strategy
In addition to the above, there are two overarching elements, see the picture above. The first is the Technology & Innovation Strategy. Your strategy doesn’t need to be complicated. It can be as simple as: “we replicate what has been successfully used by other companies in our country, active in the same industry”. Or, for example: “we want to be industry leaders when it comes to CO2 emission reduction; in all other areas we want to be fast followers”. Etcetera. Keep it simple! This way providing a clear steer to your organisation.
Technology & Innovation Culture
Finally, it is important to have an effective Technology & Innovation Culture. There are many small things that can be done to create the right culture. For example, including technology examples in your engagements with staff; not only examples from within your organisation, but also from others. It is also important to reward staff. Not just for being the first to use a technology, but also for those that are 2nd, 3rd, etc. After all, that’s how the money is made: by making sure that technology gets replicated across the applicable base.
Again, this provides only a high-level overview of the Technology & Innovation Framework, but we hope you find it of use. Please contact us if you would like to discuss this further.
We would be more than happy to have an in-depth conversation around the framework, and discuss with you how it would apply to your company. We can also support you with implementing the framework in your organisation, including fit-for-purpose guidelines and procedures.
Contact us here:info@technologycatalogue.com
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