Innovation for the Masses

Innovation for the Masses

Brian Romansky
Director, New Business Opportunities
Pitney Bowes, Inc.

November 1, 2011

Brian.Romansky@pb.com

Product Development and Management Association
35th Product Innovation Management Annual Global Conference
October 29 – November 2, 2011 | Arizona Biltmore | Phoenix, Arizona

Pitney Bowes Overview
• $5.6B Revenue
• 33,000 Employees in over 100 countries
• 5 Lines of Business
• Customer Communications Management:
– Document prep, print, and mailing
– Location intelligence
– Mail Processing
– On-Site Services (print, scan, copy, mail, records)
• 90 Year Anniversary in 2010
35th 2011 | Arizona Biltmore | Phoenix, Arizona
October 29 – November 2, Product Innovation Management Annual Global Conference
October 29 – November 2, 2011 | Phoenix, Arizona 2

Employee Innovation Program
Launched in 2009
Goals
– Engage employees in innovation
– Foster a culture of innovation
– Drive ideas to action to create organic growth
Formation
– CEO mandate
– Web-based idea management system
– Spun-out of R&D and strategy organizations

Organizational Structure
Director – New Business
Opportunities

Challenge Architect
(Sr. Principle Engineer)

Functional
Innovation Innovation Innovation Innovation Innovation
Champion Champion Champion Champion Champion
Finance HR IT Strategy Legal

Operational
Innovation Innovation Innovation Innovation Innovation
Champion Champion Champion Champion Champion
Software Mgmt Services Mailing Sys. Prod. Mail Mail Services


Challenge Process

– Challenge architect facilitates the process
– Innovation champion is responsible for results
– Actions and metrics continue to be tracked after
the challenge has concluded

Challenge Results

> $50M

• 4000+ ideas and 6000 comments • 6600+ active participants
• 800+ actions 40% of wired population
World-wide participation
• Survived platform change
Functional and Operational Units

Defining the Task
Employee Innovation is not
about building a digital
suggestion box
– Focus on results and metrics
– Two-way dialog,
not anonymous
– Apply to real business
problems


Setting Expectations
Operating Functional
Units Units
“Big”
Ideas  
Incremental
Ideas  

Relative Activity Relative Value

"Big" Ideas Incremental "Big" Ideas Incremental
Innovation
Product Development and Management Association Innovation

Incremental Innovation Pedigree


Make it Meaningful
• Connect innovation to unit objectives
• Target the right audience
• Make the process transparent


Managed Progression Over Time
• 2009: % of employees engaged
• 2010: All units doing challenges
• 2011: Challenges linked to unit objectives
• 2012: Transparent process to manage actions


Connecting to Unit Objectives
1 – Far Exceeds 2 – Exceeds 3 – Meets 4 – Threshold
• Identify and publish
Innovation Relevant
Objectives (IRO)1
• Run one IdeaNet
challenge that addresses
an IRO
• Run one IdeaNet
challenge that
addresses an IRO and
meets best practices2
• Demonstrate progress4 based
on one or more actions arising
from IdeaNet
• Retain an Innovation Demonstrate action on ideas
Champion3 to facilitate employee
engagement
for organic growth and/or
• Publish an innovation process improvements and
dashboard5
behaviors that foster a culture
• Document measurable
results6 based on one of innovation.
or more actions arising
Product IdeaNet
from Development and Management Association

Mapping Challenges to Populations
– Target a population
that has insight to the
challenge problem Business
Unit
– Provide background
information
– Avoid saturation Special Interest Group
– All challenges are
“visible” to all
employees, only the
target group is
“invited” All Employees

Mapping Challenges to Populations
Business
Partners
Business
Unit
Customers

External Special Interest Group
Experts

All Employees

Relentless Pursuit of Results
• Respond to every idea submitted
• Look beyond the ideas for common themes
• Overcome common barriers to
implementation
• Emphasize action over analysis


Making Sense of Employee Ideas

Idea Ranking and
Selection

• Cluster ideas into themes
• Define actions that are based on multiple “ideas”
• Move from “review meetings” to “project team meetings”
• When possible, include idea submitters in the execution

“We are already doing …”
Are we really?
– Often this means “Somebody said something like
this before and maybe even put it on a project
plan”
– Do we have valid metrics and results?

Can we better communicate ongoing actions?
– Well informed employees armed with a clear
strategy are better innovators
– How do you effectively share the current portfolio?

Classic Implementation Barriers
Functional units are not designed for change
– Quick-fix is to simply define projects with accountable
leaders – run them as an “exception”
– Rely on innovation champion to follow-through
– Longer-term solution: Create a program office

Operational units resist change
– Classic “innovator’s dilemma” problem
– Most new product concepts get stuck in analysis
– Advise learning through action in the market (lean startup)


Emphasis on Action over Analysis

Product Development and Management Association www.pbsalestrigger.com

Future Plans
• Each unit to implement a transparent process to
follow-through on actions
• Further de-centralization of innovation process
• Corporate function to focus on implementing
breakthrough concepts

Research
• Methods to communicate innovation activity
• Use challenges to identify unmet needs

Innovation for the Masses

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