Inquiry Insights: Innovation, Q1 2008

After several years of dedicated research coverage of innovation as a management concept, Forrester's analysis of its client inquiries shows a steady increase in the volume and specificity of client questions around this topic. Inquiries from user companies are more specific and practical in their focus — indicating that the early adopters of innovation best practices are giving way to fast followers. To effectively meet mainstream users' growing demand for innovation assistance, vendor strategists should design and market a broad array of innovation management solutions, ranging from idea management tools to CRM-like apps to coordinate external Innovation Networks. But vendor strategists should also practice what they preach by incorporating the innovation best practices that they promote to their clients into their own internal operations.