At each of the five Celent Innovation Roundtables held in the last several months, innovation practitioners consistently identify culture change as a significant success factor. A particular challenge, poor communication between technologists and their business partners, is often cited as a barrier.
The Second Machine Age by MIT professors Erik Brynjolfsson (@erikbryn) and Andrew McAfee (@amcafee) offers some help. Their explanation of digital innovation made a big impression on me as the clearest description that I have found so far. The approach is simple: “digital information .is built on multiple layers”. It is a “recipe” of different automation solutions mixed together. That is, look at a list of digital technologies, pick a few and combine them in unique ways so that they work together, and deliver new value.
This description led me to revisit some Celent insurance innovation case studies and rethink how to best explain them. The first, the AXA claims example (
The second study is from Tokio Marine & Nichido Fire Insurance Co., Ltd. They were recognized as a Celent Model Insurer for their One Time Insurance product (
The value of this explanation is not only academic. Layering strikes me as a useful tool to explain how all of this “digital stuff” can fit together. The recipe and layering metaphors succinctly describe digital in non-technical, accessible terms. It can be used with any audience to illustrate how the sum of the parts can be greater than the whole.
I also see value in using layering to generate new ideas. My thought is that, in an interactive session, a group of participants can create a list of technologies, data sources, etc. and then brainstorm different combinations from them.
Our continuing research illustrates that there is no one prescription for innovation, but there are guideposts to follow. The use of the layering metaphor to improve communication and as a technique for brainstorming is one such guide.
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Mike Fitzgerald is a senior analyst in Celent's insurance practice, and can be reached at mfitzgerald@celent.com.
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