[{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BlogPosting","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2018\/09\/26\/top-3-ways-to-keep-pace-with-innovation\/#BlogPosting","mainEntityOfPage":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2018\/09\/26\/top-3-ways-to-keep-pace-with-innovation\/","headline":"The top 3 ways to keep pace with innovation","name":"The top 3 ways to keep pace with innovation","description":"To keep pace with innovation, you need more than technology. You must also incorporate specific practices and mindsets.","datePublished":"2018-09-26","dateModified":"2024-01-03","author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/contributor\/evan-klein\/#Person","name":"Evan Klein","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/contributor\/evan-klein\/","identifier":221,"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c584fcd4cada332944aace48e66b4c2e9a3ed57f2743c1e52751d9c66acaa7fe?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/c584fcd4cada332944aace48e66b4c2e9a3ed57f2743c1e52751d9c66acaa7fe?s=96&d=mm&r=g","height":96,"width":96}},"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"The Future of Commerce","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/logo-foc-schema-app-1.png","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/logo-foc-schema-app-1.png","width":172,"height":60}},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/thumbnail-370fe7116bb7cc49117456069299daab.jpeg","url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/thumbnail-370fe7116bb7cc49117456069299daab.jpeg","height":375,"width":1196},"url":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2018\/09\/26\/top-3-ways-to-keep-pace-with-innovation\/","about":[{"@type":"Thing","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/commerce\/","name":"Commerce","sameAs":["https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Commerce","http:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/entity\/Q26643"]},{"@type":"Thing","@id":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/commerce\/trends-commerce\/","name":"Trends","sameAs":["https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Fad","http:\/\/www.wikidata.org\/entity\/Q787045"]}],"wordCount":615,"keywords":["B2B","E-commerce Platforms","Innovation"],"articleBody":"Chatbots, blockchain, machine learning, connected clouds, internet of things, microservices. Disruption is everywhere, and keeping pace with innovation is at the forefront.For most businesses, digital transformation is a top priority. When I say this, people immediately think of technology platform implementations, migrations, and integrations. And it\u2019s true \u2013 technology is a huge driver behind digital transformation.But keeping pace with innovation goes beyond technology, and includes specific practices and mindsets.      3 ways to improve B2B e-commerce: It\u2019s all about CX                Improve B2B e-commerce by focusing on the customer experience and making it easier for your customers to do business with you.      3 ways businesses can keep pace with innovationIt’s a lot – managing processes that work, coming up with new ideas to make things work better, keeping abreast of disruption across various industries. How can an organization keep pace with innovation without losing themselves in the mix?Here are three ways:Don’t settle for the status quoValidate ideas with customersRemember implementation isn’t the end of innovationDon\u2019t settle for what everyone else is doing. One of my favorite things about being in the industry of digital transformation is working with our clients. As advisories, we lead strategic benchmarking and roadmap sessions with executives, and an important step in the process is a competitive analysis. We ask what competitors are doing that our clients should be doing as well. Then, we go one step further: what are clients\u2019 competitors not doing that would make life easier for their customers?No one knew that the taxi industry wasn\u2019t optimized until Lyft and Uber came along. And everyone relied on hotels until AirBnB started.Bottom line: If it\u2019s broke, fix it. And if it\u2019s not broke \u2013 well, take a good look at it anyway. With so many tools and technology at our fingertips, settling for the status quo is, simply put, not an acceptable option. Some of today\u2019s most innovative products and services are solutions to problems that we never realized existed \u2026 until we had a better option.      Improving the customer experience: A CX checklist                Improving the customer experience is mission critical for brands. Here's a checklist to help you make your CX resolutions \u2013 and keep them.      Validate your ideas with customers. If you\u2019re into podcasts, I listened to an interesting episode on This American Life a few weeks back about magicians. Yes, magicians. The story talked about the art of mastering a magic trick, and followed one magician with a great idea – or so he thought. When the magician presented the trick to a sample audience, the trick fell flat. Initially disappointed, he quickly learned that by collecting audience feedback, he was better positioned to perfect his show.Finally, after a year of practicing and validating his trick with the audience, he delivered innovation.The moral of the story is that not every idea is a great idea. Soliciting feedback from peers and customers can help you fine-tune innovation, or perhaps uncover other needs and challenges where new ideation is required.Implementation isn\u2019t the end when it comes to keeping pace with innovation.I always like to say that businesses don\u2019t have finish lines. Once you\u2019ve implemented a great idea, innovation must continue for a business to keep up with changing market demands.At my company, we achieve this through our continuous innovation delivery model. When we implement disruptive ideas, we commit to ongoing releases thereafter. This methodology allows our clients to bring an MVP to market faster and then proactively identify changing customer needs and innovate via iterative changes.  The future of business is calling.RISE to the occasion."},{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org\/","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"2018","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2018\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"09","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2018\/\/09\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"26","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2018\/\/09\/\/26\/#breadcrumbitem"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":4,"name":"The top 3 ways to keep pace with innovation","item":"https:\/\/www.the-future-of-commerce.com\/2018\/09\/26\/top-3-ways-to-keep-pace-with-innovation\/#breadcrumbitem"}]}]