Do you really need disruptive innovation?

The term disruptive innovation has become distorted and misunderstood, and organizations need to stop and reset their understanding of innovation. Disruptive innovation is rarely rapid and requires large amounts of capital, human and financial, and also luck. Genuine disruptive innovation requires targeting a lower profit, less demanding market where none previously existed, and may not interest existing customers. Most large and established businesses are not equipped for disruptive innovation, and may not need it. Instead, organizations need to focus on incremental innovation that unlocks the full potential of existing technology and corporate memory while increasing value to the customer in the markets they are already serving. To achieve this, organizations need a system in place that measures, supports, adapts and sustains incremental innovation. Building an innovation culture, purpose-built software platforms, key stakeholders, and a safe environment that sees measured failure as learning, and a published plan are some steps that organizations can follow to maximize the outcomes of their attempts to innovate.