Table of Contents
Innovation management refers to the tools and processes for managing innovation within an organization beginning from identification of ideas to the development of the final product or service. The purpose of innovation management is to transform the business, increase productivity and attain high profitability. According to Osenieks and Babauska (2014), innovation management contributes to the creation of new business ideas, models, technologies, products, and services. Besides, innovation management is ideal for enhancing the satisfaction of both employees and customers. Notably, managing innovation in cloud technology can involve different innovation management frameworks. In this case, the applicable frameworks are technology push, market pull, and interactive model.
Technology Push
According to Simsit (2014), technology push refers to a linear framework whereby innovation occurs in discrete steps. This approach involves identifying an idea and using R&D to develop it further, producing the product or service and then marketing it. Ideally, technology push does not consider the level of consumer satisfaction, so long as the product or service gains acceptability into the market. Technology push relies on several critical success factors such as company, product and recent market trends. Besides, the level of uncertainty is another crucial factor that determines the success of technology push. Critical stages in technology push are discovery, incubation, and acceleration (Holzleitner, 2015). Balancing these three stages makes it easy to apply the framework to future product design. Technology push is highly applicable to the field of cloud computing because it facilitates the quick design of apps and related technologies and releasing them to the market. The best approach for improving this framework is engaging employees in conducting market research and giving feedback. Thus, it is easy to know the performance of the product in the market.
Market Pull
Market pull involves identifying new ideas that can generate a product or service to fill a gap existing in the market. An organization can conduct a market research or rely on its potential customers to identify the gap (Nagano et al., 2014). In the linear model, marker pull begins with conducting a market search, identifying the need, R&D, marketing and then selling the product. This strategy has several benefits over the technology pull. For instance, it is easy for a product to gain high acceptability in the market. Besides, it is possible to identify a market gap that has to be addressed to meet the needs of customers directly. Market pull is highly applicable to cloud computing because it is possible to generate technologies which are not present in the current market (Kadar et al., 2014). Furthermore, this framework makes it easy to engage with the customer using social media platforms, unlike technology push where it is difficult to attract customers. Improving this framework involves creating an online platform where customers can give their information regarding their needs or the provided products and services. This strategy will enable the organization to understand the level of client’s satisfaction.
Interactive Framework
The interactive framework involves a combination of technology push and market pull models (Simsit, 2014). The framework relies on technology and market demands to innovate products or services that can satisfy the needs of consumers. This framework involves non-linear sequence consisting of several phases (Simsit, 2014). The first and last processes of innovation can occur at any phase. The random stages are product development, conception, marketing, and production. The strength of the interactive model is that it is easy to produce a product while conducting a market research at the same time. Compared to technology push and market pull, interactive framework promotes could computing products because it is easy to generate a new technology or app which meets market needs and push it to gain a high acceptability. It is possible to improve interactive framework by identifying new technologies which can engage directly both the consumers and employees. This approach will make it easy to address the needs of customers and to increase employees’ satisfaction.
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