Business case meeting

Invitation email

Meeting information

Overview

• Technology innovation management ensures that our organization has access to new technology to increase revenue and reduce costs and risks.
• The technology innovation management setup project sets up a distinctive capability to find, assess, and test technology solutions for our organization.
• The technology innovation management setup project explains the procedures and sets them up in our organization.

Goal

• We learn good practices for finding, assessing, and evaluating technology solutions for our organization.
• We facilitate thinking about how important technology is for our organization.
• We incorporate our employees in finding technology solutions for our organization.

Objectives

• Maximize the number of considered technology solution categories.
• Maximize the number of evaluated technology solutions.
• Minimize the time it takes to evaluate a technology solution.

Challenge

• Startups create new technology solutions every day.
• We don’t know what technology solutions are available and which could be useful for our organization.
• Organizational functions don’t cover this organizational challenge in a systematized way yet.

Possible solutions

• We continue managing technology innovations ad-hoc without a distinctive process.
• We conduct a quick-fix solution, pretending to manage technology innovation in a proper way.
• We set up a technology innovation management process to properly find, assess, and evaluate technology solutions for our organization.

Solution recommendation

• We set up a technology innovation management process.
• We test the process and incorporate stakeholder and employee feedback.
• We continually improve our technology innovation management process.

Benefits

• We find better innovative technology solutions fitting our organization’s needs.
• We find, evaluate, and test innovative technology solutions faster.
• We find cheaper technology solutions in comparison to what we use now, and in comparison to other market-available solutions.

Limitations

• Technology innovation management doesn’t work without the input of stakeholders and employees due to the high number of technology solutions and their categories.
• Technology innovation management is resource-intense because of the fast changes in the corresponding technology markets.
• Technology innovation management focuses on finding and evaluating solutions. Other teams procure these solutions, implement them, and manage existing suppliers.

Procurement

• Technology innovation management is accountable for finding and evaluating new solutions, but not for procuring, implementing, and running them.
• The project includes costs for external consultants supporting us to set up the technology innovation management process.
• The project doesn’t include any costs related to the procurement and implementation of technology solutions.

Budget

• We recommend a budget of 1/2 FTE per 100 employees for technology innovation management, respectively 2 FTE per 1,000 employees.
• We recommend an initial budget of 20k EUR for external consulting services.
• We recommend starting the discussion about our technology landscape and possible investments.

Risks

• We don’t see the value in systematically managing technology innovations.
• We can’t commit the resources for a long-term technology innovation process.
• We can’t measure the outcomes of technology innovation management to communicate our successes.

Risk mitigation

• We show examples and case studies of other organizations’ successful technology innovation adoption.
• We reduce the price for technology innovation management and calculate ROI examples.
• We make assumptions when calculating outcomes.

Outline plan

1. We ask stakeholders about their views.
2. We develop a technology innovation strategy.
3. We set up a technology solution research procedure.
4. We ask our supplier for potential technology solutions.
5. We set up an internal technology innovation community of practice.
6. We determine a technology innovation pre-implementation procedure.
7. We set up a technology innovation network together with partner organizations.

Required resources

• We assign two internal part-time technology innovation managers.
• We work with external consultants to execute this project.
• We need some time from many operational people and stakeholders of various teams and functions.

Timescale

• We’ll need approx. three to six months for the initial setup project.
• We aim to make progress step by step on a weekly basis.
• We’ll offer individual support to organizational units based on their demands and schedule.

Project management

• We manage this project, including all activities necessary to make it a success.
• We continually report to all involved stakeholders about the current status and changes to the plan.
• We develop technology innovation management good practices for future use by our organization.

Follow-up email

Project planning meeting

Invitation email

Meeting information

Project integration

• We lead and manage this project by reducing the friction that could occur working with several project teams and/or sub-projects.
• We coordinate the project with the project team, in collaboration with superiors, sponsors, and stakeholders.
• The project team includes the people who will later manage the technology innovation management process, reducing friction from project to process.

Project scope

• The project aims to set up a technology innovation management process to find and evaluate innovative technology solutions for our organization’s improvement and innovation.
• The project includes all tasks until technology innovation management operations are up and running.
• The project doesn’t include setting up activities that are considered technology innovation management activities by some management frameworks (e.g., business modeling, technology solution development).

Project schedule

• The goal is to execute the project in the next six months.
• The schedule includes all the steps from the first meeting to achieving a working technology innovation management process.
• The project has external dependencies, especially aligning with other teams and functions.

Project costs

• The project has calculatory internal costs.
• Hiring an external consultant costs 20k EUR - 50k EUR.
• The ongoing technology innovation management process will account for approx. one FTE.

Project quality

• The project will conduct evaluation activities before designing and implementing the final technology innovation management process.
• The project will be in close contact with a wide array of stakeholders to elicit and implement their requirements with the desired quality.
• The project team will determine and discuss project quality criteria and is open to feedback from employees, superiors, sponsors, and stakeholders.

Project resources

• We set up a project team integrating the different work streams of this project.
• The project team is the single point of contact for all superiors, sponsors, and stakeholders.
• The project team will (partly) transition to the process team and/or will properly train the process team.

Project communications

• The project team is the single point of contact and the single source of truth for all employees, superiors, sponsors, and stakeholders.
• The project team values high-quality written documentation in addition to verbal explanations in meetings.
• The project team will use mass distribution communication to inform employees about the project, including future processes.

Project risks

• The project has some risks regarding the internal project team’s expertise and experience in technology innovation management.
• The project has risks regarding the interests, wants, and needs of the various stakeholders.
• The project has risks regarding the time and effort needed to fully execute the project until the technology innovation management process is running.

Project procurement

• The project includes the procurement of consulting services.
• The project doesn’t include the procurement of a technology innovation management software tool.
• The project doesn’t include the procurement of innovative technology solutions (this is part of individual projects).

Project stakeholders

• Sponsor: The project sponsor has a true interest in improving the organization’s technology innovation management process.
• Future users: Future users will use the established process to find and evaluate innovative technology solutions.
• Primary stakeholders: The primary stakeholders are the other teams and functions in need of innovative technology solutions.

Follow-up

Project C4I meeting

Invitation email

Meeting information

Project communication

• We communicate via email with a shared inbox to ensure that we receive all emails and everyone stays in the loop.
• We communicate via an email distribution list to internal stakeholders to ensure that we don’t forget anyone.
• We communicate regularly so that everyone stays up to date.

Project coordination

• We coordinate activities with sponsors, internal stakeholders, and external suppliers.
• We coordinate the project and all activities centrally due to the small project size.
• We coordinate the task distribution in written form and with regular meetings, instead of ad hoc.

Project cooperation

• We cooperate with our project sponsor to ensure all targets are met.
• We cooperate with internal stakeholders, especially service operations teams.
• We cooperate with external suppliers to include their expertise and experience in our future processes.

Project collaboration

• We collaborate in shared text documents and tables.
• We collaborate on wiki pages to see changes in real-time.
• We prefer cooperation instead of collaboration on documents, in order to reduce discussions about written output.

Project information

• We update our sponsor and internal stakeholders regularly and communicate any new information immediately.
• We inform external suppliers about this project and our target of setting up a process.
• We inform our project members about new developments in time, preferably through written asynchronous channels (e.g., email, wiki chapters).

Follow-up email

Meeting title

Invitation email

Meeting information

Technology innovation management in a nutshell

• Effectiveness: We find innovative technology solutions, making our organization and its customer solutions better, faster, and cheaper.
• Efficiency: We find innovative technology solutions with less effort through a structured process.
• Sustainability: We don’t forget innovative technology solutions due to a lack of information management.

Technology innovation management setup project

• Explanation: We explain technology innovation management and how our organization can profit from it.
• Setup: We set up the technology innovation management process and initially test it.
• Sharing: We share our experience internally and with affiliated external organizations.

Technology innovation management habits

• Finding technology innovations: We find innovative technology solutions suitable for our organization.
• Evaluating technology innovations: We evaluate innovative technology solutions to progress with the best-fitting ones.
• Setting up internal and external communities: We set up an internal technology innovation community to exchange good practices on technology innovation.

Advantages of technology innovation management

• Better: Better technology solutions improve and innovate our organization and make our customer solutions better, faster, and cheaper.
• Faster: Faster search, testing, and implementation preparation bring innovative technology solutions to our organization quicker.
• Cheaper: Cheaper technology solutions let us realize cost savings with the same technology quality.

Follow-up email

Stakeholder interviews preparation meeting

Invitation email

Meeting information

Why do we conduct employee interviews?

• We elicit our organization’s challenges regarding technology innovation management.
• We prepare our technology innovation management setup project.
• We receive helpful feedback before we get into the details with individual teams.

How will we conduct employee interviews?

• Invitation via email.
• Broad selection of appointment dates and times.
• Flexible date and time change possible.

• One-hour web meeting.
• No preparation needed.
• Time for Q&A and individual feedback.

• Semi-structured interview.
• Ten questions in one hour.
• Feedback at the end and updates after the interview.

What questions will we ask?

1. What are your challenges/requirements/preferences regarding technology innovation management?
2. What are your challenges/requirements/preferences regarding our (technology) innovation strategy?
3. What are your challenges/requirements/preferences regarding researching and evaluating innovative technology solutions?
4. What are your challenges/requirements/preferences regarding innovating together with existing suppliers?
5. What are your challenges/requirements/preferences regarding organizational-internal exchange about technology innovation?
6. What are your challenges/requirements/preferences regarding the procurement, implementation, and adoption of innovative technology solutions?
7. What are your challenges/requirements/preferences regarding setting up external innovation partner networks with other organizations?

Follow-up email

Stakeholder interview meeting

Invitation email

Meeting information

Question 1

1. What are your challenges/requirements/preferences regarding technology innovation management?

Question 2

1. What are your challenges/requirements/preferences regarding our (technology) innovation strategy?

Question 3

1. What are your challenges/requirements/preferences regarding researching and evaluating innovative technology solutions?

Question 4

1. What are your challenges/requirements/preferences regarding innovating together with existing suppliers?

Question 5

1. What are your challenges/requirements/preferences regarding organizational-internal exchange about technology innovation?

Question 6

1. What are your challenges/requirements/preferences regarding the procurement, implementation, and adoption of innovative technology solutions?

Question 7

1. What are your challenges/requirements/preferences regarding setting up external innovation partner networks with other organizations?

Follow-up email

Employee survey meeting

Invitation email

Meeting information

Why

• Awareness: We create awareness for the need for technology innovation management as an organizational capability.
• Feedback: We collect feedback about the current situation and possible future changes.
• Participation: We practice participatory decision-making with this survey.

How

• We’ll define the to-be-invited group instead of creating a list of names.
• We’ll invite participants via email and will remember them with additional emails.
• We’ll give invitees at least two weeks to participate in the survey.

• We’ll use an already-implemented software tool, if available.
• Alternatively, we’ll use an external cloud software tool and provide a clear data protection hint to the invitees.
• We’re open to survey software tool ideas.

• We aim to formalize the survey to make it halfway statistically useful.
• We aim to evaluate the closed survey in the following two weeks.
• We’ll share the survey results first with the stakeholders, then with all employees.

What

1. What are your challenges/requirements/preferences regarding technology innovation management?
2. What are your challenges/requirements/preferences regarding our (technology) innovation strategy?
3. What are your challenges/requirements/preferences regarding researching and evaluating innovative technology solutions?
4. What are your challenges/requirements/preferences regarding innovating together with existing suppliers?
5. What are your challenges/requirements/preferences regarding organizational-internal exchange about technology innovation?
6. What are your challenges/requirements/preferences regarding the procurement, implementation, and adoption of innovative technology solutions?
7. What are your challenges/requirements/preferences regarding setting up external innovation partner networks with other organizations?

Survey invitation text

Follow-up email

Interviews and survey results meeting

Invitation email

Meeting information

Interview results

• Technology innovation management is an important topic for our organization.
• Technology innovation management is an underrepresented and underestimated topic for our organization.
• We should improve our technology innovation management capabilities.
• It’s worth it to investigate deeper.

Survey data

• 123 survey participants
• 100 completed surveys
• 7 questions answered on average
• 10,000 words written
• 12 additional feedback emails received

Question 1

• We don’t have a structured technology innovation capability/process/function yet.
• We don’t connect business model innovation and technology innovation with each other.
• We don’t have honest discussions about the need for faster (technology) innovation management.

Question 2

• We don’t have a technology innovation strategy, or I don’t know about it.
• We aren’t currently discussing a technology innovation strategy.
• We don’t have people working on a technology innovation strategy.

Question 3

• We don’t have a structured process for researching and evaluating innovative technology solutions.
• We don’t have good practices for researching and evaluating innovative technology solutions.
• I don’t have the resources to do this in addition to my current tasks.

Question 4

• Innovating with our suppliers isn’t a primary topic for me.
• I have no idea how to start innovating with our suppliers.
• Our suppliers aren’t able to innovate with us/anyone.

Question 5

• We don’t have an organizational-internal information/knowledge exchange about technology innovation.
• I don’t have the resources for more meetings/workshops/emails.
• We have enough exchanges, but without effective and efficient progress.

Question 6

• Innovation is only a minor topic when procuring technology solutions.
• Our implementation and adoption practices need improvement and innovation, too.
• The whole process from search to adoption is split between various functions/teams.

Question 7

• External innovation partner networks aren’t a topic for us yet.
• External innovation partner networks sound too far away for our organization.
• We don’t have the right organizational culture for cooperation or even coopetition.

Follow-up email

Solution options meeting

Invitation email

Meeting information

Option 1: Minimum technology innovation management capability

• The minimum capability includes basic process steps for recording innovative technology innovations that have been discovered.
• The minimum capability includes a small number of basic standard operating procedures to communicate innovative technology solutions to stakeholders.
• The minimum capability doesn’t include a process to find, evaluate, and discuss innovative technology solutions.

Option 2: Standard technology innovation management capability

• The standard capability includes process steps to systematically research innovative technology solutions.
• The standard capability includes process steps to evaluate innovative technology solutions on a basic level, and communicate their potential value to stakeholders.
• The standard capability doesn’t include the sophisticated evaluation procedures and process steps required to prepare implementation and set up technology innovation communities and partner networks.

Option 3: Strategic technology innovation management capability

• The strategic capability includes sophisticated search, evaluation, and implementation process steps to support innovation through technology end-to-end.
• The strategic capability includes steps to prepare technology innovations for the procurement, implementation, and adoption process and sets up internal communities and external partner networks to implement all possible stakeholders’ information and knowledge early in the process.
• The strategic capability leaves sourcing, procurement, business model innovation, process innovation, and other functions with other teams, but integrates these capabilities as much as possible.

Follow-up email

Function alignment meeting

Invitation email

Meeting information

What the sourcing/procurement function does

• Discusses service requirements with business units.
• Develops contracts, procures new services.
• Onboards new suppliers.

What the supplier management function does

• Manages existing supplier relationships.
• Executes closed contracts.
• Ensures proper service delivery.

What the (business model) innovation function does

• Designs and tests new business models.
• Develops minimum viable products/services.
• Researches market and business modeling trends.

What the line-of-business functions do

• Determine solution needs.
• Determine areas of necessary improvements.
• Provide an overview of general market trends in their area.

What the partner management function does

• Develops new partner relationships to develop solutions together.
• Develops partner-based innovations.
• Determines the need for innovative technology solutions for partner-based innovations.

What the technology innovation function does

• Researches industry and market trends in horizontal and vertical technology solution areas.
• Finds and evaluates innovative technology solutions together with the above functions/teams.
• Sets up innovation communities and partnerships with other organizations to develop and adopt technology innovations together.

What we do together

• Understanding each other's processes.
• Designing common process interfaces.
• Developing shared templates and workflows.

How we meet and align

• Meeting regularly and aligning processes.
• Developing our functions together.
• Explaining our tasks and accountabilities to business stakeholders together.

Follow-up email

Strategy meeting

Invitation email

Meeting information

Better technology solutions

• We find technology solutions that are more effective in getting things done.
• We find technology solutions that are easier to use and automate our processes.
• We find technology solutions that measurably improve our business outcomes.

Faster technology innovation adoption

• We find technology solutions we can adopt faster organization-wide.
• We find technology solutions people like to use.
• We find technology solutions people don’t need training for.

Cheaper technology solutions and adoption process

• We find technology solutions that are cost-efficient.
• We find technology solutions that have a price based on usage (instead of per-user licensing).
• We find technology solutions with low implementation and adoption costs.

What we are looking for

• Innovative technology solutions in the areas we want to renew our technology landscape.
• Innovative technology solutions in areas we want to extend our business.
• Innovative technology solutions in process areas we want to automate.

What we aren’t looking for

• Innovative technology solutions that are fancy but don’t bring true value to the organization.
• Innovative technology solutions in fancy bullshit bingo areas.
• Technology solutions that use fancy bullshit bingo terms but aren’t anything new.

Follow-up email

Current organizational technology landscape elicitation meeting

Invitation email

Meeting information

Who maintains an overview of our technology landscape?

• We set up clear competencies to elicit, monitor, and manage our technology landscape.
• We align this competency with our enterprise architects, application managers, and technology innovation team.
• We regularly communicate between these teams, maintaining a common understanding about ongoing activities.

How do we maintain an overview of our technology landscape?

• We maintain internal lists of technology solutions in use.
• We manage interdependencies between technology solutions.
• We regularly collect feedback about the technology solutions in use.

What are the solution categories we currently have in use?

• What technology solutions do we currently have in use?
• What technology solution categories do we currently have in use?
• In which areas do we most urgently need technology innovations?

Follow-up email

Market trends meeting

Invitation email

Meeting information

Why observe market trends?

• Innovations don’t come to us. We must find, develop, and adopt innovations.
• Markets are changing faster than ever.
• The high number of markets and market trends makes it hard to see trends without a clear process.

How to observe market trends

• Reading technical and non-technical newspapers
• Reading books
• Subscribing to paid research newsletters
• Reading white papers of suppliers/providers/vendors

What are some current market trends (examples)?

• Data analytics for everyone (with much less technical expertise needed)
• Low-code/No-code software development
• Robotic process automation

Follow-up email

Focus areas meeting

Invitation email

Meeting information

Why do we determine our research focus areas?

• We cannot research market trends and innovative technology solutions in all possible markets.
• We focus on the areas that are relevant for our organization.
• We research market trends in different detail layers (all as an overview → small numbers in detail)

How do we determine our research focus areas?

• We ask our organization about its needs.
• We ask our supplier about their opinion.
• We ask our customers and our competitors about their views.

What are our research focus areas?

• Our organization’s industry
• Our technology solutions’ markets
• Our people/process/technology needs

Follow-up email

Organizational focus areas meeting

Invitation email

Meeting information

What are our industry/market focus areas?

• Professional services
• Consulting services
• Outsourcing services
• Industries we serve

• Product organization
• Hyperscaling organization
• Industries we don’t serve

What are our functional focus areas?

• Human resources, especially recruitment
• Internal command, control, communication, coordination, cooperation, collaboration
• Internal information & knowledge management
• Digital marketing
• Digital service delivery

• Internal procurement
• Sales support

What are our solution category focus areas?

• Collaboration and information management software tools
• Low-code/No-code software tools
• Digital marketing & client communication software tools

• New CRM tools (salespeople don’t want to change)
• Additional sales management tools (salespeople don’t use them)
• Procurement software tools (our partners don’t like them)

Follow-up email

Innovation research meeting

Invitation email

Meeting information

Why do we research innovative technology solutions?

• Researching market trends is necessary but not sufficient.
• We need a list of concrete innovative technology solutions for evaluation.
• Concrete innovative technology solutions are the input for evaluation, community discussion, and procurement preparation.

How do we research innovative technology solutions?

• Startup news observation (e.g., TechCrunch, Crunchbase News)
• Vendor/solution directories (e.g., Crunchbase)
• Web search for “list of XYZ solutions”

What are some examples of innovative technology solutions for our organization?

• Low-code/No-code: Bryter, Microsoft Power Apps, Retool
• Asynchronous communication: Threads, Tipi, Twist
• Information management: Coda, Microsoft Loop, Notion

Follow-up email

Research interviews preparation meeting

Invitation email

Meeting information

Goal

• Research interviews collect market/industry trends and innovative technology solutions from our stakeholders and employees.
• Research interviews collect possible technology innovation management process improvements.
• Research interviews are part of the preparation of the research survey by identifying focus topic areas.

Format

• Around 20 research interviews throughout our organization.
• One hour per interview.
• One hour follow-up for creating written notes.

Questions

1. How do you perceive the current state of our organization’s technology innovation management?
2. What should be the focus of our organization’s technology innovation management?
3. What are the current industry/market trends our organization should look at?
4. What are the current functional trends you see in your function?
5. What are the current technology solution (category) trends our organization should look at?
6. What would you like to have an innovative technology solution for?
7. What technology solutions do other organizations in our industry/market implement?
8. How can our organization better search, find, and monitor technology innovation trends/developments for our organization?
9. How can our organization procure, implement, and adopt innovative technology solutions quicker?
10. What else is important for you?

Follow-up email

Research interview meeting

Invitation email

Meeting information

Question 1

• How do you perceive the current state of our organization’s technology innovation management?

Question 2

• What should be the focus of our organization’s technology innovation management?

Question 3

• What are the current industry/market trends our organization should look at?

Question 4

• What are the current functional trends you see in your function?

Question 5

• What are the current technology solution (category) trends our organization should look at?

Question 6

• What would you like to have an innovative technology solution for?

Question 7

• What technology solutions do other organizations in our industry/market implement?

Question 8

• How can our organization better search, find, and monitor technology innovation trends/developments for our organization?

Question 9

• How can our organization procure, implement, and adopt innovative technology solutions quicker?

Question 10

• What else is important for you?

Follow-up email

Research survey meeting

Invitation email

Meeting information

Why will we conduct a research survey?

• We’ll collect various information about possible technology innovations from our employees.
• We’ll receive information from many employees, instead of only from key stakeholders.
• We’ll receive additional feedback on how to collect more information from our employees in the future.

How will we conduct an employee survey?

• We’ll define the to-be-invited group instead of creating a list of names.
• We’ll invite participants via email and will remind them with additional emails.
• We’ll give invitees at least two weeks to participate in the survey.

• We’ll use a software tool that is already implemented, if available.
• Alternatively, we’ll use an external cloud software tool and provide clear data protection information for the invitees.
• We’re open to survey software tool ideas.

• We aim to formalize the survey to make it somewhat statistically useful.
• We aim to evaluate the closed survey in the following two weeks.
• We’ll share the survey results with the stakeholders first, then with all employees.

What questions will the employee survey include?

1. How do you perceive the current state of our organization’s technology innovation management?
2. What should be the focus of our organization’s technology innovation management?
3. What are the current industry/market trends our organization should look at?
4. What are the current functional trends you see in your function?
5. What are the current technology solution (category) trends our organization should look at?
6. What would you like to have an innovative technology solution for?
7. What technology solutions do other organizations in our industry/market implement?
8. How can our organization better search, find, and monitor technology innovation trends/developments for our organization?
9. How can our organization procure, implement, and adopt innovative technology solutions quicker?
10. What else is important for you?

Survey invitation text

Follow-up email

Research interviews and survey results meeting

Invitation email

Meeting information

Interview results

• Technology innovation management has potential for improvement.
• People understand our market, their functions, and current trends.
• We gathered lots of good technology innovation ideas.

Survey data

• 56 survey participants
• 42 completed surveys
• 15 questions answered on average
• 10,000 words written
• 3 additional feedback emails received

Question 1

• Not much activity so far
• Room for improvement
• The steps after innovation are identified are unclear

Question 2

• Many solutions exist, why don’t we try more?
• Faster evaluation, procurement, implementation, adoption
• Organizational bureaucracy slows down technology innovation adoption

Question 3

• Open information
• Faster implementation
• Self-service technology requires less consulting and outsourcing

Question 4

• Content marketing
• Marketing automation
• Clients decide before they contact us

Question 5

• Asynchronous communication software tools
• New wiki software tools
• Low-code/no-code software tools

Question 6

• Create faster quotes
• Communicate earlier with potential new clients
• Design new professional services business models

Question 7

• Professional services automation
• Marketing automation
• New internal/external communication tools

Question 8

• Internal communication and information & knowledge exchange
• Listening to our clients
• Monitoring industry news

Question 9

• Clear accountabilities and processes
• Clear business cases
• Solutions with usage-based pricing

Question 10

• Technology innovation is important for us
• Business model and technology innovation work best together
• We must innovate faster and more aggressively to stay ahead of the competition

Follow-up email

Table structure meeting

Invitation email

Meeting information

Why

• We maintain technology-innovation-related information in several tables to maintain an overview.
• Table structures are a possible framework for processes and procedures and work in conjunction with standard operating procedures.
• Table structures are the input to create forms and templates as part of process/workflow management.

How

• What information do we want to collect?
• What information do our internal stakeholders need?
• What information do our existing suppliers need?

Trends table

• Trend name
• Identifier
• Status
• Category
• Organizational function
• Description
• Organizational impact
• Opportunities/risks
• Trend owner
• Organizational response

Solution categories table

• Solution category name
• Identifier
• Status
• Category
• Organizational function
• Description
• Potential for organization
• Opportunities/risks
• Solution category owner
• Solutions (rollup)

Innovative technology solutions table

• Solution name
• Identifier
• Status
• Category
• Description
• Evaluation
• Potential costs
• Business case
• Opportunities/risks
• Solution owner
• Solution category (rollup)

Follow-up email

Supplier innovation process meeting

Invitation email

Meeting information

Why do we ask suppliers for technology innovation?

• Companies know their markets and suppliers have the interest of gaining business (or making a good impression at least).
• Suppliers have connections to a network of companies, like what we have for our customers.
• By asking our suppliers for help, we make them happy and maintain our organizational relationship.

How do we ask suppliers for technology innovation?

• We set up distinctive technology innovation meetings to discuss our challenges.
• We give them time to come up with ideas on how to help us.
• We challenge consulting and outsourcing firms in particular because and have high standards for their advice to us.

Which suppliers do we ask for technology innovation?

• Which suppliers are the most interesting/promising to introduce us to innovative technology solutions?
• Which consulting/outsourcing firms work for us?
• Which suppliers actively market their innovation competence?

Follow-up email

Supplier portfolio meeting

Invitation email

Meeting information

Why do we want to learn about your portfolio?

• We prefer working with suppliers we already know instead of onboarding new suppliers and explaining our organization from scratch to them.
• We know you offer more than we receive today from you, and we don’t want to miss opportunities to innovate with you.
• We value modularized, systematized, and standardized offers compared to individually negotiated solutions.

How do we want to learn about your portfolio?

• Please provide us with an portfolio update of your organization.
• Please send us updates about new portfolio elements as soon you’re ready to sell them to us.
• Communicate the maturity of your portfolio elements openly to us so that we know if we’re a test customer or a laggard.

What elements of your portfolio are relevant to our organization?

• Please provide a portfolio catalog as a (horizontal) PDF file.
• You know our organization. What do you recommend to us?
• What portfolio elements aren’t relevant to us and why?

Follow-up email

Supplier innovation meeting

Invitation email

Meeting information

Why do we want to innovate with you?

• You know our organization and the industry/market.
• We value our business together and appreciate your regular open feedback.
• You offer a portfolio of interesting solutions and have a broad and deep partner network you could introduce us to.

How do we want to innovate with you?

• We explain some current business challenges to you and listen to your advice.
• We invite you to introduce us to your additional portfolio and/or your partner network.
• You can come back to us at any time for another discussion about your ideas.

What are our current organizational challenges?

• We want to automate our internal processes.
• We want to modularize, systematize, and standardize our portfolio and the corresponding service delivery processes.
• We want to innovate our marketing with useful information and advice instead of content and sales meetings.

Follow-up email

Supplier partner introduction meeting

Invitation email

Meeting information

Why are we interested in your partner network?

• We’re always looking for additional business opportunities to innovate our organization.
• Your partners ideally complement the solutions we already receive from you.
• Your partners have a business relationship with you, simplifying the implementation and adoption of additional technology solutions.

How can we profit from your partner network?

• You know our organization and can filter which organizations in your partner network could be relevant for us.
• You introduce us to your partners in case this could be a contributing new connection between our organizations.
• We provide feedback to you about (un)successful partnership initiations (e.g., projects, purchases).

Which of your partners are relevant for us?

• We’re especially interested in partners that supplement the solutions we already receive from you.
• We’re interested in solutions that are simple to test, procure, implement, and adopt.
• We differentiate between your suppliers and partners. In this case, we’re looking for the latter.

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Organizational culture meeting

Invitation email

Meeting information

Why do we need a technology innovation culture?

• Technology innovation is highly relevant to our organization and a key element in keeping us competitive.
• Hundreds of markets/industries, thousands of potential suppliers, and millions of potential solutions make it incredibly complex for us to keep an overview.
• Our employees observe current market trends and are at the frontline to see the potential for additional technology solutions to improve our work outcomes.

How do we create a technology innovation culture?

• We raise awareness of the need for technology innovation through town hall meetings, workshops, and other community events.
• We invite our people to submit potential innovations and provide feedback on their submissions.
• We explain the need and the interdependence for culture, process, and business model change in addition to new technology solutions.

What are the concrete steps to create a technology innovation culture?

• Town hall meeting with process introduction.
• Employee participation meetings with specific functions/teams.
• Setup and regular meetings with a dedicated technology innovation community.

Follow-up email

Employee participation meeting

Invitation email

Meeting information

Why do we need our employees’ participation in finding technology innovations?

• There are too many technology solutions in too many fields for a central to find and assess.
• Our employees have experience in other technology solutions our organization currently uses.
• Our employees know best the requirements new technology solutions must fulfill to contribute to our organization’s outcomes.

How do we include our employees in finding technology innovations?

• We ask for your help in this meeting and will send out a form/table for you to fill in about potentially useful innovative technology solutions for our organization.
• We’re open to your feedback but kindly ask you to keep the initial workload low.
• We ask you to point us to specific technology solutions we could use in the initial evaluation process.

What are the next steps to include our employees in finding technology innovations?

• We share our innovative technology solution form/table with you, including instructions on how to use it.
• We kindly ask you to use this form/table to point us to relevant innovative technology solutions and/or suppliers/providers/vendors.
• We’ll share our feedback and/or come back to you with additional questions after we’ve had a first look and completed a general requirements check.

Follow-up email

Community setup meeting

Invitation email

Meeting information

Why do we need a technology innovation management community?

• We need regular exchange about industry/market trends in addition to hints about concrete innovative technology solutions for our organization.
• Our organization needs leaders who support our employees in finding and initially assessing innovative technology solutions.
• We want to foster the exchange on how to find, select, and initially assess innovative technology solutions for our organization.

How do we set up a technology innovation management community?

• We’ll ask our employees who is interested in joining our technology innovation management community.
• In the first meetings, we’ll discuss the technology innovation management community's goals, scope, and approach.
• We collaboratively decide how we want to work together and also accept passive community members primarily reading/listening to what is going on.

What are the first steps to setting up a technology innovation management community?

• An initial email to all employees about our aim to set up a technology innovation management community.
• A first meeting to establish a foundational cooperative and collaborative work approach.
• Regular discussion and decision about how we can adapt our innovative technology solution elicitation process, including the central form/table to collect information about solutions/suppliers/providers/vendors from our employees.

Follow-up email

Regular community meeting

Invitation email

Meeting information

What are we doing well?

• What are our successes since the last meeting?
• How did we improve our organization?
• How did others appraise us?

How can we improve?

• What are our failures since the last meeting?
• Where didn’t we make the progress they hoped for?
• How did others criticize us?

What are the next steps to improve?

• What are our upcoming activities until the next meeting?
• How will we become even better in the future?
• How will we communicate our progress to stakeholders even better?

Follow-up email

Community results presentation meeting

Invitation email

Meeting information

What have we achieved so far?

• We initiated a technology innovation community.
• We started collecting innovative technology solutions for our organization through a distributed elicitation and feedback process.
• We discussed potential additional activities for our community.

What will we do in the future?

• We’ll increase our efforts to gain an overview of innovative technology solutions for our organization.
• We’ll further systematize and standardize our elicitation process.
• We’ll inform stakeholders about the innovative technology solution evaluation process on a broader and deeper level.

What are the next steps?

• We’ll document our innovative technology evaluation process for our employees.
• We’ll market our activities more broadly, to gain more “passive” community members.
• We’ll work with stakeholders and executives to start discussing the procurement and implementation of innovative technology solutions.

Follow-up email

Solution requirements meeting

Invitation email

Meeting information

Why do we elicit solution requirements?

• We structure our solution evaluation process.
• We make objective decisions.
• We make the solution selection plausible and traceable.

How do we elicit solution requirements?

• We don’t(!) write down a hundred requirements, like classical requirements engineering documents.
• We compare the relevant solutions on the market and find approx. 20 key differentiating features and characteristics.
• We compare the solutions in the category/market by comparing smarter instead of harder.

What are our solution requirements?

• Software as a service
• Hosted in the European Union for data privacy reasons
• Self-service subscription
• Extended expense reporting features
• Support for new/other consulting revenue models (e.g., retainer pricing model)

Follow-up email

Solution presentation meeting

Invitation email

Meeting information

Why do we invite suppliers to present their solutions?

• We want to get into contact with the supplier’s sales team.
• We want to understand how the solution works and feels to use.
• We need a foundation for our (also partly subjective) solution comparison meeting.

How do we let suppliers present their solutions?

• We introduce suppliers to show us how their solutions work.
• We ask suppliers to point to the main differentiators of their solutions.
• We respect their presentations but focus on our own requirements, comparison, and evaluation.

What are the topics of the solution presentation meeting?

• What are the key differentiators of your solution?
• Please show us how your solution works.
• Where do we get comprehensive written information about your solution?

Follow-up email

Solution comparison meeting

Invitation email

Meeting information

Why do we compare the available solutions?

• We need to make objective decisions.
• We want to choose the right solution for our organization.
• We consider the interests of a high number of stakeholders, instead of just selecting the right solution for the technology innovation management team.

How do we compare the available solutions?

• We use our elicited requirements and analyze the available solutions.
• We include additional requirements and comparison factors after learning about the suppliers and seeing the solutions in action.
• First we exclude the solutions that do not meet core requirements, then we select approximately three leading solutions for further comparison.

What are the steps for comparing the available solutions?

1. Rework the requirements based on the suppliers’ presentations.
2. Analyze the available solutions that fit our requirements.
3. Exclude solutions based on hard factors.
4. Compare the remaining solutions; add requirements if necessary.
5. Ask suppliers for additional information if necessary.

Follow-up email

Customer reference meeting

Invitation email

Meeting information

Why do we talk with reference customers?

• We want to learn about the disadvantages the vendor doesn’t tell us about.
• We want to learn about migration paths and challenges.
• We want to learn about the further ecosystem customers have built.

How do we talk with reference customers?

• We receive the reference customer’s details from the vendor.
• We conduct a call without the supplier, in order to be able to ask tough questions.
• We make structured notes as part of our solution comparison.

What are the questions we ask reference customers?

• What are the disadvantages of the solution?
• What other solutions have you evaluated?
• Why is this solution better than all the others?

Follow-up email

Solution evaluation meeting

Invitation email

Meeting information

Why do we evaluate technology solutions?

• We want to test the look & feel, the features, and the overall usability of a technology solution.
• We want to confirm the vendor and the reference customers’ explanations.
• We start small with test activities before spending money in a proof-of-concept project.

How do we evaluate technology solutions?

1. We write tests we want to conduct with the technology solution.
2. We conduct the tests in a “test environment” provided by the vendor.
3. We rework our notes so that stakeholders can review our test results.

What are the questions we ask in the evaluation?

• Which tests do the solution accomplish? Which tests does it not accomplish?
• What do we learn about the solution’s general usability?
• What do we learn about the solution’s features?

Follow-up email

Proof-of-concept preparation meeting

Invitation email

Meeting information

Why do we prepare a proof-of-concept project?

• The proof-of-concept project is necessary to show the technology solution’s capability to bring value to our organization.
• The proof-of-concept is a cost-efficient deep dive before a possible procurement project.
• The proof-of-concept can be part of a “smart” public procurement strategy.

How do we prepare a proof-of-concept project?

• We collect all created information for overtaking by a new project.
• We introduce the current state of the solution evaluation to the new project team.
• We provide ongoing Q&A to the proof-of-concept project team.

What are the steps to preparing a proof-of-concept project?

1. Collect all created documents into one file plus attachments.
2. Set up a meeting to introduce the proof-of-concept project team to the consolidated information.
3. Check in regularly with the proof-of-concept project team to offer support.
4. Support the proof-of-concept project team in case they need an additional/outside view.
5. Support the proof-of-concept project team with the final solution evaluation at the end of the project.

Follow-up email

Procurement preparation meeting

Invitation email

Meeting information

Why do we prepare a procurement project?

• The procurement project selects and purchases the new technology solution for our organization.
• The procurement project has a view of the legal and financial challenges of procuring technology solutions for our organization, but needs technological information and market insights as input.
• The procurement project needs input from the technology innovation management process and corresponding projects (e.g., technology solution proof-of-concept project).

How do we prepare a procurement project?

• We collect all created information for overtaking by a new project.
• We introduce the current state of the solution evaluation to the new project team.
• We provide ongoing Q&A to the proof-of-concept project team.

What are the steps to preparing a procurement project?

1. Align with the proof-of-concept project about the existing documentation landscape.
2. Collect all created documents into one file plus attachments.
3. Set up a meeting to introduce the procurement project team to the consolidated information.
4. Check in regularly with the procurement project team to offer support.

Follow-up email

Organizational adoption preparation meeting

Invitation email

Meeting information

Why do we prepare for the organizational adoption of the new technology solution?

• An implemented technology solution that employees don’t use is a waste of money.
• User adoption is the most challenging task in some software categories.
• Use adoption needs active work by organizational stakeholders instead of just a little training.

How do we prepare for the organizational adoption of the new technology solution?

• We start early with user adoption supporting actions.
• We plan various activities that serve a high number of user needs.
• We include stakeholders early to align on user adoption meetings.

What are the possible adoption-supporting actions?

• Determine responsibilities and accountability for user adoption.
• Plan various user adoption support activities (e.g., meetings, workshops, training, town hall meetings, Q&A sessions, usual user support).
• Outline the need for information creation for user adoption support activities.

Follow-up email

Partner categories meeting

Invitation email

Meeting information

Why do we define partner categories?

• External organizations have different relationships with us that reflect different interests.
• Different organizations have different needs that need specific management approaches.
• We don’t want to share information with all external partners in the same way.

How do we define partner categories?

• We analyze and compare our potential partners and our interests.
• We categorize potential partners we want to work more closely with.
• We conduct meetings with internal stakeholders and the external organization to check if our assessment is correct.

What questions should we ask to define partner categories?

• What are our potential technology innovation partners?
• What are some possible technology innovation partner categories?
• Which questions can we use to test/validate these partner categories?
• What are the potential consequences if we define these partner categories wrong?

Follow-up email

Cooperation models meeting

Invitation email

Meeting information

Why do we develop partner cooperation models?

• Different partner categories need different cooperation models.
• The cooperation models systematize and standardize the work with the partners of a category.
• Partner cooperation models ensure that the technology innovation team reflects the internal stakeholders’ interests in the partnership.

How do we develop partner cooperation models?

• We define the expected outcomes from the partner category.
• We align with stakeholders on cooperation formats.
• We discuss the partner cooperation model with the partners.

What questions should we ask to develop partner cooperation models?

• What are the interests of our internal stakeholders for a specific partner category?
• What are the interests of the partners of a specific partner category?
• What information do (not) we want to share with the partner category?

Follow-up email

Partner requirements meeting

Invitation email

Meeting information

Why do we define partner requirements?

• We want to work with partners with whom we can create mutual value.
• We want to assess potential partners based on clear requirements to communicate our decision to internal stakeholders and the (potential) partner.
• We must adhere to compliance requirements (e.g., in competition law).

How do we define partner requirements?

• We ask our internal stakeholders about their expectations of working with external partners.
• We ask potential partners about working with our organization.
• We align clear to differentiate partner requirements to make decisions on additional partners fast and traceable.

Which questions should we ask to define partner requirements?

• What ambitions should our partners have?
• What values should our partners have?
• What relative competitive position should our partners have?
• What commitment should our partners bring with them?

Follow-up email

Partner research meeting

Invitation email

Meeting information

Why do we search for additional partners?

• Our partner landscape is currently limited but needs to grow.
• We don’t take the full value from our partner network that we could.
• We need to prepare for organizations leaving our partner network.

How do we search for additional partners?

• We search for organizations according to our requirements per partner category.
• We guess common interests and mutual profits from a partnership.
• We contact potential partners early to reduce the workload between finding a partner and setting up the partnership.

What questions will we ask to search for additional partners?

• What are the search terms to find possible additional partners?
• What directories can we use to find possible additional partners?
• What information do we collect about possible additional partners?

Follow-up email

Partner introduction meeting

Invitation email

Meeting information

Why are we assessing technology innovation potential with you?

• We’re in search of partners (not suppliers) with whom we could procure and/or develop technology innovations.
• We shortlisted you for fitting into a specific partner category for us.
• We want to ensure that a potential partnership is mutually beneficial for both sides.

How will we assess the technology innovation potential with you?

• We understand each other's customers, suppliers, and technology innovation approach.
• We compare our technology innovation roadmaps, discovering overlaps.
• We understand each other's organizational culture in relation to the openness of information and technology sharing.

What questions will we ask to assess the technology innovation potential with you?

• Who are your target customers?
• Who are your key technology innovation suppliers?
• What is your information and technology sharing experience with other organizations?
• What is your organizational culture in relation to information and technology sharing?
• What are your fears in relation to a technology innovation partnership?
• What are your goals if you partner with us?

Follow-up email

Cooperation proposal meeting

Invitation email

Meeting information

Why do we create a cooperation proposal for our potential partner?

• We want to show the potential partner our commitment to this future partnership together.
• We want to clarify the status of the discussion with the potential new partner.
• We want to provide a document for discussion with our internal stakeholders and the external potential partner.

How do we create a cooperation proposal for our potential partner?

• We collect the information we’ve generated so far.
• We create a concise draft version and collect feedback from our internal stakeholders.
• We share the draft version with the potential new partner to receive feedback.

What questions will we ask to create a cooperation proposal for our potential partner?

• What is the goal of the partnership?
• What are the gains for both sides of the partnership?
• What are the topics to include in the partner cooperation proposal?

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