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Survey shows only modest rise in innovation performance by SA firms

28th October 2016

By: David Oliveira

Creamer Media Staff Writer

  

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South African companies have shown only marginal growth in innovation in 2016, business management consultancy Accenture’s Innovation Index finds.

A total of 57% of respondents were found to be laggards, 29% acted as leaders in innovation and 8% served as innovation value champions, with an overall return on innovation of more than 40%.

“If South Africa hopes to continue in the twenty-first century, the pace at which the nation is innovating needs to accelerate,” said Accenture integrated marketing and communications director Ntombi Mhangwani at the Accenture Innovation Conference, held in Johannesburg earlier this month.
This year, three key themes – engagement, resources and digital – have been identified as strong focus points by innovation leaders and value champions in South Africa.
Engagement – defined as the workforce of a company who are invested in their daily work – increased by 7% in 2016. About 70% of employees view innovation as a critical part of their job. The index also shows that 78% of companies encourage innovative thinking by employees.
Resources – defined as financial and human capital, as well as using resources, relationships and the workforce to generate ideas and facilitate innovation – increased significantly by 20 points to 55% in 2016. The index shows that 71% of leaders allow the penetration of innovative ideas from outside their organisations.
Digital – defined as the evolution of a business to use new combinations of technology, information and connectivity to create new sources of customer value and revenue, as well as operational performance – remains a key driver of innovation, with 85% of innovation leaders using analytics to drive innovation.
Accenture and business management school The Da Vinci Institute announced the leaders of this year’s Innovation Index at the Accenture Innovation Conference, which honours businesses for spearheading innovation.
“All respondents were evaluated according to areas of innovation maturity,” said Mhangwani.

As part of the adjudication process, Innovation Index partners – including The Da Vinci Institute and credit and information management company TransUnion – interviewed the top organisations to determine the finalists and winners. The four winners were selected from 20 finalists announced last month.
Companies were assessed on criteria such the ability to innovate throughout the value chain, from concept to commercialisation; commit to the project across the organisation, including senior management; and use ever-evolving technology, in all its forms, as a way of improving customer value and operational procedures, as well as create new revenue streams through innovation.

Project management consultancy SSG Consulting secured the overall Innovation Master award for companies with a turnover exceeding R35-million.

The company was awarded for its revolutionary KEY360 cloud-based business and project management solution, which allows for better handling of work flow, data, documents, dashboards, key performance indicators, business and staff optimisation, as well as upskilling. The solution can cater for more than 100 processes through either mobile or multicompany access.

The Innovation Master award for companies with a turnover lower than R35-million went to marketing campaign services provider Colony HQ for its online aggregation and database platform, which translates big data into little data, enabling clients to communicate with customers and use relevant messaging at the appropriate time.

Retail-focused financial services provider Purple Group won the Top Innovative Concept award for companies with a turnover exceeding R35-million. Its Easy Equities investment platform enables customers to invest in a basket of shares and provides access to a predetermined stock selection created by respected fund managers and chief investment officers from some of South Africa’s top financial services providers.

Distributed renewable-energy service provider Standard Microgrid secured the Top Innovative Concept award for emerging organisations with its mini utility solution. The solution uses a combination of solar photovoltaic, energy storage, cloud-based grid management and granular demand-side management devices to transform a rural off-grid village into an efficient group of networked smart homes.
All winners will receive an Accenture Innovation Index customised innovation diagnostic report that identifies innovation gaps and strengths and provides a benchmark by turnover and sector; it also includes strategies that might help to improve their businesses and gain a competitive advantage.

Edited by Martin Zhuwakinyu
Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

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