Today, the world is flooded with new ideas and services, often produced at little or no cost and with minimal consumer revenues - think Twitter or Mozilla. In this complex, fast-moving environment, how can a company create and select ideas that bring true value? And how can a company protect their brand and yet enter the game fast enough to have the right product at the right time? This article looks at some of the approaches that are shaping rapid innovation in today’s telecoms sector and how they can be harnessed to maximize innovation potential.

The closed world of the media and communications industries has radically transformed over the past decade.  Today, start-up application developers, web service providers, telcos, media conglomerates and device manufacturers are all competing directly for consumer, enterprise and advertiser dollars.  Reduced barriers to entry, increased platform and technology capabilities and broadening routes to market have produced a perfect storm, creating opportunities that allow large and small companies to very quickly get great ideas into the market. 

Take Smule.  The creator of the “Sonic Lighter” launched its “Ocarina” iPhone app in November 2008, a clever interaction that turns an iPhone into a 12,000 year old instrument that can be played by blowing through the microphone.  Now, just 8 months since the company of 3 developers was born, the $0.99 application has been downloaded more than 700,000 times.

To match this perfect storm of innovation opportunity, consumers now demand new products in a short(er) time period. Cell phones, for example, have shrunk from an average 25 months replacement cycle to 18 months.  The emerging market of mobile phone apps is built on a ridiculously short shelf life of 30 days before user boredom kicks in.    

With first mover advantage and the ability to keep consumers buying, companies like Smule have the potential to shake-up the comfortable revenue streams of the old giants. Sure, Smule requires a telco provided data plan, but as connectivity becomes commoditized, it’s the players like Smule that will gain an ever increasing share of the revenue pie. So how should incumbents in the media and communications space respond? 

Hyper-Innovation Has a New Spin through Technology

Hyperinnovation isn’t new. Almost a decade has passed since Chris Harris elaborated on what he described as “the multidimensional interconnection of ideas” that challenges organizations to rethink the way they innovate in terms of strategy, culture, organization and methodology. The basics have not changed, but Hyperinnovation for telcos now has a new spin, through technology that encourages and enables infinite and rapid communication and collaboration in a global economy.   

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