Innovation

​​Innovation is one of the last remaining sources of trend-breaking growth, yet too often companies fail at it because they approach innovation as if it is an art, assuming brainstorming and random moments of genius will help them to win. They won’t. Doblin helps companies achieve long-term success in today’s competitive markets by adding discipline and order to systematically discover new sources of growth.

Doblin specialises in helping companies anticipate and seize new business opportunities. Our dynamic teams of designers, researchers, and strategists approach challenges with diverse perspectives and experiences. Balancing strategy with exploration, discipline with creativity, and practicality with ambition, we help companies untangle gnarly problems and develop viable solutions with lasting impact. We are one of the few innovation firms that go beyond opportunity analysis and portfolio management by also working with our clients to generate and build new offerings and businesses.

The powerful combination of Doblin’s sophisticated design thinking methods and Deloitte’s cutting-edge approaches to change management and strategic implementation extends our ability to help clients move more seamlessly through an integrated innovation process. In fact, this combination has helped Deloitte emerge as “a global leader in Innovation Strategy & New Product Development Consulting based on capabilities,” according to Kennedy.¹

Set innovation strategy. Working alongside senior leaders, we explore how forces of change potentially affect the enterprise and industry, and identify where opportunities lie within the seemingly chaotic landscape. We then set an “innovation ambition” and help diagnose and address internal breakdowns. Finally, we advise senior leaders on their responsibilities for championing innovation.

Design, build, and launch innovations. We work with companies to convert opportunities and ideas into new businesses. Using generative research methods, we unearth new insights about consumers and translate those insights into business concepts that encompass multiple types of innovation. We facilitate prototyping and testing to refine new offers and accelerate launch and scaling. Working with the client implementation team, we use strategy, marketing, and enterprise analytics to refine, pilot, and launch the new business.

Become better innovators. Sustained innovation effectiveness requires discipline, competence, and experience. We help clients develop their own signature innovation capabilities, systems and structures that are specific to the enterprise. This includes the integration of innovation across the business, development of networks and governance structures, establishment of incentives and metrics, and implementation of learning programmes to teach innovation practices.

• Drive higher returns on innovation investments 
  
• Create new sources of revenue, including growth concepts, business models, and platforms
  
• Accelerate piloting through prototypes that help align the enterprise and aid user testing
  
• Discover the unmet needs of current and future customers
  
• Sustain innovation effectiveness through tailored innovation capabilities
  
• Build new offerings and businesses

Use multiple types of innovation. Look beyond new products for sources of breakthrough innovation. Doblin’s Ten Types of Innovation™ framework helps companies look beyond product innovation by introducing nine other powerful types of innovation that can be combined for a more competitive advantage.

Take a balanced approach. Focus on what is important to the customer balanced against the company’s strengths to identify opportunities and prioritise specific initiatives. Our analysis shows that companies with the strongest innovation track records manage a balanced portfolio of innovation investments across core, adjacent, and transformational innovations.

Prototype to build alignment. Use visualisations, storyboard sessions, and other illustrative techniques to develop, test, iterate, and improve new concepts. In our work, as our renderings become more detailed, we are better able to outline implementation requirements, including skills, technology, evaluative research, refinements, pilots, and launch approaches.