DatasheetInnovation Process Management Solution

01 | Solution OverviewInnovation is the conversion of knowledge and ideas into new or improved products, processes, or services to gain a competitive advantage.Businesses today have no shortage of ideas; rather, they lack the ability to determine their value in a systematic, timely, and cost-effective way. Innovation Process Management (IPM) helps companies encourage people to share their ideas, rate them, and make critical decisions about their associated risks, benefits, and strategic value. In order to facilitate the innovation process effectively, organizations need a solution that allows them to manage innovation in an objective, strategic, and scalable manner. Because organizations often lack the resources necessary to act on all contributed ideas, they must manage innovation through a systematic process that facilitates the selection of optimal ideas which have the highest strategic value.

02 | Stages for Innovation Process ManagementThe solution for IPM based on the Microsoft® platform helps customers address this end-to-end Innovation Process Management through the following stages (see Figure 1):

1. Strategize2. Capture3. Formulate4. Evaluate5. Define6. Select

Figure 1 Stages for Innovation Process Management

Strategize In order to foster innovation, the organization must first establish and prioritize business drivers and metrics.

CaptureIdeas are captured in a centralized and collaborative portal. Employees can search to find experts both internally and externally, and they can search back-end systems to gather sales history data to develop a business case. Workflow and collaboration technology will then help create a cross-functional team and collaborative workspace for idea submission.

FormulateIdeas are formulated according to business cases that include strategic impact, market potential, financial analysis, and SWOT analysis, and it can then be published for review. Other members of the community can provide ratings, reviews, and feedback to help determine the idea’s priority and value.

EvaluateSelect ideas according to business parameters, analyze the portfolio, and objectively evaluate ideas. In this stage, highly-rated ideas are approved.

DefineBuild the project team and execute the project while taking into consideration design, market potential, and legal evaluation. After the review is finalized, a design document is prepared that provides a project workspace for team collaboration. Assign resources and skills to projects in order to track project progress.

SelectGive final funding approval to selected projects, and proceed to a delivery processes such as New Product Development (NPD), enabling end-to-end project management and tracking, from idea to retirement.

03 | Systematic InnovationsThe solution for IPM based on the Microsoft platform enables organizations to have a systematic method of fostering innovation by capturing, evaluating, and

developing ideas to conclusion. With the Microsoft IPM Solution, organizations can:

Promote a culture of innovation by facilitating community and incentives

Build “innovation teams” of domain experts spanning disciplines

Assess ideas rapidly according to their strategic value Secure and manage intellectual property from its

inception Add transparency and discipline to the innovation

process Optimize research and development spending and

investment in incubation projects Drive growth and profitability, and increase

competitiveness

04 | Target MarketsTarget Companies: Enterprise and mid-marketTarget Buyer/Business Decision Makers: VP of Innovation, VP of Growth, VP of Research and Development, VP of Product Development, product managers, marketing department managersTarget Decision Influencers/Technical Decision Makers: Chief Information Officer, Chief Technology Officer, design engineers, and Research and Development department managers

05 | ChallengesThe primary challenges associated with managing innovation processes are as follows:* Difficulty investing in the right ideas for the right

market with the right resources No structured process in place to drive transparency,

metrics, or cross-functional collaboration No good way to measure innovation Difficulty selecting the right ideas Little opportunity for all employees to contribute Lack of coordination

No way to socialize the idea with a wide audience Limited customer insight Long development timesLooking at these challenges, a common thread shows through: Speed and coordination are very important. Thus, collaboration is essential. The second thread is the lack of good processes to turn insights into ideas into action. * Source: Boston Consulting Group

07 | Solution PlatformThe Microsoft IPM Solution is built on the Office SharePoint Server 2007, Office InfoPath 2007, and the Microsoft Enterprise Project Management (EPM) Solution, enabling organizations to facilitate the six stages of innovation process management (first mentioned in Section 2) in Figure 2.

Figure 2 Microsoft Technologies for IPM

06 | Microsoft IPM Solution Offerings per Innovation Process Management Stages

Stages Offerings Microsoft Office SharePoint® Server 2007

Microsoft Office Project Portfolio Server 2007

Microsoft Office Project Server 2007

Microsoft Office InfoPath® 2007

Microsoft Windows® Rights Management Services

Microsoft Office Communcations Server 2007

Strategize Define and PrioritizeBusiness Strategy

Capture Capture and Publish Business Idea

Formulate Publish Business Case for Idea Review and Ratings

Evaluate Idea Analysis and Approval

Define Finalize Design Document

Select Approval

Figure 3 Microsoft IPM Solution Architecture

Office SharePoint Server 2007 (Figure 3) provides a flexible, customizable management system for ideas

and their associated content. Idea submitters can capture their ideas and collaborate with others on idea definition. Other members of the community can provide ratings, reviews, and feedback on submitted ideas. Furthermore, Office SharePoint Server 2007 provides a collaborative environment that facilitates team involvement in an ad-hoc or structured fashion.

Office Project Portfolio Server 2007 is used to establish and prioritize business drivers and metrics to facilitate innovation. Submitted ideas can be objectively evaluated against the established business drivers and selected based on their alignment.

Office Project Server 2007 is used to manage the selected ideas throughout the project lifecycle. Project managers can create workspaces for team collaboration, assign resources and skills to projects, and track project progress.

Rights Management Services enables you to set permissions for classified documents and e-mail so that intellectual property is secure from its inception, preventing loss due to ideas being leaked to competitors, or being used to create a new competitive business.

08 | Solution BenefitsThe Microsoft IPM Solution enables the organization to:Widen the Idea Pipeline Foster a culture of innovation Involve more of the right people at the right time Facilitate collaborative participationFormalize the Innovation Process Balance creativity with process discipline Ensure key decisions and actions are taken at the

right time Secure and manage intellectual capitalOptimize Return on investment (ROI) and Time to

Market Provide objective and strategic selection criteria to

maximize relevancy Capitalize on business opportunities by improving the

speed and robustness of idea selection Maximize the financial return of selected ideas Optimize budget allocation according to strategic

value

09 | Unique Selling Points

Why Microsoft? Familiar and Easy to UseMicrosoft software is familiar and accessible to people at all levels of your organization as well as to your partners and customers. From systems and infrastructure tools for IT professionals to applications for your employees, Microsoft software minimizes training time and makes people more productive quickly.Widely Used and SupportedMicrosoft makes some of the world’s most widely used and supported software, ensuring that our customers will always find it easy to get the help they need to solve technical issues and have questions answered. In addition to our Microsoft technical support services, a worldwide network of developers, support professionals, and thousands of certified partners means you always have access to the expertise you need.Integration That WorksManufacturers everywhere already have spent large sums on technology, creating a pool of resources that is too expensive to abandon and also is costly to maintain and make available throughout an enterprise. Microsoft is at the forefront in developing tools such as Web services that can connect far-flung data sources that until now were isolated from one another. Moreover, our software products are designed to work together seamlessly, reducing integration hassles.Software That’s InnovativeAt Microsoft, we are committed to developing software products that help manufacturing employees reach their full potential. We continue to create new products that allow businesses to evolve and adapt to an increasingly complex marketplace. Our commitment to and leadership in industry-standard technologies, such as Web services, ensure that companies who use Microsoft products have access to the widest possible array of technology partners and software platforms to facilitate innovation.Microsoft IPM Solution integrates with other communication collaboration tools to provide the following values and advantages to the organization.

1. Platform Value o Operations Values

Interoperability; leverage existing assets

High performance High scalability; repeatable

solutions from the same infrastructure

PortfolioPortfolio

Project Project

User User CollaborCollabor

End to

Innovation Innovation

Core IT Core IT

Stronger security Consistent development platform

and user interface

o Innovation Values Familiarity and advantage Solution agility High scalability Abundant skill pool

2. Pricing: Provides high value to the organization to provide:

o Leverage an existing Microsoft relation

o Continuous support and availability

o Leverage the larger and capable ecosystem

o Cost effectiveness–Lower TCO; predictable costs

For details about pricing and licensing, go to http://www.microsoft.com/licensing/default.mspx.

10| Experts’ Opinions about Innovation“The failure rate of innovation is huge, or you could say the success rate—4 percent—is pathetic.”Larry Keeley, Doblin Group, 2007“With the pace of innovation heating up, any enterprise that fails to replace 10 percent of its revenue stream annually is likely to be out of business within five years.”The Economist magazine, 2003“Improved competitive advantage, increased revenue growth and faster innovation are among the top 10 issues for CIOs.”Annual CIO Survey, The Gartner Group, 2007“…40 percent of all executives in our survey said that their company was not as good as its competitors at turning ideas into profits. Another 12 percent were unsure. Together, such numbers suggest a rather stunning admission. Although it is almost taken for granted that innovation is critical to competitive success, there seems to be a serious mismatch between what companies are telling their shareholders, employees, analysts, and customers about their commitment to innovation and their real experience with it. The unspoken truth seems to be that for a very large number of companies, innovation spending continues to rise, but it is generating neither enough profit nor competitive advantage.“

Innovation 2005 (The second annual global survey of senior executives on innovation and the innovation-to-cash process), The Boston Consulting Group