SwiftRadius, the Fredericton-based IT consulting firm, is launching a new initiative to help large North American companies develop innovation.
The company has struck a partnership with Forth Innovation, a Dutch business consultancy, to roll out the European firm’s innovation program in the North American market. They will launch the initiative in late May when Forth Innovation founder Gijs van Wulfen, one of linkedIn’s top 100 influencers, comes to the region to host a series of workshops in Fredericton, and possibly in Moncton and Halifax.
This initiative addresses a common problem at large corporations, which SwiftRadius defines as those with more than $50 million in annual revenue. They have difficulty innovating. They are often focused on their traditional markets, and in serving that market in traditional ways. So even though they might want to develop a new product or service based on their expertise, the organizations don’t really understand how to go about doing it.
“You can’t bring a sort of here’s-what-Steve-Jobs-did attitude to it and expect an executive to act on it,” said SwiftRadius CEO Scott MacIntosh in an interview on Monday. “It’s just too big a step.”
MacIntosh has been a champion of innovation for several years. He encourages his staff to work on innovative projects, and has even incubated and launched a startup within SwiftRadius. Charlottetown-based Adeptio, which has developed cloud-based coaching technology, was spun off from the Fredericton company two years ago.
Now MacIntosh is heading a new division called SwiftRadius Innovation which will be responsible for working with major corporate clients that want to develop innovative products. It will employ Forth Innovation’s program, which works with executives that have an idea for a product or service, but no experience in rolling it out.
The 20-week course comprises three distinct phases:
1. Preparation — SwiftRadius and the client identify various ideas and assess the factors that will help and hinder developing the project. This phase includes preparing the managers above the innovation project leader so they understand what will be involved.
2. The “front end” of innovation — In this phase, the team progresses from the fuzzy notion of a new product to more structured plans. They have to assess the demand and feasibility of each idea, and set out a set of goals with each project. At the end, the executive should have four or five proposed projects to present to his or her managers.
3. Execution — The client enters this phase with a project outline and approval, and now has to implement it. Most executives in large corporations have never launched a product, especially one that may involve technology or markets that are new to them. SwiftRadius helps them to navigate the tricky waters of bringing a new product or service to market.
MacIntosh, who also serves as the chairman of PropelICT, which operates the Launch36 accelerator, said the final phase is similar to using a “lean canvas,” the modern online tool used when launching a startup.
MacIntosh said he is still developing the SwiftRadius Innovation division. He is spending about three or four days a week on the new initiative, working with SwiftRadius execs Peter Price and Robyn Plourde. He plans to have more of his team accredited by Forth Innovation later in the year so the division can grow.
