Scout and collect all possible input for technologic solutions that will deliver real business value.
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Learn more about Technology Scouting
Basically, technology scouting is defined as a systematic search for suitable technologies in various areas.
It helps identify new technologies that can be used to create innovative products and services, expand market share and gain competitive advantages.
This includes identifying emerging technology trends and determining the suitability of technologies based on their strategic fit.
There are several approaches to conducting technology scouting. Two of the most common are the following:
- Monitoring relevant scientific and technical literature, conferences, and media for emerging technologies
- Conducting technology audits to identify gaps in an organization’s product pipeline and identify alternative technologies that can address these gaps
Technology scouting is important because it allows your company to identify new and innovative technologies that can help you achieve your business goals.
Here are the key benefits of tech scouting:
- Keeping your company ahead of the curve by identifying new technologies before they become mainstream. This allows you to make strategic decisions in order to stay competitive and grow your business.
- Improving collaboration with other organizations. By staying on top of the latest developments in your industry, you can find opportunities for partnership and collaboration with other companies or organizations.
- Helping your employees to manage their time more efficiently. Technology scouting provides a valuable source of information that allows your employees to focus on the tasks and activities that are most important for achieving business success.
On top of all, by staying on top of technological advancements in your industry, you can remain competitive by adopting new solutions faster than your competitors.
Here are some of the risks for businesses when they don’t do any technology scouting:
1. Poor decision-making
Not scouting technologies beforehand can lead to mistakes being made that may be costly and cause major issues.
A good scenario of this is when a company loses out on opportunities that could have been secured if they had seen what was coming beforehand.
For example, some companies are now using artificial intelligence in their supply chain tracking process.
If a company had not done scouting and found out about this before its competitor did, it may have ended up wasting money on a process that could have been outdated by the time it was implemented.
2. More money, higher risk, longer projects
Without tech scouting, your company could lose more time and money because you don’t know any alternatives to solve your problem and which one is best suited for it.
In addition, if you aren’t aware of the latest trends and tech in your field, you won’t be able to create the most innovative products or services.
In other words, technology scouting can provide your company with a competitive advantage that will help it stay ahead of its competition and continuously grow.
3. Engagement of the wrong people in the process
Having the wrong people can lead to a delay in reaching your business objectives, and even undermine them entirely if you are not careful with how you handle things.
If an unqualified team is involved in the research, development, or commercialization of a new technology, it may make wrong decisions that will have an impact on its success.
By neglecting to scout your business’s requirements, you run the risk of missing out on opportunities.
The effect is getting left behind as others move ahead with their research and development efforts — leading to missed deadlines or lost revenue with competitors getting there first.
Innovation scouting is a process by which companies can identify, assess and acquire new technologies and innovations to bring into their businesses.
However, it can be difficult to manage a scouting portfolio made up of constantly evolving opportunities.
Here are some of the challenges in innovation scouting:
1. Evolving opportunities
Managing a portfolio of constantly evolving opportunities can often be challenging.
This is because it requires balancing the need to screen opportunities and invest in only those with the greatest potential.
Take note that this is done while leaving room to explore new ideas that may hold immense promise if given further exploration.
There are several strategies that companies can use to overcome this challenge. Here are two primary examples:
- Carefully evaluate each opportunity on its own merit, utilizing a data-driven investment decision process. that takes into account
- Utilize a scouting portfolio management system, which can help organize and track all current opportunities, as well as future ideas that may be brought forward.
With the first one, you need to take into account factors such as market size and competitive landscape, as well as the level of risk associated with each opportunity.
When you use a portfolio management system, you can gain greater visibility into your portfolio and make more informed investment decisions based on the latest information.
2. Showing clear and positive returns
Tracking the ROI can be difficult because it requires having the right metrics and tools in place to track these metrics in real time.
It’s also important to ensure that all teams across the organization are aligned on the same set of metrics so that communication and collaboration are as efficient as possible.
Here are a series of steps you can do to address this challenge:
- Start with a clear definition of what tech scouting is in your organization. This will help everyone understand the goals and criteria for success when it comes to scouting new products, services, or tech.
- Make sure you have the right tools and processes in place to capture, analyze, and visualize your data. This will allow you to track key metrics over time like the number of new opportunities discovered or whether your team is meeting its goals for identifying promising new innovations.
- Be sure to regularly communicate with all stakeholders about the results of your scouting efforts so that everyone can see how their contributions are making a difference.
3. Business alignment and focus
Innovation scouting requires a thorough understanding of both the internal and external business landscape
The reason for this is to pinpoint which new technological developments might have the greatest potential impact.
Beyond this, it is also important to have a clear vision for how your organization can integrate these new opportunities into your business strategy and plan of action.
Not only is it crucial to have a clear business focus, but also to maintain alignment within your organization.
Keeping everyone on the same page with respect to your innovation goals and priorities is essential for having a successful innovation scout.
If not properly addressed and managed, this lack of alignment can hinder progress and negatively impact the scout’s overall effectiveness.
4. Securing support from leadership
This can be difficult since innovation often requires going outside of one’s comfort zone and approaching things in a new way.
This lack of support for innovation can prevent a company from growing and evolving to meet changing customer needs, and can even put it at risk of becoming obsolete.
Fortunately, there are a number of steps that companies can take to secure leadership support for innovation:
- Identify which types of leaders will be most receptive to your ideas and approach them directly with any relevant information or proposals.
- Consider gathering input from other members of the leadership team or encouraging them to participate in ideation sessions so that they can better understand why innovation is important.
- Create a detailed plan or roadmap for how you will move forward with your idea, as this can help leadership understand exactly what steps need to be taken and why they are necessary.
- Recognize that leaders may need some time and reassurance before they are ready to fully support your ideas. As such, it may be helpful to reach out to them regularly and provide regular updates about your progress.
With the right approach, it is possible to gain leadership support for innovation and help your company thrive in the face of change.
Accept Mission is an innovation software that touches all the phases of innovation. It is a good tool you can use for tech scouting.
For one, you can use it to collect technology solutions using campaigns and missions. You can create campaigns in minutes with customizable templates.
For visualizing your assessment, there are graphs and smart insights for analysis that you can use.
You can also integrate with workflows and systems like Power BI to improve and accelerate innovation campaigns.
When assessing the tech solutions that you found, you can define parameters like the timeline and submission format.
You can also choose the criteria for selection. These can be anything from the tech quality to the execution feasibility.
