According to Deloitte’s 2024 Mapping Digital Transformation Value report, there is a sea change in how companies are investing their innovation budgets. Fewer dollars are being invested in transformational change. Instead, “Budgets are going toward more concrete business cases: entering new markets, launching new products, and modernizing the core.”

And a primary driver for this change is value.

The survey indicates increased investments technologies respondents perceived as driving the most value—GenAI, traditional AI, and data architecture are chief among them.

Overcoming Innovation Ambiguity and Identifying Value

Innovation is inherently ambiguous. It is in complete opposition to a concrete business case. You may have a concrete problem but be unclear about whether or how an emerging technology can solve it. Or maybe you know you need to start experimenting with new technology, but you haven’t defined what it can do for your organization. Both those scenarios are a long way from a business case and even further from demonstrating value.

So how do you bridge the gap?

While it may seem counterintuitive, putting some structure around the innovation process can be advantageous, particularly when it comes to narrowing in on a business case and demonstrating value. It can provide you with space to think things through, home in on a problem, and explore solutions from several different angles. It can unearth the unknowns and root out costly gotchas that might prevent you from moving forward. A structured innovation process provides an opportunity to figure out if something.

Innovation often ends with proof of concept that demonstrates that something can be done. That may solve the business-case challenge, but it’s not enough show value. Proof of value is a more modern approach. Proof of value is about more than if something can be done—it’s about whether it should be done. It’s intended to show whether it solves your business problem, is financially and operationally viable, and what it will take to pilot and scale.

JumpStart—A Value-Based, Guided Process for Technology Innovation

Kopius’ flexible future state and product ideation program, JumpStart, is a framework for innovation designed to help you explore possibilities, narrow down business use cases, and demonstrate value. And while JumpStart is a great launchpad for exploring both traditional and GenAI, it’s also a good fit for other types of innovation. Manufacturing, healthcare, and retail organizations, for example, may want to get a better understanding of their physical environment through IoT. And companies of all types have ideas for digital products they’d like to develop, but just don’t have the capacity.

JumpStart is technology agnostic—often, the solution to a particular challenge includes many integrated approach involving AI, IoT, AR/VR, etc.

The possibilities are endless.

Regardless of what you’re interested in exploring, the foundational process is similar, and typically entails—and it typically wraps up with a proof of value.

• Research – First, we explore emerging trends in your space, how early adopters in are using new technologies, and what’s happening in other industries that might be applicable.
• Dialog & Discovery – Next, we bring all the key stakeholders to the table to explain any relevant new technology, present the research, and discuss challenges and opportunities.
• Brainstorming & Whiteboarding – Then, we brainstorm and whiteboard potential solutions, prioritize by need and impact, and provide space for you to consider next steps.
• Proof of Value – Last, we bring together a team to prototype a solution that tangibly demonstrates whether something can be done, and what it will take to make it happen.

The goal of the JumpStart process is to for you to have the information you need to determine if the innovation path you are considering makes sense—whether it’s achievable, what the business case is, what the obstacles are, and if it will drive value for your organization.

While JumpStart typically ends with the proof of value, it’s rarely the end of the project lifecycle. If you’re looking to launch a pilot initiative or scale a program or technology across your organization, we can help with that, too.

JumpStart in Action—Three Real-World Examples of How

Innovation looks different.

To get a better understanding of how JumpStart future state and product ideation workshops can help you innovate and solve your most pressing challenges, I’ve pulled together three real-world examples.

• An AI solution for triaging automotive warranty claims – A leading auto manufacturer with a large warranty business wanted to explore how AI could help them triage claims. They needed to understand if it was a practical solution and what implementing it would entail. The JumpStart and proof of value process proved their idea was achievable, but it brought to light some underlying issues around data and integrations. They came away with not only a better understanding of what was possible, but also what it would take to get there.
• An IoT solution for monitoring vaccines storage temperatures – A global healthcare nonprofit that provides vaccines needed to monitor the temperatures of refrigerators in remote locations with inconsistent power supplies to ensure the vaccines’ efficacy. The JumpStart and proof of value process was the launchpad for a viable solution that included everything from building a circuit board, to operationalizing it with 1G connectivity in the Azure Cloud. Once the initial project was a starting point for a host of related solutions, including refrigerated backpacks and fanny packs.
• A competitive gap analysis for a robotics company’s app – A manufacturer of robotic household appliances wanted to benchmark their app experience and physical against their competitors’ solutions. They needed objective real-world insights into their strengths and opportunities for improvement, so they knew where to focus future development efforts. The JumpStart and proof of value process led to tangible enhancements to both their app and product that improved customer experience.

JumpStart Your Technology Project—and Stay on Track—with Kopius!

At Kopius, we harness the power of people, data and emerging technologies to build innovative solutions that help our customers navigate continual change and solve formidable challenges. To accelerate our customers’ success, we’ve designed a JumpStart program to prioritize digital transformation together.

Let’s connect!

Enterprise technology adoption typically follows an S curve, with organizations first undertaking frontier innovation, then experimenting, piloting, and scaling, as McKinsey explains in their latest Technology Trends Outlook.  But innovation has never been easy, and staying ahead of the emerging technology frontier is an infinite race. It’s hard to take care of today’s problems when you’re focused on tomorrow. Consider AI or GenAI—you may not have in-house expertise, or if you do, their efforts are focused on existing programs. Maybe you just don’t have the time and space to figure out what types of problems emerging technologies can solve and what the best use cases are in your business.  

To take advantage of AI and GenAI, innovation and experimentation are necessary first steps. It’s the only way to figure out what’s going to work for your company and to get buy-in before investing.

That’s why more companies are looking to external partners for help.

Technology Experimentation and the Art of the Possible

When IoT was first introduced, it was complicated, and companies didn’t know what it meant for their businesses. So, at Kopius, we started holding future state workshops to help our clients understand what it was all about, the types of problems it could solve, and to identify some specific use cases within their businesses. We quickly came to think of it as the art of the possible.

We’re seeing much the same thing with AI, and to meet the need, we’ve designed a full-fledged innovation and experimentation service offering we call JumpStart.

Our JumpStart process provides a roadmap for frontier innovation and experimentation. It entails:

• Research – Over the years we’ve learned how valuable it is to come to the table with a big picture understanding of your business, what the emerging trends are in your space, how early adopters in your industry are using it, and even if other industries are using it in ways that might be applicable.
• Dialog & Discovery – Once we’ve wrapped our heads around all that, we bring all the key stakeholders to the table to explain the technology and present the research, which then generates good discussions about the business problems you’re having and opportunities you could potentially take advantage of.
• Brainstorming & Whiteboarding – This is where the art of the possible comes to life. Using a design thinking approach, we brainstorm and whiteboard potential solutions to your most challenging problems and opportunities. Then, we prioritize them based on greatest need and impact. We also give you some space to think about what the best opportunity to move forward with is.
• Proof of Value – The last step of the process is to demonstrate proof of value. We bring together a multi-functional team to do some light, rapid prototyping that tangibly demonstrates the use case. Proof of value isn’t just about whether something can be done—it’s about whether it should be done. Does it solve your business problem? Is it financially and operationally viable? What will it take to pilot and scale?

While the proof of value typically marks the end of the JumpStart process, it doesn’t necessarily mark the end of our partnership. For many of our clients, it’s just the beginning. Kopius can also pull together the right resources to pilot the project and scale it across your organization.

JumpStart in Action – For a Leading Auto Manufacturer, JumpStart Brought Critical Information to Light

A leading auto manufacturer with a large warranty business wanted to use AI to make more informed decisions about what claims to automatically approve vs. look into more deeply. Before fully investing in the project, they needed to better understand if it was a practical solution and what implementing it would entail.

JumpStart was a perfect fit for their needs.

After some initial research, we brought key stakeholders to the table for in-depth discussions about the possibilities, the opportunities, and their business challenges. Then, we brainstormed and white boarded potential solutions. A big part of this was mapping out a detailed service blueprint that detailed every step of the warranty claim process.

Next, we tackled the proof of value, which brought critical information to light. While the AI solution was possible, they needed to address some upstream challenges before it could be implemented. Since claims were being submitted by so many different people through so many different systems, they would first need to build integrations and standardize the way data was coming in.

This gave the auto manufacturer the necessary insight to weigh the effort and expense vs. the long-term benefits of the undertaking and make an informed decision about moving forward.

The Value of a Fresh Perspective

When you are laser focused on solving today’s problems, it’s hard to break away and orient yourself to the larger world of advancing technology. That’s why an external technology partner like Kopius can be a real asset. We bring fresh perspectives, objectivity, and use cases from within your industry and outside of it to help you drive innovation, experiment, pilot, and scale.

Wherever you are on your AI innovation journey, we’d love to help you explore the art of the possible. 

JumpStart Your Technology Project—and Stay on Track—with Kopius!

At Kopius, we harness the power of people, data and emerging technologies to build innovative solutions that help our customers navigate continual change and solve formidable challenges. To accelerate our customers’ success, we’ve designed a JumpStart program to prioritize digital transformation together.

Let’s connect!