Role Of Innovation In Business Decision Making

Business innovation is becoming the centre piece of next growth agenda as businesses strive to switch away from reactive mode. Whereas, in the past, most businesses would be caught up by change like a deer on headlights, today, innovation has occupied a central place in organizations, giving them a head start or easy continuity.

Most organizations have or are entrenching an innovation culture which allows them to realize more value from strategic investments than those who don’t. Research done by various entities have confirmed that the best companies don’t outgrow their competitors, they out-innovate them as well.

“I genuinely believe there is an opportunity to create a more modern enterprise, better evolved to the new geopolitical context,” says consulting firm, McKinsey in their latest Annual Global Survey report. “Those who do this most purposefully and bravely will be those who thrive in the next era.” The McKinsey research shows that a focus on aspiration, activation, and execution can help companies out-innovate and outgrow peers.

Most of our organization faces the existential challenge of old operation models such as siloed thinking, risk- aversion, lack of innovation culture and operating in a ‘business as usual’ mentality. This certainly put them in a back-foot and it denies them the chance to seize the moment.

This cannot be put in any better perspective than the emergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) which has caused considerable disruption in the market place. The subsequent emergence of generative Artificial Intelligence (gen AI) has ripped off the veneer cover of normalcy, forcing most of us to start thinking outside the box. Every morning we wake to new developments that are not just eye opening but mind boggling. What we use to do within days, weeks, months, is now being done within hours.

The most unsettling thing is that, organizations have barely reverted to the pre-COVID days and now we have to contend with new disruptive technology. The pandemic tore apart our old work culture, forcing most organizations to adopt a hybrid working model whereby employees would work either from home or office. Now gen AI is further causing new disruption that will require agility and readiness to adapt to survive.

Unfortunately, just like all disruption, we will have casualties on the wayside. Is your organization ready to change with the changing time? Is it ready to innovate to remain a float and relevant? The biggest drawback will be for organizations that will struggle to get their innovation engine running by being held back by lack of an innovation culture and practice, fear of failure, disruption of careers and fear of the unknown.

The McKinsey Survey has this to say, “we identified cultural challenges as the biggest barrier, Risk aversion, siloed mindsets, and a general aversion to technology slowing down the adoption of new tools and processes. Our latest survey of more than 1,000 executives reinforces those earlier findings, with misaligned culture or ways of working cited among the top three reasons for failed or stalled digital transformations”.

The Survey noted that, “with new technologies such as generative AI (gen AI) poised to disrupt many sectors and functions, and more than three-quarters of survey respondents stating that their companies’ current business models will not be economically viable by 2025, innovation is a clear priority for many firms”.

Locally, we have organizations that not only play for the local market but also cater to the regional and global market. As such, our organizations have to take into consideration this play space and adopt accordingly.

At Konza Technopolis, we are playing in the Smart City space. Our drive is to ensure we stay on top of our game of being an investment destination of choice to various investors. As a Smart City, innovation is our second name.

True to this, the Silicon Savannah is being driven by technological innovation that will ensure we are one step ahead all the time. Konza Technopolis was established with the following objectives;

A hub and an innovation ecosystem, contributing to Kenyaʼs knowledge-based economy,
Established as a mixed-use, high-density walkable city that accommodates a diversity of programs and districts,
Designed to be a livable, sustainable urban environment that encourages high-value development,
The city is designed on a stich framework, with various bands including: higher education, residential, science and tech park, an office band, light industrial park,
Konza was established to enable Kenya be a regional technological and innovation power house.

At Konza Technopolis, we have smart walkways, smart poles, Tier III Data Center, undergrounded service facilities such as power and fibre cabal. We have smart waste treatment plant and water recycling plant. At Konza Technopolis, innovation is a core corporate value embedded in the organization and it’s a key driver on how we do business.

The Konza National Data Center is a state-of-the-art Tier III Uptime certified data center that serves as the technological engine driving the overall mandate of Konza Technopolis. Cloud services and solutions offered include: Infrastructure as a Service, Platform as a Service, Software as a Service solutions and Colocation services. Advanced power management systems, Backup power systems, Advanced cooling and air conditioning systems and Advanced security and monitoring systems are some of the innovative features of the data center making it one of its kind in the region. Konza Data Center runs 100% on green energy.

Our focus on Life Science has enabled us to develop an innovative medical service called tibERbu HealthNet, a new medical system designed to unify medical records in public hospitals across the country. The system is expected to provide a single point of information for doctors and nurses to access patient digital records during hospital visits, thus saving time and enhancing medical diagnosis.

The tibERbu HealthNet is expected revolutionize the medical sector with its two components comprising Primary Care Network (PCN) and Electronic Medical Record (EMR), which have been successfully rolled out to various health centres across the country. It covers various service points in the hospital including Registration, Triage, Out-Patient Department (OPD), In-Patient Department (IPD), Specialist Clinics and other support services like billing and inventory. It also enables doctors retrieve various reports from the system for efficient clinical decision making among others when running hospitals and managing patients.

Other futuristic programs targeted to be setup at the Silicon Savannah include; Kenya Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Digital Media City, a smart sports stadium among others. Currently, Konza is playing host to the Open University of Kenya (OUK) the first digital institutional of advanced higher learning in the region. It also play host to the African Centre for Technological Studies (ACTS).

From the foregoing, its clear and critical that organizations must embed innovation into the core operations of their businesses to enable them succeed in modern times. Innovation is no longer a buzzword, an appendix of the business or an afterthought. For it to have impactful results, leading to growth, discovery of new business ideas, then innovation must have a seat on the high table of decision making. It cannot be on the menu.

This article was written by, John Paul Okwiri, the Chief Executive Officer, Konza Technopolis Development Authority