Day 1

 Welcome to my new blog.   I'm currently enrolled in a Futuring and Innovation course online with Colorado Technical University.  This blog will share my experiences of taking two online doctoral courses, being a military member, and surviving the pandemic of 2020; all while learning and exploring about various futuring and innovation topics.  This purpose of this blog will share my personal thoughts and feelings about futuring and innovation objectives and topics learned throughout the course.  

Bessant has described innovation to be driven by connections, opportunities and taking advantage of opportunities (2018).  He also focuses on four broad categories of innovation: product, process, position, and paradigm (2018).  Bessant also addresses a systematic approach to business innovation that can occur in 12 different dimensions (2018). These dimensions are:

* Offerings - done with new services or products.

* Platform -  offerings based on reconfiguring other components

* Solutions - offerings customer value

* Customers - new market segments or unmet needs

* Customer Experience - new ways of customer contact and interaction

* Value capture - new business models and new ways of income generation

* Processes - improvements on effectiveness and efficiency

* Organization -changing structures or scope

* Supply Chain - new ways or changes in order fulfillment and sourcing

* Presence - new sales or distribution channels

* Brand - reposition or leveraging

* Networking - new offerings based on integrated networks

These approaches look at a different side of futuring and innovation that does not only involve technology, there is also some strategy, business, and processes that can be analyzed.

I am very interested in process innovation because there are so many new technologies that exists and continue to evolve, yet sometimes our processes aren't efficient or effective to take advantage of these technologies.  An example of this is delivery services for food and groceries, while convenient for some, many did not take advantage of this until recently, due to various pandemic restrictions.  I look forward to sharing my thoughts and opinions on the information I learn in the class and hearing your thoughts and opinions.  

How are you handling the pandemic?  What is are some methods you are using to stay healthy, physically, spiritually and mentally?  Have you discovered something new to help you deal with this global crisis?  

Sharron

Reference

Bessant, J.T. J. (2018). Managing Innovation: Integrating Technological, Market and Organizational Change, Enhanced eText. [Colorado Technical University (CTU)].  Retrieved from https://coloradotech.vitalsource.com/#books/9781119379416/