Step 4

Innovation is the cornerstone of progress within an organisation, but quantifying its success and impact can be challenging. To effectively harness its potential, businesses need robust metrics to gauge their innovation effort’s success. The Innovation Success Ratio (ISR) and Journey Gap Index (JGI) are two powerful metrics to evaluate and enhance innovation efforts systematically, leading to journey expansion. This section delves into the intricacies of these two basic measurements and their interpretations for driving meaningful change within teams and departments.  

 

 

Innovation Success Ratio

 

At is core, ISR measures the ratio of completed innovations to those initiated, providing insights into the efficient of innovation process, we mentioned earlier. The calculation formula is straightforward, yielding a percentage that reflects the proportion of innovations successfully brough to fruition within a given period.

 

 

ISR = ( Completed Innovations /(Started Innovations + Completed Innovations)) x 100

 

Consider an example where your team completes 25 innovations and initiates 3 more this quarter. The ISR would be calculated as (25/(3+25)) x100 = 89.2%, indicating a high score demonstrating a healthy innovation pipeline and efficient execution. Conversely, imagine that in the next quarter, your team has completed 25 innovations but you have initiated 35 innovations, the ISR plummets to (25/(35+25))x100= 41.67%, which falls below 50%, suggesting a significant gap between activated and completed innovations in your journey.

This example doesn’t imply that your completed innovations must always outnumber the actives ones. Instead, it helps you underly the factors contributing to delayed execution, often stemming from the initial innovation development stages, thereby enabling you to address them more effectively.

 

 

While ISR provides valuable insights into innovation efficiency, it's essential to complement it with qualitative assessments of innovation quality. Not all innovations are created equal, and factors such as alignment with customer journey goals, determined by the levels of competency in identifying journey gaps and managing customer expectations.

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Journey Gap Index (JGI)

 

Innovation is not just generating new ideas but also addressing existing challenges. JGI assesses the balance between innovations and journey gaps, offering a holistic view of journey health. The formula subtracts the total incidents from the total innovations within a given period, and then dividing the outcome by the total innovations. This generates a numerical value serving as an index to gauge the relationship between these two values.

 

 

JGI = (Total Innovations - Total Incidents / Total Innovations)

 

By defining the ratio between innovations and incidents, you can gain insight into the current health status of your journey and its potential for progress, enabling you to develop relevant touchpoints in areas lacking attention. As a result, incidents should be viewed as opportunities for new innovations or quick interventions that can enhance experiences at specific journey stages. If the Gap Index is positive, it suggests that there are more innovations than problems, indicating a healthy state with ongoing development progress. If the Gap Index is negative, it suggests that there are more problems than innovations, signalling a potential requirement for additional innovative solutions.

 

 

Consider a scenario where your team has implemented 50 innovations over the past quarter and during this time, you have only faced 10 incidents or problems. Applying the JGI formula, JGI = (50-10)/50 = 0.8, yields a positive number, hence confirming a healthy customer journey with a manageable number of gaps. In contrast, a negative scenario would be where your team has rolled out 50 innovations in the past quarter, but within this timeframe, they have encountered 60 incidents. Using the JGI calculation results in a negative value, JGI = (50-60)/50 = -0.3, indicating an urgent need for immediate intervention to rectify the issues within the journey.

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In conclusion, both ISR and JGI metrics play a pivotal role in evaluating and enhancing organisational initiatives within demanding and rapidly evolving environments. They are also one of the easiest diagnostic tools to precisely determine your position in innovation and journey management development. By utilising these simple yet powerful measurements, all departments can readily address red flags and foster a culture of innovation, thereby ensuring long-term innovation and sustained growth.