Innovation – doing things in new, different, better ways –  is often enabled by digital. It’s about finding creative ways to communicate, connect, campaign, provide products and deliver services.

Digital innovation starts with questions like: 

• How can digital technology, principles or insight help us reach our goal or solve a problem?
• How can digital improve the experience of our supporters or beneficiaries?

Innovating involves detaching a problem or opportunity from how things are currently done. That unlocks people’s creativity and creates the conditions for new, inventive ideas.

For a digital solution to be innovative, it doesn’t have to be super-technical or complex. It may be about taking a new approach. For example, developing an online triage form to cut down wait times for service users. 

Innovation requires a willingness to take a leap of faith, invest, learn and improve. It also requires an openness to failure. Prototype, launch, learn, amend and try again.

Things to think about

• Where would you put your organisation on the innovation landscape map?
• Do you have an internal innovation team or project, or does innovation happen when someone external approaches you with an idea?
• Have you been a part of an innovation project where people understood from the beginning that it might fail?
• Has your organisation used digital to find a new way of tackling a problem?