Expert voice - Carole Stromboni innovating in practice

How do I make my strategy a success? How do I get started? These are the questions asked by companies launching innovation projects. Carole Stromboni, expert in digital transformation and innovation and member of the WEEM community, has been providing answers to the most practical and operational aspects of an innovation approach for over 15 years. Her aim? To provide companies with the keys and tools to successfully implement their innovation strategy, and to give a voice to those who have succeeded.

A change of mindset: vital if we are not to disappear.

To remain competitive with start-ups, ETIs and large groups, SMEs need to innovate. This means anticipating technological acceleration, evolving their business model and investing in innovation.

Their biggest challenge is to change their mind set:

• It's no longer a question of selling products, but of offering services and experiences.
• They no longer respond to needs, but provide concrete solutions to stated problems.

"SMEs are the best candidates for innovation. They have already developed their sales force, their products, their customers and their financial resources. With a vision that reconciles business and positive impact on society, they can more easily engage communities and younger generations in search of meaning."

Carole Stromboni
Innovation Expert and Member of WEEM

A word of advice to small and medium-sized businesses: focus on transposition innovations, which save energy and investment and are "simpler" to imagine and implement.

The 3 pillars of successful innovation

"Innovation is movement. It's like a breath of fresh air that allows us not to get stuck in our ways of thinking. It's not about mechanics and processes, it's about people. Innovation isn't about theory, it's about seamless experience, it's not about raising the most money, it's about frugality, creativity under constraints. This is the approach I want to share with SMEs today.

HUMAN

The heart of the matter. SMEs must encourage their multi-disciplinary teams to become autonomous and self-organizing, while trusting them and relying on the agile method. HR is the key to the innovation process, which relies on people, mindset and technical skills.

⇒ Explain your vision and involve your teams

EXPERIENCE

Satisfying customers and in-house teams alike. Innovation is almost never a new application, but the search for a seamless experience: fluid, smooth, cross-channel, easy, intuitive.

⇒ Innovate by solving specific problems and creating the right space.

FRUGALITY

It is possible to adopt a frugal innovation approach - understood as the search for the minimum expenditure to achieve one's objective - and achieve significant results for one's business and sales.

⇒ Trust your ecosystem, choose an innovation method and stick to it, identify all sources of funding and apply the effectual method.

Innovate in practice: tailor-made tools and feedback adapted to an innovative approach

Practical information sheets to build and execute your strategy

With his book, Innover en pratique, mener et réussir sa stratégie d'innovationpublished by Eyrolles, Carole Stromboni gives you all the advice you need to succeed.

- The "how to", how to achieve your objectives, in everyday language: these subjects include recruitment, team management, the business model and communication.

- The different ways of using tools to serve your goals and mission. From intrapreneurship and the user journey to open innovation, learning expeditions and hackathons, the author shares the three methods she has developed.

Interviews with numerous experts

Carole Stromboni has conducted a wide range of interviews with SME managers, academics, service providers, innovation managers from ETIs and large corporate groups in the private and public sectors, illustrating the best practices and actions required to make a success of her approach. Among them: Aristide Varvounis, partner and co-founder of WEEM, and managers from institutions such as ESSEC, Maddy Keynote, Coriolis Composites, Ubisoft, La Compagnie des Alpes, InovShop Group Brasserie Pietra, Veepee, Ogilvy Consulting, Collège de France, HEC and NUMA.

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