When I was a magazine editor, I hated when authors threw around words like innovation. In the content world, innovation is a buzz word, used so frequently that it has lost meaning.
Now I’m at a company in which one of the core values is to innovate and constantly improve. And in truth, being a member of the software industry puts Infusionsoft in a position to be highly innovative. So in a company within an industry dependent on constant innovation, how do we measure innovation?
I suppose we measure it the same way I did as an editor. Did someone introduce something new or game changing? Did someone do something that seems nearly impossible to do and in a new way? Did someone buck the status quo in a way that helps us achieve our purpose more efficiently?
Since I’ve been at Infusionsoft, I’ve seen lots of innovation happen around me. I saw the software evolve from overly complicated and ugly to pretty and user-friendly. InfusionCon 2012 was the biggest InfusionCon yet, and most of the attendees saying it was the best yet. We launched a socially enabled platform for internal communication and achieved more than 80 percent adoption in a month and a half. We are a software company whose target market remains small businesses in a market where most competitors are going after the big boys.
All of these are examples of innovation. Innovation as a core value means it’s what we do it every day, no matter how big or small the challenge. We look for ways to go above and beyond; to do things that have never been done. Since the other half of that core value is to constantly improve, we’re always competing against ourselves; working to continuously provide our customers a better product and experience. All this in the name of helping small businesses succeed.
Posted In: Values in Action