CLC: Phase I – Proposing, Evaluating, and Selecting an Innovation.

Innovation is a collective act that springs from a collaborative approach to solving business problems. By tapping into as many minds and different talents as possible, and by getting people to swap ideas, innovate together, and feel jointly responsible for success (Gibson, & Skarzynkski, 2008).

Ace’s Idea of Innovation

Almost one billion estimated to be urban-dwellers by 2050, a few cities are undergoing a remarkable shift to make it a place to be disabled-friendly (Salman, 2018). There are a lot of disabled people struggling daily because they physically normal. According to Pham (2019), most people associate disability with physical always hear places like restaurants and grocery store says, “We are in compliance”, but, they are not. Most businesses are already practicing innovation and always open for new ideas. However, some of these ideas does not help those with disabilities that tries to adjust to all the new trends and sometimes left a huge number of the population out of participating (Pham, 2019). In grocery shopping, some disabled people are having trouble reaching things on shelves, unreadable markings, narrow aisles, etc., but despite of the challenges, business companies keeps trying to fix the problem which some of them already have solutions that already exist (Pham, 2019).  My idea is having a grocery store that are disabled-friendly, starting in the parking area where they have enough space to navigate their wheelchairs, wider aisle, rotating shelves, shelves that has electronic screens that works like a vending machine.  Creating a grocery shopping for disabled people brings convenience and enable them to live like normal people, and to create a more inclusive community (Pham, 2019).

The benefits of having a grocery store designed for people with disabilities is allowing them to have a sense of inclusion in the society. Believe it or not, many of them feel alone and burden to their families. This idea will help them to be more independent, increases their self-esteem and self-worth.  It is just sad that others treat people with disabilities differently, judged, and as burden to community. People with disabilities never wanted to be in the situation where they at, most of them just want to live a normal life. Creating a grocery stores designed for disabled people helps them to be more independent, and not worrying to be looked at. Every time I see a disabled people in grocery store struggling, I always offer help because that is the right thing to do. I always give them assistance even though they do not ask for it. Some of them are appreciative but some of them are not and refuse to get help because they are embarrassed of their situation. Accommodating their needs through innovation is good gesture for humanity, business should also consider about the well-being for their consumers and not just focus in making profit. In the beginning, the challenge is how the customers will adjust and learn the new system of grocery shopping, but eventually it is designed for better.

The NOMMAR best fits the evaluation of the early stage of this Innovation (Terwilliger, 2019).  N is what the Customer need (Terwilliger, 2019). There is need for these services, even though it does not apply to other customers but having a section or an isle designated to big retail stores like Walmart and Target enables them to attract more customers specifically the disabled people. According to Pham (2019), “it would be great if more businesses would take an initiative to do something, especially these huge grocery store chains that do have the capacity to do something like that”. O is for technology options, is there technologies that could support the innovation. Technology is available, investing for the organization will surely meet the needs of the organization and the customers (Terwilliger, 2019). M is for potential market, looking for customers will not be a problem, just like in South Carolina one of five of the population has disabled (Pham, 2019).  M is for business models, does the organization have the resources to do it (Terwilliger, 2019). There might be previous innovations that try’s to be disabled friendly, however making something specially for the disabled is different and it could be big hit for business companies. A is for realistic, are business companies with take the big risks for making it happen and implement the innovation (Terwilliger, 2019). Taking a chance might be scary, however if the company their research about the demographics and the market there should be a problem of making their investment and make extra profit for the stakeholders. R is for relevant, organization having the same vison and agree with the innovation (Terwilliger, 2019). Does the company support the process of innovation? Companies should have done their research about the pros and cons of the innovation before moving forward, however you will only know the results after you take that big risks and see if the consumers like the idea.

Amanda’s Idea of Innovation

Diagnostic machines are electronic components that work to make the vehicle safer and have a better performance (Mechanic Scout, 2019). Problems can be difficult to detect without the diagnostic machine because it would then be too time consuming. Modern day automobiles are now computer controlled but they still do not have the adequate tools to show everything that is going wrong with it. The automobile cannot troubleshoot itself and give a correct reading. The only thing it will show on the dash board is the engine light, oil light, tire pressure and others that are common. Diagnostic machines are highly recommended to use because of the accurate readings from it (Mechanic Scout, 2019).

Vehicles are one of the most effective transportation that an individual can have. Most people are not knowledgeable when it comes down to the service part of a vehicle. One of the major things to maintain is the up keep of the maintenance for the automobile. There are many ways to get your vehicle checked, like going to a service center, auto part store or your local shed tree mechanic. This can also cost a pretty penny depending on where you go. With their diagnostic machines, it only shows codes and then the auto service workers would have to connect or input the data in the system so the name of the part would show up. This is the only way they would know exactly what to fix on.

An innovation system that would be more enough to every human being would be an automatic diagnostic and servicing in vehicle system. This would save you time and money. The system would be mounted and connected to hoses which would lead to the engine, transmission, battery and many other parts under the hood of the vehicle. This device would also have a digital face that would visibly show the current problems instead of codes. Once those problems are noticed then there would be a button that could be pushed to service the necessary systems with replenishing the fluids and other things to meet the standards of the vehicle. The device would also show a list of companies that would fix major problems such as replacing the starter, belt, engine and anything else that cause for physical labor. This would help with giving options to the owner of the vehicle to see if they get quoted a good price. In the long run this would be more cost efficient than going to your local garage or auto service company for something other than the hard physical labor. The auto shops charge for everything, just to take your car to them to put it on their diagnostic machine may range from $20 to $400 (Walrack, 2019). With the automatic diagnostic and servicing in vehicle system, this would not be a major concern. Vehicle owners and companies would benefit from this new system and not stress about trying to find out what is wrong with the vehicle and who would they find to fix it.

Adam’s Idea of Innovation: Park & Charge Meters for Metro Areas

The innovation idea that I chose was a parking meter that also incorporates an Electronic Vehicle (EV) charging station. I feel that this idea presents a strong opportunity for success based on a few factors. Research by JP Morgan shows 2025 as being the tipping point where raw material costs and production costs of EVs drop low enough to support rapid growth, with the sales of EVs accounting for thirty percent of all vehicle sales in 2025 (JP Morgan, 2018). Metropolitan owners of EVs potentially face the dilemma of choosing between finding a parking location, or finding a charging station, by providing paid parking and charging in one location, the vehicle owner is not forced to choose between the two, which provides instant value to them in both time and money. There are examples in Europe where cities have installed similar meters for their population, with Austria being a recent one. In the city of Ybbs an der Donau, they have partnered with Siemens to retrofit already installed meters with charging capabilities (Michelsen, 2019). These meters also allow for all types of vehicles to use them. The driver can pay for parking and charging, or if their vehicle is an internal combustion engine that does not require charging, they can pay just for parking. This is an effective example to follow when evaluating implementation options.

The model that I used to evaluate my innovation idea was the SNIFF model. I evaluated it through all five segments that make up the sniff innovation test: Strategy, Need, Impact, Feasibility, and Feel (Creative Realities, 2011). Strategy depends on what our team or company’s direction is, so that one is not as easy to answer yet since we are still selecting our product to move forward with. Need is easier to answer though, and this fills a largely neglected need that getting ahead of competition will allow us to be first to market with these combo meters. This tactic worked well for products like the iPhone and could also work in our favor too, with our company becoming synonymous with parking/charging combo meters. Considering EV ownership growth is increasing year-over-year, more owners of these cars will run into the choice of parking location versus charging location. Currently, they must compromise since they cannot have both simultaneously. Filling that need for both and eliminating the choice will drive usage and fuel income. Impact is high with many cities already modernizing their infrastructure, and incorporating parking/charging combo meters would posture them long term for future EV ecosystem support. One area of concern where constraints may be felt is selling the implementation and innovation to prospective cities due to the country still in the early phases of EV sales and support. These meters need to be universal for all models of EVs, and also have the capability to serve as just a parking meter for internal combustion engine vehicles. Realizing and adjusting to overcome these issues will be critical. The first few purchases will help build a foundation, and marketing prior installs as positive examples for future sales. Feasibility is hard to nail down since an implementation timeframe has not been established for our team. Evaluating this aspect will be easier once an implementation window has been laid out. As far as Feel is concerned, the gut feeling I have when looking into this innovation opportunity is that the market is ripe for the taking. There are few, if any, stateside competitors that offer a parking meter that can also serve as a universal EV charging station. Looking at all the factors and evaluating them critically, it is my determination that this is a win-win for both the company who brings it to market and the consumers who utilize it.

Andrea’s Idea of Innovation

A one- or two-paragraph summary of Ace’s idea of innovation, a description of the model used to evaluate the idea, and the results of the evaluation. Specifically, the evaluation should identify the merits, drawbacks, and challenges associated with the idea (In-text citation, 2019). Use two reputable sources, add all your reference to reference page. Thanks.

Selected Idea of Innovation

Identification of our team’s selected idea for the project accompanied by a description of the model used to evaluate the idea. We will Include the results of the evaluation, which will serve as the justification for our team’s selection. Preliminarily forecast the most significant challenges that could impede the development of the selected idea.

 Project Plan Summary of the Project Plan

Red Team’s project plan is designed to complete our assignment in Module 6 (CLC:  and will be broken down. The team will work together to develop a detailed description and implementation plan for the innovation we selected in Module 3 (Horne, 2019).

All members will:

• Conduct a research and describe a product development or management process, methodology, or model that could be utilized to implement the innovation.
• Select and use one of these models for developing its own implementation plan.
• Include in-text citations from at least six secondary sources (at least 2 reputable sources for each member).
• Each person on the team must contribute an article from the research that was completed on product development or management processes, methodologies, and/or models.

Team Leader will:

• Ensures that the assignment has the required counts between 2000-3000 words
• Finalize the assignment and submit it to Lopeswrite before final submission

Ace will:

• Finalize the name and include a one- or two-sentence description of the innovation.
• Describe the value the new product or service will provide to customers and describe the need it will meet.

Amanda will:

• Utilize the model selected by the team, create the detailed implementation plan for the innovation. Make sure the plan accounts for contingencies/risks in the implementation process and includes realistic time frame and budgeting considerations.

Adam and Andrea will:

• Use graphics such as organizational charts, process maps, and/or budget tables as appropriate to increase the readability and professional appeal of the plan.

 

References:

Creative Realities (2011). The SNIFF Test Criteria for Early Innovation Decision Making.

Creative Realities. Retrieved November 14, 2019 from http://www.creativerealities.com/innovationist-blog/bid/54706/The-SNIFF-test-criteria-for-early-innovation-decision-making

JPMorgan Chase & Co. (2018). Driving into 2025: The Future of Electric Vehicles. Retrieved from https://www.jpmorgan.com/global/research/electric-vehicles

Mechanic Scout. (2019). Mechanic Scout. Retrieved November 13, 2019 from https://www.mechanicscout.com/best-professional-car-diagnostic-tool/

Pham, B. (2019). The Challenges of Eating and Grocery Shopping for People with Disabilities. Retrieved November 12, 2019 from https://www.postandcourier.com/free-times/food/the-challenges-of-eating-and-grocery-shopping-for-people-with/article_8d129a08-def3-11e9-a89c-03c56ff37a80.html

Salman, S. (2018). What would a truly disabled-accessible city look like? Retrieved November 13, 2019 from https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2018/feb/14/what-disability-accessible-city-look-like

Terwilliger, J.  (2011). Two models for evaluating early innovation. Retrieved November 13, 2019 from http://www.creativerealities.com/innovationist-blog/bid/54707/Two-models-for-evaluating-early-innovation

Walrack, Jessica (2019). How Much Should You Pay for a Car Diagnostic Test? Retrieved November 14, 2019 from https://www.supermoney.com/car-diagnostic-test-can-learn-much-cost/