Three lessons analytics culture builders can learn from innovation accelerators
Analytics is driving innovation across organisations. It is giving us new insights, new ideas, and new ways to connect with customers, as we investigate new sources of data in new ways.
However, many organisations are still not getting full value from their investments data and analytics. Too often, use is still patchy and individual department- or project-based, rather than embedded across the whole business. To really get value from analytics, we all need to change how we think and behave — and that means changing the culture of organisations. In particular, we have to think more inquisitively, and more creatively, about what we are doing. True innovators are almost child-like in their curiosity. They just want to know, and that drives them to ask questions about every aspect of what they do.
But how can we move towards this culture of curiosity that will drive use of analytics? I think there are useful lessons to be learned from innovation accelerators.
1. Accelerators are not just for startups
Accelerators are usually seen simply as a vehicle for start-ups to get support. That is certainly why they exist — and it is certainly true that start-ups are big beneficiaries. However, our experience of working with start-ups in the accelerator Le Village by CA in Milan suggests that benefits are also accrued by other partners.
Le Village supports over 50 start-ups, but it is also associated with 13 corporate partners and 38 so-called ‘enablers’, universities, venture capitalists and research institutes. SAS is a corporate partner and so far has been supporting two of the start-ups there — and the relationship is by no means one-sided. Corporate partners do not simply get to feel good by sharing expertise and experience with start-ups. There are real opportunities for cross-selling and co-marketing with both our customers and theirs.
Almost more importantly, there is a buzz about working with start-ups. Some of their flexible, agile culture rubs off, even on big corporates. People start to think differently, and they bring that back to the workplace. It’s a bit like taking part in hackathons — and it helps to make us more innovative too. The lesson: everyone can gain from contact with innovation, and it helps them to think differently.
2. Accelerators provide opportunities for collaboration across multiple fields
The comments on Le Village’s website make clear that the benefits to start-ups of being in an accelerator do not stop at getting support, advice and training. Start-ups talk about getting access to partners, funding, customers, training, and an international perspective.
However, there is also a spill-over at places like Le Village, because of its cross-sector approach. Some accelerators focus on one particular sector, but Le Village supports start-ups across ‘7 Fs’, food, fashion, furniture, ‘farma’ (pharma), future mobility, FinTech and Insurtech, and France. Ideas from one sector can cross-fertilise other start-ups and partners.
Colleagues from SAS have also reported benefits from being involved in a wider support ecosystem. Each start-up is likely to be supported by the partners, not just corporates, but also enablers. These partners work together to support the start-up — but may also build relationships that will enable them to take forward other partnerships outside the accelerator.
As the world becomes more global, we all need to specialise more, and that means that we need to draw on the skills of others to supplement our own outside our core capabilities. Partnering is one way to manage this, and accelerators are showing us the way.
“Innovation has become essential for the survival of companies in recent years. Companies must act as a Startup in order to evolve and grow at the speed imposed by technological and social progress. To secure a future they must start innovating when things are going well, not wait until they are in trouble. This change process can be triggered by leveraging internal and external resources, such as startups. Evolution does not wait. Innovation is now.” Says Gabriella Scapicchio, Mayor Le Village by CA, Milan.
3. In business, location is not everything — but it can certainly help
Estate agents talk about ‘location, location, location’: the three most important aspects of selling or buying a property. It is not quite the same in other businesses. Space is not the most important thing in establishing or changing a culture — but it does matter. We all know that setting or location can affect how we think or behave. There is plenty of evidence about the effect of, say, open plan offices, or brightly coloured walls, on behaviour.
A monastic setting, like the old convent now occupied by Le Village in Milan, can help you to see the world differently. Old buildings, especially with a history like that, have their own atmosphere. Spending time in the garden at Le Village is a real pleasure — and so that is where people meet both formally and informally. We can’t all move into old monasteries with beautiful cloisters, but the influence of setting on behaviour, culture and results is worth considering.
