Analysis of Innovation and Commercialization for Softwire, SME

This report provides a detailed analysis of innovation and commercialization strategies, focusing on Softwire Limited, a software development and cloud computing SME. It explores the significance of innovation compared to invention, emphasizing the role of organizational vision, leadership, culture, and teamwork in shaping innovation and commercialization. The report delves into the 4Ps of innovation (Product, Process, Position, Press), utilizing innovation funnels to shape ideas and discussing the development of frugal innovation. It examines the importance of the commercial funnel and new product development processes, including a case study on Softwire and funding access. Furthermore, the report covers tools for knowledge development, retention, and intellectual property protection, offering a comprehensive overview of innovation and commercialization practices within the context of a software development company.

Innovation And
Commercialization

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
TASK 1............................................................................................................................................1
P1. Innovation and its importance to business in comparison with invention.......................1
P2. The way organisational vision, leadership, culture and teamwork can shape innovation
and commercialization............................................................................................................3
TASK 2............................................................................................................................................4
P3 4P's of innovation and utilisation of innovation funnel and shaping innovative ideas to
employees in organisation......................................................................................................4
Application of innovation funnels in products development.................................................5
P4 Development of frugal innovation and Example of how it is used in organisation..........6
TASK 3............................................................................................................................................7
P5 Importance of commercial funnel and application of new product development processing
for commercialisation to employees.......................................................................................7
P6 Development of innovation case for Softwire and ways to access funding as with two
business in case study.............................................................................................................8
TASK 4..........................................................................................................................................10
P7 Different tools that selected organization can use to develop, retain and protect knowledge
and intellectual property.......................................................................................................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Innovation is analysed as the key factor that enables an organisation to attain high market
recognition and achievement of success. Commercialization is analysed as the process which is
used for introducing a new product or the methods of production by organisation and making it
available in the market. It is also critical that organisation continuously innovates their product’s
offerings and the important processes in order to ensure that they will remain competitive in
market (Van Hemert, Nijkamp and Masurel, 2013). Present report is based on analysis of
Softwire Limited which is small medium enterprise having staff 130 employees and deals in
providing software development and cloud computing service to some large scale enterprises.
Concept of innovation and its importance to the employees of Softwire is also discussed in
comparison with the invention. Along with this, different aspects related to innovation and
commercialization are also discussed in this report. 4P's of innovation and utilisation of
innovation funnel in order to examine and design different ideas to employees of organisation are
stated as well.
TASK 1
P1. Innovation and its importance to business in comparison with invention
Innovation is termed as a process which implies to transform a business idea or the
particular invention that delivers the value for customers of business enterprise. It is mainly
analysed as the major part of success which has been performed by organisation through
transformation of various process in creation of more important appropriate processes, products
and important ideas (Drucker, 2014). In this context, Softwire is analysed as a small medium
enterprise which deals in providing various software development and cloud computing services
to its customers. Company also aims to explore new technologies so that they will be able to
innovate their products and services in market. In this context, being the CEO of Softwire,
organisation has achieved sustainable growth by creating various innovation and development
software solutions for other organisations.
Commercialization is termed as a process of developing new products and production
method which helps the employees of organisation to attain success in its business operations. It
is also considered as a process that involves production, marketing, sales and customer support
which is required for the achievement of commercial success.

Invention is analysed as the occurrence of ideas for a product or process that have never
been made before. It is also analysed as a process of developing new products and services by
organisation which are not available in the market or industry across world. For example: Apple
iPhone based on operating system is the major example of invention which has provided growth
to organisation in market.
Invention Innovation
Invention refers to the occurrence of an
innovative idea for the development of new
product or service which is important to raise
the recognition of organisation in market
(.Freeman, 2013). It is also analysed as a
process that initiates the actions of Softwire
towards development and designing of new
software to provide services to its major
client’s business enterprises.
Innovation implies to the application of new
ideas for improvement and development of
existing product to increase sales and growth in
market. Innovation is essential for company to
increase its recognition and brand image in
market.
It is concerned with a single product which is
developed by the organisation by involving its
efforts in research and development.
It emphasizes upon increasing consistency and
competencies of various existing products of
company in market through application of new
strategies and ideas.
Invention in organisation is only limited to the
department of research and development
because they have completed analysis about
demand of new products and services in
market.
Innovation is spread across all departments as
employees also have capabilities to provide
ideas for the improvement of products and
services to increase sale of Softwire in market
(Patti Yanes and Siuzdak, 2012).
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Invention tends to raise recognition of
individuals across the world as it is related
with creation of new products. It is a limited
process as it is difficult for the organisation to
identify and develop new products
continuously.
Innovation is analysed as a continuous process
because employees in organisation are
responsible to provide new ideas continuously
and management also aims to make continuous
improvement in their existing products to
achieve growth and profitability in market.
Further, importance of innovation to employees in organisation is discussed as below:
Raising profitability: Most important objective of Softwire is to maximize high profitability in
IT industry in comparison with the competitors. By innovation or modification of existing
software and IT services, organisation will be able to increase its sales and profitability in
market.
Employee competencies: Continuous innovation in organisation is also important to raise the
competencies of managers and subordinates in Softwire to raise innovation in products and
services. Innovation helps in increasing skills and abilities of staff which tends to raise their
competencies in market (Rice, 2013). This also results in the completion of task in specific time
period. Also, some resource are completely utilized for the reduction of production cost.
Market growth: Improvement in products and services will increase the recognition and
revenues of Softwire which provides competencies towards expansion of business. For example:
launching iPod in place of old music player has provided wide recognition and growth to Apple
Inc. in market. Continuous improvement and innovation in feature of iPhone has also increased
sales and profitability of Apple Inc. in market along with its competitive advantage.
P2. The way organisational vision, leadership, culture and teamwork can shape innovation and
commercialization
Leadership is analysed capabilities of company's management to set and accomplish
challenging goals taking swift and decisive action, outperform the competition and inspire others
to performance well in the market. Inspirational leadership is all about energising and developing
a sense of direction and purpose for employees and momentum for change. It also involves
encouraging individuals to strive towards a compelling vision of the future by embracing and
embodying NRC's values in all the aspects of organisation's work (Huberman and Miles, 2013).
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In addition, participative leadership refers to strategy of management in which leaders
provide opportunities to their team members for active participation in decision making and
performing actions of organisation. In this context, participative style of leadership is also
applied in Softwire by management to create an innovative environment at workplace. Active
participation in taking decision and improvement of products can results in improving team work
among staff at workplace.
For generating and implementing innovative ideas, there is major requirement of team
work between employees. They must coordinate and support each other in understanding their
roles and responsibilities (Boudreau and Lakhani, 2013). Extensive and realistic vision of
organisation also helps in shaping and commercialization by providing a specific. In this, Vision
of Softwire is to market leaders in IT sector through expansion of business across countries. This
vision has provided ideas to management they should improve their products and services
continuously to get high sales and increase the number of clients.
Organisational culture is analysed as combination of expectations, experiences,
philosophy and values that holds it together to sustain business operations. Effective leadership
tends to create a positive organisational culture in which employees will be able to share their
ideas, values and beliefs towards accomplishment of common objectives (Berry and Berry,
2018). Participative style of leadership can be used by management of Softwire to increase
competencies and involvement of employees so that they will be able to improve, develop new
product or method of production. Participative leader should define new roles to employees and
motivate them to adopt innovation.
TASK 2
P3 4P's of innovation and utilisation of innovation funnel and shaping innovative ideas to
employees in organisation.
4P's of innovation is analysed as tool that enables organisation to discover what the
innovation process can improve and provide to organisation. In planning, the innovation helps
the Softwire to understand their product position and ways through which they can innovate to
improve the products, process, position and paradigm (Leeuwis, 2013). This tools helps
manager in Softwire to explore possible enhancements in each area of their business in IT sector.
Further, these important elements of innovation are discussed below:
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 Press: It implies to influence of internal and external business environment on
innovation in organisation which helps in achievement of objectives at workplace. There
are various factors such as organisation motivation, resources and management practices
also tends to raise innovation in market. However, increase in organisation motivation
helps in generating new ideas through research for improving products. Availability of
Resources as per requirements also enabled Softwire to make modification in Software to
meet requirement of clients. Leaders should also provide intrinsic motivation to their
employees in order to increase their desire to resolve problems and completion task
because they will also found it interests and personally challenging. Process: It is associated with method of producing and providing a product and service
to customers. Mainly, change in process is done by organisation to reduce the cost and
increase profitability. However, it also helps in increasing efficiency of employees as it
also modifies their roles and responsibilities (Von Schomberg, 2013). Participative
leadership in Softwire is required for sustainable innovation and which helps in fitting
individuals in team with the process of innovation. In this, process involves various
steps such as clarification of problem to solve, creation of new ideas, refining the ideas in
to appropriate solutions and implementation of plan in appropriate manner. Position: This is considered as area on changing the context in which products and
services of organizational can be framed (Davila, Epstein and Shelton, 2012). Usually it
is focused towards increasing the market share of organisation which is done to meet
continuous changing requirements of customers. It also provides support in measuring
the response of customers in effective manner. Softwire can expand its business in
another countries by improving its existing and new software or methods of development.
It will helps them to attract new customers and gaining more high market share.
 Product: It is last stage in which organisation needs to measure that how they will
improve their product in order to make them more innovative and productive for the
organisation. Due to continuous change in demand of customers, it is important the
organisation should develop the products so that requirement clients can be fulfilled. In
this, Continuous rise technological threats have raise the demand of Cyber security
software in IT industry. Softwire needs to consider its clients requirement and make
changes in their software to protect the data of its commercial clients.
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Application of innovation funnels in products development
The aim of organisation in product or process development project is to take an idea from
concept in to reality through converging to a specific product which could meet a requirement of
market in an economical and manufacturable form (Brynjolfsson and McAfee, 2012). It states
that overall process of innovation in Softwire starts with broad range of inputs, gradual refining
and selection of appropriate alternative, creation of an handful of formal development projects
which can also be pushed to rapid completion and implementation. Appropriate investigation
will be made to analyse innovative idea for improvement of existing products. It also involves
identification of various ideas and selection of best ideas which is beneficial for organisation to
attain success.
The next stage is analysed as development stage that relates to application of new idea for
improvement of software and IT solutions to meet requirements of clients (Anderson, Potočnik
and Zhou, 2014). After successful development and testing of product, last stage is shipping or
introduction of products for clients in market. Providing valuable products to consumers tends to
increase revenue and growth of Softwire in industry.
P4 Development of frugal innovation and Example of how it is used in organisation.
Process of frugal innovation in organisation is used to increase functional activities in
terms of getting more satisfaction of customers. It is considered as new type of approach for
organisation which aims to offer new products and service to consumers. A process frugal
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Illustration 1: Innovation funnel model
(Source: )

innovation also discovers the new business models and reconfigures the value and redesign of
products to serve clients who face affordability problems, in suitable manner (Aghion, Van
Reenen and Zingales, 2013). It also involves overcoming and tapping of institutional voids and
constraints of resources for creation of more inclusive markets. In this context, Frugal
innovation is the process that involves the removal and reduction extra waste from product in
order to create it more appropriate and customers. In Softwire, management should
continuously apply the process of this frugal innovation in order to improve their products such
as Software, Cyber Security system, technical devices and cloud computing services in order to
remove all obstacles.
In accordance with case study of Virgin group, Innovative ideas and efforts of both management
and employees has provided support to business enterprise in generating new and innovative
products which are had been used to make improvement in their products. In case of Apple,
Frugal innovation is applied by leaders to introduce new product by getting ideas through
research and support of employees to form new I Pod in place of music players. Effective
participation and ideas of employees has enabled Apple and Virgin group to reduce extra cost
and providing product to customers at competitive prices. However, positive response from
customers in market has increased competency of both the organisation to earn sustainable
profitability.
TASK 3
P5 Importance of commercial funnel and application of new product development processing for
commercialisation to employees
Commercial funnel is considered as important by the fact it provides support in towards
the introduction of new products and service in market so that organisation will analyse the
existing requirements of customers. However, it is also considered as appropriate for selection
and application of appropriate new ideas (West and Bogers, 2014). Commercial is funnel has
been analysed as purchase funnel that clearly determines the journey of consumer behaviour for
buying products and services. It mainly involves five stages that which are involved in
commercial funnel. These are various important awareness, opinion, preferences and purchase
etc.
Softwire is IT company that function in UK. The organisation has achieved
competencies to come up with new software and security systems with new technologies in last
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several years. With high degree of innovation capabilities and competencies of wide channel of
distribution, company has become able to generate large amount of revenues in the last 5 years.
However, organisation sales have also been decreased due to involvement of competitors in
market and other resource constraints. Organisation is also involved in providing various new
kinds of cyber security systems to protect data from hackings, lost and damages etc. It has also
decided that software which are developed for large scale organisation must be appropriate so
that it will meet their requirements. From case study, it is analysed that commercial funnel is
also utilized by Apple along with Virgin group for development of their new products and
methods of production. From this method, they have also achieved competencies to influence
the individual with their new products and service in market.
Adaptation of New product development process Generating new ideas: Appropriate market research should be conducted by employees
of Softwire to generate new ideas for improving its software. Various alternative are
selected in this stage for development of new product Screening and selection: From various ideas, suitable and beneficial idea will be selected
by Manager of softwire from creating new products as per requirements. Evaluation and Testing: At this stage, idea must be evaluated and tested appropriately to
analyse the opportunities to gain success. Testing of productivity of idea to be applied in
product concepts will be done to analyse its reliability and requirement for clients. Development of market strategy: This stage involve selection and adaptation of effective
strategies for marketing and promotion of new products. Product development: In this, managers of softwire will implement their productive ideas
and create their new and innovative product to meet requirement of their clients.
 Commercialization: After completion of overall process, organisation will launch the
final products in market to understand the effect of innovation on sales. It also
determines that Softwire needs to bear cost of promotion and advertisement but it will
final get profitability and competencies to manage the problem and risk.
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P6 Development of innovation case for Softwire and ways to access funding as with two
business in case study.
According to requirement, A case of innovation for Softwire has been made to discusse
the process which is followed by organisation to improve their products and services. In IT
sector, company has achieved a position of innovative company because it always makes
efforts to change its software service by involving some more important elements and security
(Leeuwis, 2013). At present, Softwire has decided to develop its own DBMS software for
existing clients such as Large and small scale business enterprise so that it can maximize profits.
With effective research, it is found that requirement of DBMS software with security systems
has been increased in market among international clients. Innovation in product and service
feature can helps in attracting large number of customers towards organisation. Clients can also
order this software online from different countries and they will also achieve installation service
without any extra charge which acts as unique selling proposition (USP) for Softwire and it
DBMS software. It also tends to raise overall presence of organisation in market. For
implementation of this innovative idea, there are major requirements of financial resources for
Softwire. Some important source of getting funds are mentioned below:
Debt financing: For getting financial resource, company can also take debts from other
organisation or financial institution against proportion of assets (Berry and Berry, 2018). Taking
debts from financial institution for specific period is effective and less costly than other methods
etc.
Angel investors: These are analysed personnel who aims to invest large amount of funds in
start and SMEs to attain high profitability. Softwire can get funds from these investors and they
also provide support in achieve of objectives by providing financial advisors to organisation in
market.
Financial institution: There are various financial institutions that provide funds to small business
enterprise for expansion of business at minimum rate of interest. In order to implement this plan,
Softwire can also take resource from these institution at specific low rate of interest.
Budget for new product development
Expenses Cost (GBP)
Development of the business analysis and 1580
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case
New product development 8750
Manufacturing and production 9870
Advertisement and promotion 4570
Total 24770
TASK 4
P7 Different tools that selected organization can use to develop, retain and protect knowledge
and intellectual property.
In order to protect the intellectual property of organisation, the organisation needs to
implement new plans and techniques in order to ensure the safety and the precautions. For
accomplishment of needs and requirements , there are various tools and techniques which can be
applied by Softwire to protect its own intellectual property such as:
Trade marks: It is considered as mots important tool for protection intellectual property. In this,
organisation, Softwire can use names , sounds, symbol with its products and service which will
be considered as trademark (Rice, 2013). It should clearly differentiate company from other
brands in market.
Copy right: It is allows organisation to protects its rights of newly created software so that it
cannot be copied by other companies. It only protects the expression of business rather than its
ideas.
Patent: It is considered as legal rights which is used to protect the unique and tangible things.
This also helps in providing appropriate action which helps in taking benefits for business.
CONCLUSION
From the above report, it is analysed that innovation is an essential for organisation to
achieve its vision, mission and objectives in market. In order to attain growth, company needs to
adopt innovative ideas which helps them in improving products and satisfying requirements of
customers. Softwire is IT industry enterprise which has achieved growth through continuous
innovation and commercialization of products. However, company also needs to improve its
leadership in organisation to get participation of employees in innovating products and services.
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