Episode 31: 10 Questions that can help your IT department be more innovative

There has been a big push by our new CIO for our IT organization to be more innovative. What things can I do in my department to enhance our innovative culture? Innovation doesn’t always require the use of new leading technologies, such as AI. Within IT, innovation most often comes from innovative ideas on how to use technologies and equipment you already own. Below are 10 questions you can ask your staff, maybe one question per weekly staff meeting, that may help you drive innovation within your department: 1. How are other industries using technologies that our company currently owns? 2. What technologies are our competitors using that are giving them a competitive edge against our company? 3. How can we combine two or more technologies our company owns in creative ways to solve business problems? 4. What open-source software can be inexpensively integrated into our existing infrastructure in a secure way that helps IT or organizational productivity? 5. If budget was not an issue, what could we do to enhance your technical environment? Then, how can we do it less expensively? 6. Are there any technical or business processes that could be done more efficiently? If so, how? 7. What technologies are we currently using that should be phased out to make budget dollars available for new innovative initiatives? 8. What can we do to help foster an innovative company culture? Can it be started today? 9. What measurements can we use to show the return on investment of our innovative ideas? 10. If we knew we would not fail, what innovation would we try to implement at our company? Then, is there a way we can minimize the risk of failure on the project? With a little luck and a great idea, you and your department can make an incredible contribution to your company, and in turn, in your own professional future.