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Managing Innovation – Submarine Projects - Dr. Thomas Vetter Senior Vice President and Head of Retail Development, SAP AG - Puru Govind Director and Chief Operating Officer, Retail Product Management, SAP AG

Managing Innovation – Submarine Projects

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Submarine Projects are VERY effective to foster innovation in an organizations. Here are our two cents on this subject. We presented this in a distinguished community on business management in Germany. Author:Thomas Vetter (Senior Vice President and Head of Retail Development at SAP) and Puru Govind.

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Page 1: Managing Innovation – Submarine Projects

Managing Innovation – Submarine Projects

- Dr. Thomas VetterSenior Vice President and Head of Retail Development, SAP AG

- Puru GovindDirector and Chief Operating Officer, Retail Product Management, SAP AG

Page 2: Managing Innovation – Submarine Projects

Disclaimer

These are our personal thoughts and doesn't

necessarily represents our employer‘s thoughts.

Page 3: Managing Innovation – Submarine Projects

Why Managing Innovation ?

Page 4: Managing Innovation – Submarine Projects

And Some Thoughtful Quotes

• “It’s tough when markets change and your people within the company don’t.” (Harvard Business Review).

• “What we have done to encourage innovation is make it ordinary.” (C. Wynett, Procter & Gamble).

• “Small opportunities are often the beginning of great enterprises”. (Demosthenes).

Page 5: Managing Innovation – Submarine Projects

So, How ? – Submarine Projects

• What is a submarine project ?– Project that employees do against the acceptance

of management or without the knowledge of management.• Example: One of the business programming languages.

– Project that employees do out of curiousity.• Example: Google Mail; Google Talk; Orkut ……

Page 6: Managing Innovation – Submarine Projects

How Other companies do it ?

• do it by 80-20 rule(or rather 70-20-10 rule).

• has it in its culture. Does employee Manuals read like this ?.

• has a Garage.

Page 7: Managing Innovation – Submarine Projects

How does it – Grassroot Innovation

– TGIF (Technology Group Innovation Friday)• Example: Big Iron Management

– DemoJam• Example: TwoGo – SAP‘s carpooling software.

– Idea Management• Example: Efficient Lunch Serving in SAP Labs, Bangalore.

– InnoJam• Check winning idea of Innojam, Vegas

– Ties with Academia• Stanford; Hasso Plattner Institute etc ……

– SAP Research• Example: Current project: Internet of things; Business Web

Page 8: Managing Innovation – Submarine Projects

: :A perfect example

• Carpooling! : Video• First showcased in DemoJam by two

employees. They WON.• Developed more. Reached state of art.• Now being widely used in SAP: saved 210,000

miles of driving in just an year.• Btw follow @sustainableSAP

Page 9: Managing Innovation – Submarine Projects

SWOT of Submarine Projects

Strength

Employee Engagement Bottom up Insights to Senior Management. You solve the REAL problems that the end

user is facing. Easy fanfare.

Weaknesses

Might not be feasible for a company that isnt running on high margins and isnt sitting on cash pool.

Opportunities

Creative potential of whole employee base. Adding different feathers to company‘s

offerings. Targets various aspects: Products, Process,

Services, Value and Market.

Threats

Employees diverting away from company’s strategy.

WATCH your Operating Margin! Check your Real-attrition. They might end up

in a Garage in Bay Area.

Page 10: Managing Innovation – Submarine Projects

Recommendation

• Engage Employees in Submarine projects. However, there should be a balance between ‚anarchy‘ and ‚democracy‘(or creativity and discpline)

• Establish a process of Innovation Governance. Introduce programs such as TGIF.

• Guide the employees and not manage them on Innovation.

Page 11: Managing Innovation – Submarine Projects

The Balance

Page 12: Managing Innovation – Submarine Projects

Guiding

Page 13: Managing Innovation – Submarine Projects

Instruments of Guiding

• Give them opportunity and ‚space‘ to THINK. • Introduce methods to employees

– Design thinking. We do this at SAP. – Triz methodology– de Bono's Six Thinking hats model etc ….

Page 14: Managing Innovation – Submarine Projects

Thank You.For questions, feedback etc write to us on [email protected] OR

[email protected]

Page 15: Managing Innovation – Submarine Projects

APPENDIX

Page 16: Managing Innovation – Submarine Projects

Design Thinking: From Problem to Solution

Design Challenge

42 interview partner2 peers

2 service provider

Reframe of Design Challenge

Design Principles

Personas Prioritized ideas & design concepts

‚No touch‘ solution

‚Trust Card‘

Mobile Receipt Capture

Validation with 17 travelers

Program ‚Travel Run Better‘