There was a certain freshness to Innovation and a non threatening nature to the initiatives surrounding Innovation. Innovation emerged as the new buzz word over the tombstones of BPR and Change Management. This digital-led societal change predated the business transformation that we see now and was the foundation for Digital Transformation of today and the future. Later, the coming of Social and Mobile created social mobilization – unheard of in history. The internet started a social change with a connectivity and information explosion. “More of the same”, though with a renewed focus on process efficiency. Process improvement, though laudable, was not sufficient to prepare the corporations for the oncoming onslaught of disruption forces shaping the social, financial and business ecosystems.Ĭompetitors were still the same ones as earlier no significant change in the product nor services portfolio. The missing links in these initiatives were external factors and the market forces that would inevitably play a major role in the future of these organizations. “Change is the only constant” was the best attempt at gentle persuasion to a nervous workforce. To name a few high visibility ones BPR (Business Process Re-engineering), Change Management, Innovation and now Digital Transformation.īoth BPR and Change Management initiatives were internally focused and were mostly considered a veiled exercise in head count reduction, and at best a critical analysis of operational processes. I’m just picking off on some key strategy buzz words in the last 15-20 years that were considered the magic potion of all Corporate growth and profitability.