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How do you turn innovation into an operational reality? To decipher the nuts and bolts of successful innovation, we spoke to Kevin Roualec, Director of Digital Performance at Infopro Digital Média.
On the agenda: innovation methodology, collective intelligence, sources of inspiration, the role of marketing in adoption, and key success factors.
What is your vision of innovation and the conditions for its success?
“Being on trend”… This phrase sums up the ambition of many companies when it comes to innovation. However, here’s the catch: innovation is not just about following the latest trends. It is a process that requires a structured and collective approach. Without the involvement of all departments—from R&D to marketing, production, and sales—it is impossible to design and deploy truly innovative solutions.
Involving all departments ensures that innovation is both relevant and aligned with real needs, thus guaranteeing effective implementation and deployment. It is this collective intelligence that allows an idea to be transformed into a tangible product or service that meets market demands.
In your opinion, should trends be followed and applied?
You need to follow trends to understand market challenges and stay competitive. But it’s even more important to listen to your customers to capture their real needs and expectations, both in terms of results and innovations.
At the same time, you must be able to differentiate between fleeting fads and deeper transformations. For us, every new trend undergoes a thorough strategic analysis to ensure it creates real value aligned with our business objectives.
Our priority is to eliminate the noise that often surrounds trends to identify the real opportunities that will translate into long-term growth drivers.
How do you define product innovation?
Product innovation is about continuously improving an existing solution or creating something entirely new. To achieve this, we combine three key drivers:
- The integration of emerging technologies, such as generative AI or machine learning;
- Insights gained from analyzing our customers’ usage data and direct interactions with them;
- Partnerships with specialized players who enrich and complement our expertise.
At the same time, we innovate in how we work. For example, adopting design sprints allows us to move from an idea to a prototype in just a few days. Agile methods provide us with the flexibility to quickly adjust our products based on market feedback. These new processes strengthen our ability to design relevant products and evolve them at the right pace.
But product innovation also involves evolving our internal processes: adopting new work methodologies and tools that enhance our expertise and optimize our efficiency, while improving our ability to meet market demands.
What role does innovation play in corporate strategy?
Innovation is a decisive lever for growth and differentiation. It allows us to anticipate market developments, seize new opportunities, and adapt them to our B2B environment. It is a strategic pillar that enables us to remain relevant and competitive.
We are also committed to supporting our clients in their own innovation journey by helping them accelerate the adoption of new solutions and technologies that are relevant to their core business.
What are the main sources of ideas for innovation?
Ideas emerge from four main sources.
First, there is customer feedback: the in-depth analysis of their usage data, combined with their direct input during daily interactions, allows us to precisely identify their challenges and unmet needs.
Technological monitoring is our second source of inspiration. By keeping an eye on technical advancements in our field and related industries, we can anticipate future developments and identify promising technologies to integrate into our offerings.
Our teams are in direct contact with daily challenges. They are therefore able to identify areas for improvement and propose innovative solutions based on their field expertise.
Finally, our partner ecosystem and careful observation of industry transformations allow us to detect emerging trends. This broader perspective helps us distinguish between fads and true transformations, guiding our innovations toward sustainable and relevant solutions.
It is by combining these different sources that we enrich our thinking and identify the most promising innovation opportunities.
What are the major challenges encountered when setting up innovative projects?
The main challenges are resistance to change, managing priorities, and the need to quickly demonstrate the value of projects. It is also complex to find a balance between innovation and ongoing operations in order to avoid disrupting existing processes while continuing transformation initiatives.
How did you overcome these challenges?
To overcome these challenges, we have implemented prototypes and pilot projects to quickly test and validate ideas in order to demonstrate their added value.
Transparent communication about the expected benefits and an agile approach with frequent feedback cycles have helped us reduce resistance to change and engage (and unite) the teams around innovation projects.
How can the marketing department help an innovative project to be adopted?
Marketing plays a crucial role in the adoption of an innovative project. It educates the market, highlights the value of the project, and ensures clear communication. Marketing also helps identify customer needs from the outset, refines the product positioning, and orchestrates the launch to maximize engagement and adoption.
The final word?
Innovation is in the DNA of any company focused on the present and the future.
It is based on a methodical approach: observing the market, experimenting, learning from each test, and then adapting our solutions.
It is by multiplying these learning cycles that we gradually transform ideas into concrete solutions that create value, both for us and for our clients.