Five doses of inspiration from the worlds of #Innovation, #Futurism, #Finance and #Utilities — plus one company that is #bringingtheawesome.
Friday 6 July, 2018
#1 The science comes after the idea
Early innovation sessions need to have the freedom to explore new horizons and business models. This becomes impossible if you grind every idea down to its scientific bones.
In this article, the legendary James Lovelock — a renowned scientist himself — suggests that we release the scientific handbrake and allow creative intuition to guide us towards new realities. Explore the illusive “Why?”, and think about the, “How?” later. Sounds good to us.
#2 Raise your game UX’er!
There are problem solvers and innovators (Hppn), then there are UX’ers (what many of us were before Hppn).
When the Product Team became king in around 2008, the UX’er became golden. Problem is, these cold-hearted logicians have failed to develop their baseline skills. They’ve remained blind to the strategic objectives of the client, shunning business acumen for a decade of shop talk. Jonathan Courtney challenges a stagnant UX industry to grow. (That’s “industry”, not you personally!).
#3 Big picture thinking
Chris Skinner is one of the few Open Banking commentators — like Louise Beaumont — who looks at the bigger picture.
Rather than joining in with the banal lingo of “third party partnerships”, or making empty rallying calls towards “unprecedented opportunity”, his articles are loaded with classic first-mover game theory, imploring the banking sector to break the chains of the old order! If banks continue to paddle in the shallow waters, they’ll lose their grip on their one key asset — data. (P.S. read the astute post-article comment and imagine the possibilities).
#4 Platform or marketplace, the goal is the same
HSBC’s Raman Bathia on Open Banking: “This is not the evolution of banking into an open platform. It’s about a trusted brand curating an ecosystem that can nudge, notify and engage to help people stop dreading looking at their account.” Era-defining quote. Have a read.
#5 Glide among the macro-trends
Where is this world going, and how do you plan to respond as a business executive? ((Other than allowing Hppn to shine a spotlight on the new reality)).
The author of this article, Tendayi Viki, knows that incremental changes to age-old core products isn’t always enough; especially in industries like Energy and Utilities, where adjacent innovation and revolutionary new business models are rife. Tendayi thus proposes an “Innovation Thesis” to help focus your efforts and raise awareness of the world around you.
This isn’t business as usual: Robin Hood Energy 🎉
The aptly named, Robin Hood Energy, is a not-for-profit utilities company, operating with the kind of social conscience which isn’t always apparent in the Big 6.
Having attracted a swift 115,000 customers, they just went into the black and plan to use the profits to enter the Warm Home Discount Scheme. Consumer-led disruption of the noblest order. Expect to see more of this grass-roots energy-activism from other councils, as well as even more decentralised power syndicates across the land.
👍👊👍👊👍👊
Hppn does what now?
Hppn (ˈhap(ə)n) is a design and innovation agency. We specialise in anticipating evolving customer needs within the Financial Services and Utilities sectors, and then leading the creation of transformative products and services. So whether you want to build radical new products, make drastic improvements to processes, or explore the most difficult questions in your industry, we can help.
- Email: steve@hppn.co.uk
- Web — Hppn.co.uk
- Twitter — @hppnCo
