Integrating innovation into your business plans

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the global economy for good. And now companies are looking into the lasting impacts on their organisations and how to factor these in to their long-term plans in order to build resilience and drive growth.

In the second event of HSBC’s virtual Think Bigger Innovation Series, corporate leaders stressed that a business-as-usual approach is no longer enough in a post-pandemic world. To prepare for the new normal, their companies have needed to adapt, transform and innovate.

According to our speakers, important themes to succeed in the current business environment include:

• Collaborating with partners
• Ensuring sustainable practices
• Taking advantage of technology.

Working with other organisations has always been important as it provides businesses a competitive leg-up. But it has become a greater focus for many forward-looking companies since the pandemic.

At Ampcontrol, for example, collaboration was vital to making a much-needed pivot. At the height of the COVID-19 crisis, New South Wales Health asked the electrical equipment manufacturer if it could produce emergency ventilators in a short period of time. It was a difficult mission with several limitations – including not being able to use existing medical devices for fear of a shortage. But by partnering with other organisations, including a university and a hospital, Ampcontrol successfully developed a prototype ventilator in just 11 days. The company eventually won a government contract to manufacture ventilators for emergency use during the pandemic.

“The real key to that was the way that the parties worked together,” said Rod Henderson, Ampcontrol’s Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer. “What we proved was that we could pivot and [achieve our target] very quickly with collaboration partners.”

Collaboration, particularly with companies in the same industry, can drive significant gains, according to Chris Hirst, Chief Executive Officer of professional services company Palladium.

“That’s a really key part,” said Hirst. “If we’re looking at sustainable business plans, the final stage is really the industry driving [collaboration] and partnering with government to create momentum, to remove blockages that exist as society changes and to enable capability to happen.”

To truly transform, companies must have sustainable business strategies that positively impact the broader systems they’re operating in, according to Hirst. This means being mindful of the footprint they leave and prioritising strategies that improve not only their bottom lines but also the livelihoods of their communities and businesses in their value chains.

“From a more practical point of view, it means helping organisations move forward from a compliance mentality to the next stage, which is integrating that mentality into what they do,” said Hirst.

Internally, Palladium instils the importance of sustainability by structuring its business in a way that encourages innovation and agility. “So when we see opportunities, we’re empowering people to go after them and giving them the tools and support they need to convert those into business,” said Hirst.

One area that became a focus during the pandemic was how companies value their people and look after their wellbeing by, for example, allowing them to work remotely.

At Ampcontrol, safety and people comprise key organisational values. The company believes that if it can get these two right, the rest will take care of itself.

“So our people will be innovative, and they’ll look after our customers and strive to give the key performance that Ampcontrol needs to run as a company,” said Henderson. “During the pandemic, we made sure that first and foremost, we had our people in a safe environment.”

Finally, deploying technologies has been critical to enabling business innovation and transformation, and to supporting outcomes in this time of disruption.

Ampcontrol has been growing its internal networks and plans to invest in them more. The company also sees a big future in smart services.

“Data requisition, information sessions and helping our customers achieve and overcome problems before they actually become major problems – these are big priorities for us this year,” said Henderson.

For Palladium, its next major tech investment is in knowledge networks, to help it move from static to more dynamic knowledge management.

“Businesses need to be innovative and flexible to overcome any challenges,” said Hirst. “And so they have to make sure their business processes, systems, outlook, strategy are nimble and agile.”

HSBC is on an innovation journey of its own, according to John Scott, HSBC Australia’s Country Head of Global Payments Solutions. “I’m proud of the digital banking solutions we’ve launched in the last 12 months to help our clients manage their finances digitally, and build smarter businesses,” he said.

“But like any other journey, there are bumps in the road, and twists and turns that we face. We aren’t perfect, but we aren’t finished.”

Talk to us about how HSBC can help your business achieve its ambitions in Australia, Asia or globally.