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New Report Uncovers Challenges for Large Corporations When Evaluating Emerging Technologies

December 9, 2021
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Boston, MA — InnoLead today released a new research report exploring how large companies assess, test, and deploy cutting-edge technologies.

The report, “Delivering Value Through Emerging Tech and Innovation,” combines quantitative data from 200-plus large organizations with qualitative interviews to reveal some of the stumbling blocks that these organizations face in trying to navigate a noisy technology landscape.

Among the survey’s findings:

  • Just 32% of large companies have clear criteria they use to determine whether a particular technology is worth prioritizing and investing in.
  • When projects involving new technologies get shelved, the top reasons are resource constraints and competing priorities. 
  • The three outcomes related to emerging technology and innovation that senior management care about most are incremental revenue, cost savings, and market perception.

“We’re at a moment when both startup companies and established technology vendors are hyping technologies like artificial intelligence, the metaverse, and blockchain,” says Scott Kirsner, CEO and Co-Founder of InnoLead. “What this report made clear was that companies need a coherent process for identifying real business challenges and new opportunities first — with input from their colleagues — rather than trying to experiment with a flashy technology just for PR value.”

The report includes interviews with senior executives at Best Buy, Dell Technologies, iRobot, MetLife, and several other companies, along with insights from professionals who focus on emerging technologies at KPMG LLP. “In speaking with innovation leaders across multiple industries, we continue to hear that the charter for innovation groups can be as strategic as finding the next disruptive opportunity to as incremental as developing new tools and software for productivity improvement,” says Cliff Justice, U.S. Leader, Enterprise Innovation, KPMG LLP.

The research also highlights that when projects leveraging new technology are put on the shelf, the cause can often be internal organizational issues — not the technology’s potential. Survey respondents said that among the reasons emerging technology projects sometimes get abandoned are “lack of patience,” “not invented here syndrome,” and that “new business models are needed, but we try to fit it in the existing business model.”

This report is part of the on-going “CxOs & Innovation” series, sponsored by KPMG LLP, the U.S. firm of the KPMG global organization of independent professional services firms providing audit, tax, and advisory services. 

For more on the report, please visit innovationleader.com/emergingtech 

To download previous reports in the “CxOs and Innovation” series, including “The New Imperatives: Innovation, Agility, and Openness,” published in June, please visit https://www.kpmg.us/growth-strategy/cxos-and-innovation.html 

About InnoLead

InnoLead is a fast-growing media and events company with a laser focus on helping the world’s largest companies thrive. Since 2013, InnoLead has built the largest community of corporate innovation, strategy, and R&D executives in both public and private companies, helping these executives to strengthen their innovation programs; connect with useful resources, solutions, and vendors; and engage with peers inside innovative labs and workplaces around the globe. For more information about InnoLead membership and events, visit www.innovationleader.com or follow us on TwitterLinkedInInstagram, and Facebook.

 

For more information, please contact:

Kristof Torok
Marketing & Communications Lead
kristof@innovationleader.com

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