Open Digital Innovation or Closed Digital Innovation?

The advent of big data, analytics, smart mobility, and social media are changing the way we approach innovation, and organizations must decide whether to embrace open digital innovation or revert back to closed digital innovation. The network effect, the value of a network being in proportion to the number of members squared, comes into play, and the more open the data infrastructure, the greater the actionable value and increased awareness. The digital world offers a universal distributed intelligence, and the battle is on for control and understanding, leading some to strive for anti-competitive dynamics to establish lock-in engagements. Ultimately, organizations must choose whether to throw open the innovation digital doors or limit innovation to control their competitive advantage.