The Five Sources of Innovation Consultants

Innovation consulting firms have different perspectives, staffing, and capabilities that cater to clients' innovation needs. These firms can come from five domains, namely strategy, design, marketing, creativity, and innovation as a process or capability. Understanding the origin of the firm and its current perspective in regards to the clients' innovation needs is crucial. Plus, assessing the amount and scope of change desired and the amount of resources committed will determine the success in innovation pursuits. Companies must also consider the amount of innovation work they want to do internally and outsource. Outsourcing innovation allows clients to depend on third parties for new innovations with little investment, while insourced innovation means developing internal teams' capability to perform significant innovation work.