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NineSigma OI Office
AkzoNobel Case Study - Part I
Implementing an Open Innovation Program to Enhance Strategic Innovation
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Business Challenge
AkzoNobel, a global leader in the coatings and specialty chemicals industry, wanted
to implement a company-wide networked innovation program to help drive business
growth as well as efficiency through strategic innovation across its distinct business
units. With the acquisition of ICI and the subsequent integration of the two companies,
the need became even greater for a standard methodology to capture and leverage
internal knowledge while optimizing access to their existing innovation network
and the broader global innovation community.
The company's Research, Development and Innovation (RD&I) leadership team was
committed to finding a new way to more effectively access existing solutions and
knowledge that resided in the company's business units. The business units were
individually aligned with their respective markets and needed a more standardized
approach to sharing internal knowledge to support the innovation process. Each business
unit had their own RD&I team that worked independently with little sharing of
information between the units. The company's leaders envisioned a process that would
allow the RD&I groups to be able to ask questions and receive answers from other
business units as a critical early step in the innovation and product development
process. Based on the responses to questions asked, the groups would know whether
it was necessary to reach out and seek answers from the global innovation community.
Prior experience and past successes with NineSigma led the AkzoNobel leadership
team to partner with NineSigma to design and deliver a company-wide networked innovation
program. It was particularly important to AkzoNobel to have a highly experienced
partner who had the credibility to create buy-in from the participants of the program.
"Innovation is the lifeblood of our company. If we don't innovate, we won't grow,
or even survive in today's fast-moving world and highly competitive business environment.
We have chosen to partner with NineSigma to establish our Networked Innovation Program
because they have an impressive track record of making open innovation work for
companies like ours."
Graeme Armstrong, Corporate Director of Research, Development and Innovation
Methodology and Scope
The AkzoNobel/NineSigma team developed a multi-faceted program to address AkzoNobel's
specific needs. The goal of the program, named AkzoNobel Networked Innovation (ANNI),
was to significantly improve the use of internal RD&I capabilities distributed
across multiple global business units, as well as improve and standardize access
to the global innovation community. New skills, new systems and cultural changes
would be needed in order to accomplish the goal.
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After the objectives were clearly defined, NineSigma helped establish an optimal
innovation process with AkzoNobel. NineSigma began training AkzoNobel personnel
to participate in ANNI and delivered initial training to more than 60 cross-functional
employees. The instruction provided an introduction to the ANNI processes and included
workshops on identifying appropriate innovation needs, prioritization and the evaluation
of proposals from solution providers. The training helped to begin communication
on the goals of the ANNI program throughout the organization.
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NineSigma Facts:
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- More than 1,700 projects
- 2 Million+ solution providers
- Over 24,000 proposals received
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In addition to the broad cross-functional training, NineSigma delivered instruction
and training to 18 internal facilitators, or Networked Innovation Champions (NICs).
Based on a profile NineSigma developed to identify successful characteristics of
a Champion, each business unit proposed one or two individuals for the NIC role
to take the lead in coordinating ANNI activity for the business unit. NICs held
various titles within the company including "Open Innovation Leader", "Technology
Sourcing Manager", "Process RD&I Manager", and "Global Business Development".
These NICs received detailed training in problem-selection, communication and response
evaluation so that they could work with project owners in their business unit to
facilitate problem-sharing and collaboration.
Interim systems for facilitating cross-business unit problem identification were
established while NineSigma's software architecture for distributing needs and collecting
responses was implemented at AkzoNobel. To further support the program, NineSigma
established a Project Management Office (PMO) at the company. The PMO function enabled
access to a NineSigma Senior Program Manager who provided additional training, program
and process coaching through on-site visits, Webinars, and participation in the
NICs workgroup meetings.
Client Impact
ANNI leaders and participants in the program recognize the significant scale of
the networked innovation program and the anticipated impact on the company. With
the program less than a year old, AkzoNobel's leaders are observing changes in the
way the business units approach innovation.
The foundation of ANNI has clearly been established. The RD&I teams currently
use standard problem statements to communicate their needs internally and collect
responses from other business units. When answers to their questions do not exist
internally, project owners either access their external known community of suppliers,
universities and consultants or access the global community of solutions providers
through NineSigma.
"We're starting to see a real shift in culture as our innovation teams become more
aligned with one another and begin leveraging the vast resources available across
our company. This goes well beyond ANNI, and we're now experiencing a more open
approach within our communities of practice and expert capability groups as well.
Three years ago, this kind of approach was unthinkable."
Dick van Beelen, Director, Open Innovation & Communities of Practice
Next Steps
With the introductory phase of the program nearing completion, NineSigma and the
ANNI participants are actively working on the parallel path of embedding the practices
of networked innovation into the company's core innovation processes. The process
of embedding these practices is occurring on two distinct levels; the business unit
level and the collective AkzoNobel level. The company's leadership recognizes that
the process of embedding networked innovation is a critical, ongoing process that
involves all levels of the company. The final, parallel phase of the ANNI program
will be characterized by the delivering of results to the business units. Although
the program has already yielded some tangible contributions through cross-business
collaboration, it is expected that ANNI will deliver sizable results that increase
the company's competitiveness and long-term growth potential.
Why NineSigma OI Office?
The NineSigma OI Office is a unique service offering that can be tailored to a broad
range of organizations. The program is built on best practices developed from more
than 100 client engagements and more than 1,700 open innovation projects. NineSigma
has worked with companies across industries from mid-sized to large, global multi-nationals
to design and implement open innovation practices to improve innovation results.
The core building blocks of this program include organizational design, work process
design, training, tools and coaching. Each component of OI Office can be modified
based on the client's organization and needs. By combining process and organizational
design with tools, training and coaching in a comprehensive framework, the OI Office
program is able to deliver measurable benefits in the shortest time possible.