This is where the Ten Types of Innovation framework, developed by Doblin (now a Deloitte business), proves invaluable. This framework helps organizations take a more comprehensive approach to innovation by identifying ten distinct types of innovation, organized into three categories: Configuration, Offering, and Experience. By addressing innovation across multiple dimensions, businesses can achieve transformative growth.
In this article, we’ll explore the Ten Types of Innovation framework, break down each of the ten types, and show how innovation management software can support your organization in implementing these strategies effectively.
What Is the Ten Types of Innovation Framework?
The Ten Types of Innovation framework is a structured tool designed to help organizations approach innovation holistically. It categorizes innovation into three broad areas:
- Configuration: Focuses on the internal structures and processes of a business to maximize efficiency and effectiveness.
- Offering: Centers on improving or reimagining a company’s core products and services to deliver greater value.
- Experience: Reimagines how customers interact with the company, its brand, and its products, creating deeper engagement and loyalty.
Rather than focusing solely on product development, this framework encourages businesses to think more broadly and strategically about where and how they can innovate. Research shows that companies achieving the greatest impact often combine three or more types of innovation to create a competitive edge.
In the following sections, we’ll break down the ten types of innovation within their respective categories to illustrate how this framework works in practice.
The Ten Types of Innovation: Configuration
Configuration innovations focus on a company’s internal systems, processes, and structures. These innovations strengthen the foundation of a business, making it more efficient, scalable, and adaptable.
1. Profit Model
Profit model innovation rethinks how a company generates revenue and sustains profitability. This involves developing creative ways to monetize products or services, such as adopting subscription-based pricing, offering freemium models, or bundling products together at a discounted rate. For example, streaming platforms like Spotify use freemium pricing to attract a large user base, offering basic services for free and premium features for a subscription fee. By reimagining their revenue streams, companies can access new growth opportunities and diversify their income sources.
2. Network
Network innovation focuses on creating value through external partnerships and collaborations. This could involve working with suppliers, forming strategic alliances, or engaging in open innovation with external stakeholders. For instance, many technology companies collaborate with third-party developers to expand their ecosystems. By leveraging the skills and expertise of external partners, businesses can create solutions that are more comprehensive and impactful than those developed in isolation.
3. Structure
Structure innovation involves optimizing the way a company organizes and deploys its resources, including its people, processes, and assets. For example, businesses can implement cross-functional teams to break down silos and improve collaboration or adopt decentralized decision-making to make their operations more agile. Companies like Google have long embraced flat organizational structures to encourage creativity and foster innovation, demonstrating the value of rethinking internal structures.
4. Process
Process innovation is about improving the methods a company uses to create products, deliver services, or operate internally. This could involve adopting lean manufacturing techniques to reduce waste, automating repetitive tasks to boost efficiency, or implementing agile development processes to speed up project delivery. Toyota, for instance, revolutionized the automotive industry with its lean manufacturing system, which became a global benchmark for operational excellence. Process innovation often leads to cost savings, better quality, and faster time-to-market.
The Ten Types of Innovation: Offering
Offering innovations focus on improving a company’s core products or services, ensuring they deliver greater value and stand out in the market. Types of offering innovations include the following:
5. Product Performance
Product performance innovation enhances the functionality, features, or quality of a product. It’s often the most visible form of innovation, as it directly impacts the end-user experience. Companies may improve reliability, add unique features, or offer greater customization options. For instance, smartphone manufacturers consistently innovate by improving camera quality, battery life, and processing power to meet evolving consumer demands. These enhancements not only differentiate products but also build brand loyalty.
6. Product System
Product system innovation involves creating a suite of interconnected products or services that work together seamlessly. This approach provides customers with a more cohesive and valuable experience. A great example is Microsoft’s Office Suite, which integrates tools like Word, Excel, Teams, and Outlook into one ecosystem, allowing users to switch between applications effortlessly. By focusing on how individual offerings complement one another, businesses can encourage customers to engage with their entire portfolio of products, increasing overall value.
The Ten Types of Innovation: Experience
Experience innovations center on how customers interact with a company, its products, and its brand. These types of innovation often build emotional connections and enhance customer satisfaction.
7. Service
Service innovation improves the ways a company supports its customers before, during, or after a purchase. It can involve offering personalized assistance, extending warranties, or introducing subscription-based maintenance plans. For example, luxury car manufacturers often include concierge services to enhance the ownership experience. By prioritizing customer needs and going beyond the basics, businesses can create a competitive edge that keeps customers coming back.
8. Channel
Channel innovation focuses on how products or services are delivered to customers. This includes physical stores, online platforms, direct-to-consumer models, or omnichannel strategies that integrate multiple delivery methods. Brands like Warby Parker disrupted the eyewear industry by combining e-commerce with showrooms, giving customers the option to try on glasses at home or in-store. Effective channel innovation ensures that customers can access products conveniently and in a way that suits their preferences.
9. Brand
Brand innovation strengthens how customers perceive a business and its values. It involves creating a strong emotional connection that goes beyond the product itself. For example, Nike’s focus on empowering athletes through campaigns like “Just Do It” has elevated the brand to represent inspiration and achievement. A strong brand can transform a product from a functional item into a symbol of identity and lifestyle, creating loyalty and differentiation in the marketplace.
10. Customer Engagement
Customer engagement innovation builds deeper, long-term relationships with customers by fostering interaction and involvement. Loyalty programs, personalized marketing, and community-building initiatives are all examples of this type of innovation. Starbucks, for instance, uses its mobile app to offer rewards, exclusive promotions, and tailored recommendations, creating a more engaging and rewarding experience for its customers. By prioritizing meaningful engagement, businesses can enhance customer satisfaction and encourage repeat business.
By understanding and applying these ten types of innovation, businesses can uncover opportunities to grow, adapt, and thrive in a competitive marketplace. While each type offers unique benefits, the most successful companies combine several types strategically to create lasting value.
Combining multiple types of innovation often leads to the greatest success, but managing efforts across different categories can be complex. This is where innovation management software (such as that which is offered by Qmarkets) becomes a powerful tool, enabling businesses to structure, scale, and maximize their innovation initiatives effectively.
How Innovation Management Software Can Support the Ten Types of Innovation
Effectively managing the Ten Types of Innovation requires more than just great ideas—it demands a structured and adaptable system. Innovation management platforms like Qmarkets are purpose-built to support this, offering the flexibility to address any of the ten innovation types individually or collectively. With tools that can be customized for each use case, businesses can even launch dedicated campaigns targeting specific innovation categories, ensuring that every effort aligns with strategic goals and delivers measurable impact.
Centralized Idea Management
Qmarkets provides a single platform to collect, organize, and prioritize ideas from employees, customers, and partners. The platform’s flexibility allows businesses to configure campaigns based on their unique needs, such as improving Profit Models or enhancing Customer Engagement. For example, administrators can tailor idea submission forms, voting processes, and evaluation criteria to align with the specific objectives of each innovation type.
Improved Collaboration
For innovations like Network and Structure, collaboration is critical. Qmarkets facilitates this by allowing companies to set up configurable workflows that enable input from cross-functional teams, external stakeholders, or even crowdsourced participants. Features such as customized access permissions, shared dashboards, and collaborative evaluation tools can be tailored to ensure every team has the resources they need to contribute to impactful innovation.
Tailored Workflows and Tracking ROI
Qmarkets offers customizable workflows that can adapt to any use case. Whether focusing on refining internal Processes or developing new Product Systems, the platform allows companies to design end-to-end workflows that guide users through ideation, evaluation, and implementation. With detailed analytics and ROI tracking tools, businesses can measure the effectiveness of their efforts, ensuring the resources are directed toward the most valuable innovations.
With tools that can be tailored to any innovation type, Qmarkets empowers businesses to implement the Ten Types of Innovation framework efficiently and drive scalable growth.
Putting the Ten Types of Innovation Into Action
Innovation goes far beyond products or technology—it requires a systematic approach across Configuration, Offering, and Experience. The Ten Types of Innovation framework ensures businesses explore every opportunity, while innovation management software streamlines implementation, enabling organizations to drive meaningful results and achieve sustainable growth effectively.
