Innovation is awesome: Key takeaways from an executive discussion session at the Helsinki Office

The three core innovation challenges organizations face

1. Silos – When departments don’t talk

Silos remain a common obstacle, particularly in organizations with multiple business units. Jussi shared an example of a Finnish operator whose seven distinct business units operated entirely different software ecosystems, leading to fragmented customer experiences:

• Customers had to juggle several separate credentials for services.
  
  
• Internally, no one had a complete understanding of customer behavior or needs, resulting in uncoordinated strategies.

This lack of integration stifles innovation and disrupts customer-centric processes, leaving organizations vulnerable to more agile competitors.

Takeaway: Break down silos by fostering cross-functional collaboration and prioritizing unified systems. Tools like centralized Customer Relationship Management (CRM) can provide teams with a 360-degree view of customers, enabling cohesive operational strategies and better user experiences.

2. Detachment – Losing sight of the end user

As organizations grow, they often drift away from the needs of their users. This misalignment was highlighted through an example of a global networks provider:

• Top management cited a lack of innovation urgency, while middle managers were bogged down by hostile, rigid processes.
  
  
• Designers lacked direct access to customer feedback, leading to solutions misaligned with real-world user needs.

Jussi emphasized that user detachment is particularly damaging in today’s competitive landscape, where customer-centric strategies are critical for retaining loyalty.

Takeaway: Embrace Design Thinking, a human-centered framework that prioritizes understanding and continuously integrating user feedback. Begin every project by conducting enough research into user needs, and ensure their voices are consistently accounted for throughout the design and development journey.

3. Slow Failures – When timelines don’t match market paces

In fast-moving industries, timing is everything. A prime example comes from the banking sector:

• A large bank attempted a full digital transformation, running several projects simultaneously with multiple vendors. However, these projects took years to complete, while competitors delivered superior solutions in the same time frame.
  
  
• The delay cost the bank significant market opportunities, proving that slow processes amplify the risk of stagnation.

Takeaway: Use agile methodologies to condense project timelines. Focus on iterating small, functional deliverables like Minimum Viable Products (MVPs). This approach ensures quicker wins, faster feedback, and the ability to pivot when needed.

Frameworks to enhance innovation

The session also introduced practical frameworks for driving meaningful innovation. According to Jussi, the following models are invaluable for addressing performance gaps:

1. Design Thinking: A human-centered, iterative approach that seeks to balance desirability, feasibility, and viability in every solution.
   
   
2. Service Design: A method for crafting seamless customer experiences through co-creative and systemic problem-solving.
   
   
3. Systemic Design: A holistic approach to unraveling complex interdependencies within organizations and devising scalable solutions.
   
   
4. Co-Creation: Actively involving stakeholders—such as customers, partners, and employees—to generate solutions collaboratively.

Each framework underscores the importance of collaboration, empathy, user focus, and adaptability as core drivers of innovation.

‍The role of customer-driven innovation and behavioral change

Innovation is NOT asking people what they want

True innovation lies in uncovering needs that customers may not yet realize they have. Take music streaming, for example:

• Platforms like Spotify and iTunes disrupted the industry by combining behavioral insights with technology to create entirely new ways to consume music.
• Notable is that all customer surveys repeatedly said customers do not want to move to access-based services, instead of owning the physical products.

Key Takeaway: Data and research need to be taken seriously, but examined also in the way of absence of statistics and data.

Experiences shape value

Customers do not evaluate products or services in isolation—they assess entire journeys and experiences. For instance:

• Airports have transformed thanks to design thinking, improving wayfinding, security checks, and customer satisfaction via thoughtful integration of technology.

Key Takeaway: Frictionless experiences consistently outperform pricing as the most critical differentiator in today’s market.

Wrapping Up: Our key tips for driving innovation

At the close of the session, Jussi reminded us that innovation requires bold thinking combined with practical execution:

1. Start with the end user: Anchor every effort to the real needs and behaviors of your customer base.
   
   
2. Iterate: View rapid experimentation as an opportunity to learn and adapt quickly.
   
   
3. Invest in tools and systems: Seamless collaboration and feedback platforms ensure ideas aren’t lost in bureaucracy.
   
   
4. Involve stakeholders: Collaborative problem-solving leads to solutions that work across teams and for customers alike.

Looking ahead

This session reaffirmed that innovation is not only an exciting challenge but also an opportunity to create lasting, behavioral change. At Digitalist, we’re committed to guiding organizations through this journey equipping them with the tools and frameworks to reimagine what’s possible.

Interested in transforming your approach to innovation? Reach out or follow our LinkedIn to join us at our next event. With the right mindset and expertise, the future isn’t something we react to—it’s something we design.

Let’s innovate together.

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Jussi is the CEO and managing partner of Digitalist Experience Oy but more than anything he is a super-senior design expert who knows his way around change management, design thinking, and customer experience strategies.