Innovation critical to staying resilient in crisis: Microsoft-IDC study

Innovation is now critical for organizations in India to respond quickly to market challenges and opportunities and ensure business resilience during crisis, says a new report by Microsoft and IDC.

According to the India findings of the study "Culture of Innovation: Foundation for business resilience and economic recovery in Asia Pacific", a majority of Indian businesses (77%) have found innovation to be critical or important to their performance and resilience.

In a short span of six months, Indian organizations have increased their ability to innovate by 4% by maturing their 'Culture of Innovation', the synergy between technology, processes, data and people that enables organizations to drive sustained innovation. Nearly 78% of organizations in the country are accelerating the pace of digitalization to adapt to the new reality.

As per the survey findings, 64% of the survey respondents acknowledged that innovation has become easier in the post-COVID-19 era as compared to 32.5% prior to the pandemic. Now, Indian companies are aiming at increasing their revenue from digital products and services from 36% at present to 50% in the next three years.

"Innovation is no longer an option, but a necessity. We have seen how the recent crisis has spurred the need for transformation; for organizations to adapt and innovate in order to emerge stronger," says Rajiv Sodhi, COO, Microsoft India.

"Organizations in India understand that they need to improve across all dimensions of a culture of innovation, especially technology. It is encouraging to see business leaders recognize this, and plan to focus on technology to drive sustained innovation and realize their digital transformation ambition," he further added.

Nearly 45% of organizations in India indicated that they will focus on Technology as most essential for business resilience and recovery in the next 12 months. In addition to technology, the other area where Indian organizations are prioritizing is People, with 18.5% of businesses planning to focus on embracing risks and driving innovation through ongoing learning and the right talent and skills.

For more details on the survey findings, click here.