The Innovation System

We've developed The Innovation System with corporate innovators in mind.

So, if you work in a medium or large organization, and have "innovation", "new business", "product development", "growth" etc. in your title, this course is the perfect fit for you.

Most of our pilot customers have been innovation managers at large organizations, but it doesn't matter if you're C-level, director, manager, or individual contributor, we've tailored the course content so that it is understandable, useful, and practical regardless of your place in the organization.

If you work in a startup or a small company, or would simply like to learn more about innovation, we're confident that you'll still learn a lot from the program, it's just that many of the practical processes, tools, and frameworks might not be as useful for you as they will be for people in the aforementioned positions.

The exact benefits and results obviously vary widely depending on what your current role is, how experienced an innovator you are,  and how advanced your organization is, so it's very difficult to try to generalize these.

For beginners, the course provides a great overview on innovation, and on how to make it work in a large organization. It also walks you through the process of creating your own "Innovation System", comprising of strategy, processes, practices, etc., so if you're starting from a clean slate, you'll be getting all of that directly from the program, saving you a lot of time, money, and effort.

For intermediates, or those who already know quite a bit about innovation, and whose organizations already have an innovation program in place, the course will help you gauge where you are, and provide you with plenty of new ideas, tools and frameworks to help you improve your innovation work.

We also had a few advanced innovators  test the program, and they obviously have the least to win, but have still said that they learned something new from every module, and also got quite a few valuable, practical ideas on what they could still do better going forward.

So, suffice to say, regardless of who you are, if you're interested in corporate innovation, we're very confident that your ROI for the time and money spent will be high.

Excellent question! For most, the answer should be yes. In general, there are two ways:

• Business unit budget
• Learning & Education budget
  

No matter your role, but especially so for those in innovation related roles, we're confident that if you complete the program, and apply what you've learned, you'll be able to create significant value for your organization.

As such, it shouldn't be too hard for you to get your supervisor or head of unit to grant you budget to participate in the course. However, to achieve this, we have a few tips for you:

• Tell them how much time this will save time from you having to do everything yourself
• Tell them about our unique Innovation Guarantee, which means that if there's no value in taking the course, they'll get a full refund
• Tell them that the program costs less than one day of management consulting, is available for everyone in your organization, comes with 1-on-1 consulting, offers a step-by-step program along with a dozen templates, and could help everyone get on the same page when it comes to innovation (Pro plan)
• Optionally, tell that you will take the course on your own time, not during work

When you put these together, it should be a no-brainer for your boss to say yes!

Alternatively, most medium and large companies have a budget for learning and continuous education of their employees, within which the Individual version of the program has been designed to fit, both in terms of the content, and the budget. So, ask your supervisor or HR about what kind of opportunities your organization offers, and whether you'd be eligible for this budget.

Watching the videos, and browsing through the course material will take roughly 10 hours.

In addition, there are also practical exercises on most lessons that are designed to either:
A) help with your work on your innovation program
B) provide you with opportunities to reflect on where you currently are, and what could be the right steps going forward

These exercises are estimated to take the average innovation manager around 20 hours.

Depending on your own experience, and the maturity of your organization, this can take slightly less, and in some situations quite a bit longer than that. However, almost all of that work you're going to need to do at some point anyway, so it's not likely to go to waste.

For those who participate in the peer matchmaking and 1-on-1 coaching, those are expected to take an additional 8 hours each.

So, if you put all of that together, we're looking at approximately one full time work week.

However, for most, it isn't possible to take an entire week from all of the regular work you do at once, so what we recommend most people to do is to block half a day from their calendars for a period of roughly 8-10 weeks.

Of course, everything you do on the course is for your own good, so if you're pressed for time and there's a module or two you're the most interested in, you can just take those parts and get a lot of value from them with much less time spent.

We are very confident that the Innovation System is the best corporate innovation program or course out there, and that it will be able to help any organization make more innovation happen.

As such, we're willing to put our money where our mouth is by providing you with a full, 100% money-back guarantee if you are unable to make progress with innovation in your organization after applying the teachings and methods from the program (within 12 months of the original purchase). So far, this is yet to happen with hundreds of innovators having already completed the course.

As far as we know, this is pretty unique.

Anyway, should you be the first one to require a refund, simply contact us, and we'll make it happen. Should this happen, we'd love to have a chat to learn why we've failed you!

Pro Plan customers are entitled to four 1-on-1  sessions together with one of Viima's coaches, one after each module. Each session is one-hour in length.

Once you've signed up for the program, you will be requested to fill in a simple survey, based on which you'll be connected with one of our coaches who will then be in touch with you. You can together agree on the agenda of each session in advance to make the most out of your time together.

To be eligible for 1-on-1 coaching, you do need to be a user of the Viima software for maximum effect. If you are not yet an existing customer, you can simply sign up for our free Basic plan.

Once you've signed up for the course, we'll ask if you'd like to participate in our matchmaking program. If you opt-in, we'll seek to connect you with another innovator who has signed up for the program and has similar interests as you do.

Trying to innovate within a corporation can often be a lonely job, so we've seen how peer connections between likeminded individuals in other companies can be tremendously valuable.

Common themes include:

• Peer support
• Peer mentoring
  
• Benchmarking
• Networking

Please note that we unfortunately can't guarantee that there is a match for everyone, as this is highly dependent on the timing and availability of other course participants, as well as your specific circumstances. We won't, for example, pair direct competitors with one another.

As a disclaimer, we aren't responsible for what you decide to do – or not do – during the collaboration together with your peer. Nor can we vouch for the communication and behavior of your peer. We will, however, do our best to help both of you make the most out of it!

In a nutshell, yes.

There's plenty of room for innovation in every industry. While the prevailing culture and current state of things might be wildly different in different industries, the principles, systems and frameworks are, for the most part, the same. As are the practical things corporate innovators need to be working on. 

To make the point, we've developed The Innovation System in close collaboration with a number of pilot customers from various industries like heavy industrials, CPG (food & beverages), software, and professional services. All of the pilot customers across industries found the course very helpful and effective.

At Viima, we're the kind of company that believes in actions speaking louder than words. However, we'll do our best to make the point here.

Viima is the company behind the most widely used and highest rated innovation management software out there (as voted by customers). Since founding the company in 2013, more than 20,000 organizations from more than 185 countries, from startups to the Global Fortune 500, are using our platform.

We've worked closely with hundreds of them, and have seen up close what works and what doesn't. Our mission is to help democratize innovation, so we've also invested a lot of time and money in researching and understanding the state-of-art in innovation, and are trying to do our best to share as much of that knowledge as possible. Usually that happens via our blog, which is also the #1 most popular innovation blog in the world.

If you want to get a taste of how we see things, and what we believe in, before you make your purchase decision, I'd recommend you take a look at some of the posts from there, for example:

• Pace of Innovation – The Ultimate Competitive Advantage
• Innovation Culture – The Ultimate Guide
• Innovation Maturity Matrix – A Model To Successful Innovation Transformation
• Innovation Management – The Complete Guide

These are a bit of a teaser of what's to come on the course. Some of the same points, plus plenty more, will be discussed in more detail during the Program, and we'll also provide you with plenty of practical examples and advice mixed in.

And, if you still don't believe in us, remember that with our 100% money-back guarantee, it's completely risk free to join the program. If it won't help you make a difference, we'll happily return your money.

As you may have seen, customers of Viima's Unlimited Plan also get complimentary access to the Pro plan of The Innovation System.

This means that you can request access to The Innovation System for as many employees as you'd like to! It's really a great way to get your whole team on the same page to drive innovation at scale across the organization, which is key for long-term innovation success.

The only difference is that the regular 1-on-1 coaching on the Pro plan will be replaced with whatever support plan you've chosen for your use of Viima's software. By doing that, we can ensure that learnings from the course will actually transfer into practice.

If you're already an Unlimited Plan customer, please contact your Viima account manager for access to the program.

We're on mission to democratize innovation, so we work hard to make the Innovation System as affordable as possible, and to make it available to as many people as possible.

However, we understand that for some, the financial commitment that this course requires may still be significant. Viima's founders were students when they founded the company, so we do get it.

As such, we do offer full sponsorships and partial discounts for students and bootstrapped entrepreneurs with minimal funding on a case-by-case basis. Please leave your inquiries here, along with proof of your status.