Few local companies, even the very big ones, have in-house think tanks. This is probably the main reason why we don't have that many companies coming out with innovative new products and services.

How often do you hear criticism that Malaysian companies are trapped in the "me too" culture of constantly playing catch up with the latest trends.

To break out of this situation and to fully take part in an innovation economy, it's crucial for companies operating in the ICT and new media space to create internal think tanks or "brain trusts".

NONE These are basically in-house consultancies that do not have to deal with operational issues but rather deals with conceptual and strategic matters.

The think tanks could be tasked with coming up with new ideas for products and services or developing new business models or conceptualising new branding and marketing strategies. The scope can be very broad and comprehensive or it could be very narrow.

The most important function is to conceptualise new products and services. That's because branding and marketing are things that many traditional agencies can come up with once the new products and services are ready.

Not easily outsourced

But to conceptualise new products and services, especially new media or ICT type of stuff, that is something that cannot be easily outsourced.

Some companies do already have product development units but there are two common problems with that.

Firstly, what passes for product development is actually assessing products pitched by vendors. This happens a lot with telecommunications companies.

Secondly, even those that do actual product development staff the unit with left brainers - the guys who do the number crunching, the coding and so on.

Right brainers are more suited for conceptualising things. The left brainers are important, you need them to do technical bits. But the right brainers are the ones that can come up with out-of-the-box ideas.

It's important that the think tanks are not saddled with return-on-investment (ROI) requirements. True think tanks are always cost centres. There must be deadlines, milestones and key performance indicators (KPI) of course but if the think tank's job is to come up with something new and exciting it should not be weighed down by the need to make money straight away. Most CT business models require a long gestation anyway.

steve jobs apple ceo quits 160109 03 Don't bother to use consumer market research in developing new products or services. Why?

Because, as Apple's Steve Jobs ( left ) apparently once said, the consumer often doesn't know what he wants until he sees it.

Henry Ford also supposedly said if he had asked his customers what they wanted, before coming up with the Model T, they'd have asked for a faster horse.

The right team

So, instead of wasting money on consumer market research assemble the right team and trust that they can come up with good ideas that the market will embrace. If you have any doubts about their abilities to do that, that means you don't have the right think tank team in the first place.

Of course assembling the right team is easier said than done. It's often said that getting good employees alone is a tough enough task what more hiring concept developers for an internal think tank.

The pool of such people is very small because there are not many such units here. If there are few places to headhunt from I would settle for those who have a background in developing products and services.

It's absolutely crucial to get the right team leader. Not only can they set the right agenda, they can also recruit the right kind of people. So, you need someone who has a good standing in the industry, someone who is well respected and whom others would like to work with.

Traditionally think tankers do not get involved in implementation. However, I think they should be. The people involved in conceptualising the ideas should play a role in making it happen. They have a lot invested in it, emotionally and intellectually. They should be involved.

So, to recap, I think ICT and new media companies should allocate a budget to support an internal think tank, give the unit the necessary resources and mandate to do the job, do not require ROI on the concepts but do require KPIs on deliverables.

Forget about consumer market research and get down to building things the team comes up with. Finally, get the team involved in development and implementing the concept.

 

OON YEOH's new social media book Like Me, Follow Me is published by MPH. You can connect with him via Facebook and Twitter .