Vision, mission and values | Sep 30

Practical innovation: start with the problem, not the technology

Vision, mission and values | Sep 30

How SME leaders can solve real business problems by testing ideas, challenging assumptions, and using technology with purpose

Ian Wylie Journalist, broadcaster, educator

Reading Time 4 minutes

That exciting word ‘innovation’ conjures up images of artificial intelligence, breakthrough products, and expensive new technology. But for SME leaders, some of the most valuable innovations can start with a much simpler question: is there a better way of doing this?

That was the starting point for Antoni Dimitrov, Managing Director of cleaning company EcoDrift and Help to Grow: Management Course alumnus. He noticed that conventional cleaning schedules were often based on assumptions about how buildings would be used rather than what was actually happening inside them.

A washroom might be cleaned at 10am, for example, only to experience heavy use following a meeting or shift change. Meanwhile, cleaners might visit another area simply because the schedule told them to, despite it barely having been used.

‘I wanted to understand how the building was actually being used so we could direct the team to the places that genuinely needed attention, rather than just follow the same pattern every day because that was how the specification had been written,’ Dimitrov says.

Look for the problem first

Dr Aylin Ates, Reader in Strategy and Innovation at Strathclyde Business School, says SMEs should resist the temptation to equate innovation with technology. ‘There’s a hype about AI and the “race to automation”. But innovation isn’t synonymous with technology. It’s about strategic change that strengthens the organisation’s ability to create and sustain value.’

That could mean redesigning a process or business model, changing how employees work, or finding new ways of collaborating with customers, suppliers, or other organisations.

Ates advises SME leaders examine what keeps them awake at night, where processes are becoming inefficient, and where customer expectations are changing. Crucially, they should work backwards from the customer need or business problem towards a solution, rather than acquiring technology and then searching for somewhere to use it.

Question your assumptions

At EcoDrift, Dimitrov began questioning the assumption that cleaning should take place according to fixed schedules. His team experimented with motion, proximity, and contact sensors to understand how different spaces were actually being used. They developed a platform called Proximetrix to turn that information into useful alerts, including when an area had experienced heavy usage or a dispenser needed refilling.

The development involved considerable experimentation. EcoDrift tested different sensors, explored how accurately they recorded events and worked out what information was genuinely useful. It is now combining usage data with hygiene and bacterial-load testing to explore when spaces actually need cleaning.

‘One thing I’ve learned through all of this is that the sensor itself is not really the clever part,’ Dimitrov says. ‘The value is in what you do with the information, because if the data doesn’t help somebody make a better decision, then it’s just data.’

Don’t automate everything

Technology is not necessarily the answer to every inefficient process. Ates and fellow researchers developed an ‘Automation–Augmentation–Preservation’ framework, encouraging SMEs to consider what should be automated, what technology should help people to do better, and what should deliberately be preserved.

Her research with numerous Scottish heritage textile SMEs, for example, found distinctive human skills and traditional practices that shouldn’t simply be automated away. ‘I wouldn’t ask whether an SME is being innovative enough,’ she says. ‘Instead, leaders should ask whether an innovation addresses a real customer need, solves an important business problem, strengthens an important capability’ and creates value.’

Test, learn, and adapt

Antoni’s experiments with EcoDrift produced commercially available sensors and the existing software before developing his own approach. Crucially, it could test ideas inside buildings it was already cleaning, observe what happened, make changes, and test again.

That produced unexpected opportunities. At one existing client’s business park, sensor data revealed that complaints about a washroom were caused not by poor cleaning but by changed usage following the arrival of a new occupier. EcoDrift shifted labour from quieter areas and changed cleaning times rather than simply adding more hours. The technology is now being explored for monitoring areas including occupancy, CO2, temperature, ventilation, and water.

Ates says this willingness to learn is critical. SMEs shouldn’t expect innovation to work perfectly at the first attempt. They need to learn from experimentation and failure and adapt as circumstances change.

Bring your people with you

Successful innovation must also become part of the organisation rather than remain the founder’s pet project. Ates says employees need to understand why change matters, while processes, responsibilities, and performance measures may need to change so that organisations don’t simply revert to old habits.

Dimitrov found that EcoDrift’s cleaners embraced the sensors once they understood how the information could help them make better decisions rather than monitor individuals.

For SME leaders looking for their own opportunities, his advice is therefore not to begin by shopping for technology.

‘I’d start by looking at the things in the business that everybody accepts as “that’s how they’ve always been done” and then ask whether there is a better way of doing it and understanding what is really happening.’

Look for repeated manual checks, recurring customer problems, and places where decisions still depend on guesswork. For EcoDrift, innovation began with one such question: ‘Instead of guessing when a space needs attention, could we find a way of knowing?’

Ian Wylie Journalist, broadcaster, educator

Ian Wylie is a journalist, editor, and broadcaster for the Financial Times, Guardian, BBC, Monocle, and others. For 16 years he was a staff writer, feature writer, and section editor at The Guardian newspaper. He also teaches on Newcastle University’s undergraduate and postgraduate journalism programmes.

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