What strategies can an IT intrapreneur employ
Digital intrapreneurs have the skills to identify new digital-technology-enabled business opportunities and bring them to fruition. These can be completely new products or services, or they can be existing business systems transformed through the application of a digital transformation approach.
IT intrapreneur have a very high degree of autonomy in how they execute their ideas and can make decisions without having to seek the permission of managers. They are not afraid of taking risks and experimenting with ideas, and they also recognise the need for constant learning. However, their success depends on the support they receive from their supervisors and the overall corporate culture. If the latter are not supportive, intrapreneurs will either be disengaged and leave the company or they will fail to realise their full potential.
To drive user adoption of new technologies, a digital intrapreneur needs to be able to anticipate and predict how the technology will affect users and what they need from it. This can be done by performing user research and understanding the context in which the new technology is being used, evaluating its value to users and its feasibility within an organisation, and creating a proof of concept.
What strategies can an IT intrapreneur employ to drive user adoption of new technologies?
Another important strategy is to understand and communicate the vision of a new technology to all stakeholders, including potential clients. This will help build awareness and support the development of a strong business case, which in turn will make it easier to secure funding for the project.
Finally, the intrapreneur must be able to build a team that has the right mix of skills and personality to successfully carry out their plan. This team should be able to work together well, and the intrapreneur should not try to over-manage their teams, as this will deprive them of their intrinsic motivation.
A manager can play a critical role in encouraging a digital intrapreneur by supporting their ideas, allowing them to take risks and fostering an environment where mistakes are tolerated. In addition, the manager should be aware of the difference between real intrapreneurs and what venture capitalists call “promoters”. Promoters are people who talk a lot about their innovations, but lack the grit, persistence, courage and intrinsic motivation to push through the inevitable challenges, setbacks and changes that will inevitably happen when trying to implement their innovations.
DB Intrapreneurs is a digital intrapreneurship programme that has been developed with the aim of promoting a digital innovation culture in large organisations. It involves a Design Phase and a Build Phase. The Design Phase runs for three workshops and allows participants to explore and validate the impact of their ideas, while the Build Phase provides them with intensive coaching, funding, and a dedicated method coach to enable them to develop their idea into a functional prototype. If they are able to validate their concept in this phase, then they can progress to the grow phase of the programme, which allows them to become a fully-fledged corporate start-up. In this phase, the teams will have to ramp up their internal structures and prepare for their commercial launch.