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In the list of words that stand to win the award for the most abused and used out of context, the word ‘innovation’ might win the prize. Just about everything these days is labelled as being innovative; without it, even the best of ideas don’t get the attention they should be getting these days.

Let us get to the basics: The crux of innovation innately has something to do with the idea, the very basis of all things great. It is supposed to mean, “something done uniquely or differently.” There are plenty of debates and theses written on this topic, but that’s about all there is to it. Succinctly put, it is essentially comes down to Apple’s tagline: “Think Differently.”

I was in a meeting recently where quite a few new product ideas were being discussed, some of which might even qualify for the term ‘innovative’ quite rightly. Yet, I heard the strangest of comments from one of the most senior and well-respected members of the meet. He said, “I don’t care much for innovation. Copy if you must, but give me scale.” The room quietened for a moment, and we all realized that the comment had touched a few raw nerves in the room.

Here’s why. India is a rather large country with no dearth of people. It is said that you can develop a product for as niche a market as possible, and there would still be a large enough target market for it. The truth, however, is that the secret sauce to tackling a country this size is lower cost of acquisitions, even lower delivery and customer care costs and low prices (which in turn means lower margins). The only way you can actually tap into the supposed fortune at the bottom of the pyramid, so to speak, is if you can reach what was termed as the ‘India scale’.

Innovation, in that context, is a very different thing then, isn’t it? Bharat Goenka of Tally, in a conference organized by NASSCOM, said that it is rather ridiculous of entrepreneurs to want to assess the market size of a product they are planning to create. What you should focus on is whether you have the capability to build, deliver, service and still make a profit out of servicing a market like India. The market is just too big for most of us to handle. And with infrastructure and strategic leverage still being in a nascent stage, it is a tough climb to reach the numbers.

The term that is abused is pulled way out of context at times. What is an adjective that’s only appropriate for an idea is being applied to nouns, people and even products. If not pruned early enough, the term ‘innovative’ will find itself being used as a replacement term for mediocrity.

But what does the term mean to most of us who are building products for the India scale? Innovation, to us, is a concept or idea that’s different and distinct enough to enable user adoption. It all really comes down to business and viability from that standpoint. The single most expensive cost incurred in business, from an Indian viewpoint, is that of acquiring customers; traditional businesses have relied on old-school models of distribution channels and door-to-door canvassing of their products and services. While we are still liberal on the matter of manpower, managing teams, balancing attrition rates, and delivering a customer experience that we can be proud of is a steep challenge. Find a way to do that, and you can rightly use that adjective to drive the point home.

VIJAY ANAND is the Founder of Proto.in and the Vice President (Incubation) of IITM’s RTBI.

©Entrepreneur October 2010

Tags:
Bharat Goenka, India, innovation, NASSCOM