Innovation at Google

Business Innovation at Google

In the modern era of business, the profit margin can be exceptionally thin, particularly in the current economic environment. That means the success of initiatives and even entire organizations can rest substantially on the effectiveness of their innovative processes. Generally, innovation, design, and creativity are the most important aspects of the product and services development process (Rowe, 2004). According to business analysts, it is precisely the relative quality of those elements at Google that have enabled the company to become dominant in the computer information delivery industry and to rival Microsoft, the premier computer information product and service provider for most of the modern age of personal computers (Cutts, 2009). In terms of the phases of the innovative process, Google represents the effective use of innovation, design, and creativity whereas Microsoft seems to represent a stagnant adherence to assumptions that are rapidly becoming outdated and less applicable to the current business and consumer demand environments than ever before.

Innovation, Design, and Creativity at Google

Generally, Google has established itself as one of the most innovative contemporary companies by virtue of the pace at which it continually rolls out new products and services. More specifically, Google's overall approach to product innovation exhibits maximal creativity, both in anticipating consumers' needs and preferences as well as in designing products and services capable of exploiting those trends by providing products and services that match consumer demands and expectations in information technology.

For example, Google correctly anticipated that the future of computing and information technology is most likely to emphasize the "cloud computing" concept that will allow consumers to access their computers and other digital information databases remotely instead of depending on physical proximity to their home or office computer systems. Already, the applications rolled out by Google such as Gmail, instant messaging, calendar, word processing, presentation, and a spreadsheet application called "Google Docs" allows consumers to store large amounts of information on Google's servers and to access that information and those processes remotely (Cutts. 2009).

At the same time, Google has also exhibited the foresight to appreciate the continuing usefulness of allowing consumers access to standard applications provided by Microsoft, including free, simplified versions of essential word processing software and other basic applications available in MS Office (Cutts, 2009). While this is not, strictly speaking, innovation (because it does not involve new ideas), it is nevertheless does reflect a highly creative and flexible approach to product and service development in that Google is avoiding the narrow focus that seems to be plaguing Microsoft. In that regard, Google has recognized the continuing value of traditional software applications and invested the necessary innovative resources to develop its own versions of those programs. Meanwhile, Google has been simultaneously focused on creative innovation by designing entirely new types of products and services intended to satisfy current and likely future trends in consumer demands.