technologies as a tech intrapreneur

In today’s digital world, almost every business activity is affected by technological innovation. This is true not only for businesses that focus on digital products and services, but also for companies in traditional industries such as manufacturing, telecommunications, or banking. The technology revolution is not just changing how these firms do their business, but even how they think about their current and future strategies. Digitalisation opens up new intrapreneurial opportunities that can be leveraged to improve the organisation’s current and future performance.

Many organisations struggle to create a culture where digital tech intrapreneur can flourish. Yet, this is not because they lack the digital competence needed to enable intrapreneurial activities. Instead, the problem is often that management discourages these types of activities and that employees who want to innovate are blocked from doing so by their supervisors.

The most effective way to promote intrapreneurial behaviour is to create a supportive culture that enables and encourages digital intrapreneurs. This requires not only that managers understand the value of and support for intrapreneurial activities, but also that they provide the necessary infrastructure to enable them to occur. This includes creating a framework for intrapreneurship, ensuring that the right employees have the right skills to succeed, and facilitating the formation of teams that can identify, test, and execute digital intrapreneurship ideas.

when selecting and implementing new technologies as a tech intrapreneur?

Another essential factor is the selection of suitable technologies. This is not an easy task and requires a thorough evaluation process. Choosing the right technologies allows for higher buy-in and implementation rates, and will increase the likelihood that a new technology will be successful. For example, it’s important to select technology that solves more than one problem for a company, and can handle large datasets. Using extensive spreadsheets and checklists of functionalities can help with this, as well as considering how the technology fits into existing technology systems.

Finally, to implement a new technology, it is essential that there are a number of intrapreneurs and/or sponsors for the project. This is because a significant part of the intrapreneur’s role is to find and protect an innovative idea, ensuring that it has the best chance of success. Furthermore, the people who are chosen to implement a technology will often be the most familiar with it and can share knowledge about how it should work, its limitations, and potential problems.

Lastly, a good manager will ensure that there are enough people who can act as super-users for the new technology. These individuals will be able to provide valuable feedback to the project team and will act as mentors for other staff who are less familiar with the technology. Having these individuals available can make the transition from prototype to full implementation much easier. It will also allow them to be the go-to people for questions from colleagues across the business about how to use the technology. This will help to build a stronger sense of ownership and ensure that the new system is used as intended by everybody in the company.