Did you know that anybody who works at Google is allowed to use 10% of their time to focus on their own projects and ideas without seeking permission from their managers? Not only is this a wonderfully innovative idea, it is also one that is apparently used bye everybody within the company. This is clear when you look at the amount of new applications and tools that are developed by the Google innovation lab.It is hard to understand just how much you can do thanks to the internet, and even harder to comprehend that almost all of that came out of the Google innovation lab. Furthermore, this has shown other businesses how important it is to allow their employees to have their creative juices run free.
How We Can All Benefit from the Google Innovation Lab
The Google innovation lab through the helps the entire world. For instance, Google Docs is used by state governments and has even helped businesses like Twitter grow. It allows any and all businesses, regardless of where they are in the world, to manage the most popular Microsoft Office document formats for free. Additionally, they can be saved on Google’s servers and they can be shared with others for greater collaboration.
Another fantastic example is the Related Links. This allowed websites to increase the number of hits they receive by developing unique gadgets. Then, there is Google Trends, which has been designed to effectively predict the abilities of a website in terms of generating traffic. Google Trends allows people to see what others are searching for online, which can be used to better develop other websites. But it isn’t solely about Google. What it is about is that their innovation lab has shown other businesses how important it is to properly innovate. A good example of this is the Flu Trends tool, which was based on Google Trends and now helps public health professionals to determine how quickly epidemics and flues are spreading across this country and world.Whale made by Google, Flu Trends has required to participation of health agencies across the world.
Another thing that many businesses have learnt by looking at the Google innovation lab is that it isn’t sorry about serious things. For instance, Google even invested a lot of time looking at the People Hopper tool. This is a tool that allows people to share photographs with each other in a hysterical manner.
All businesses should consider the benefits they can experience by focusing on innovation. Innovation means change, and almost every business is resistant to change simply because their risk tolerance is so low. However, the risk associated with not changing at all is far greater. Innovation is a solid investment with a very high yield potential, one that all businesses should focus on. Of course, it is far easier for a company like Google to do this because they have an almost unlimited budget. However, all businesses should be able to assign at least some budget to this.