Innovation Days That Break Constraints and Build the Future

With the fast pace of technological change, such as the rise of Agentic AI, it can be challenging to stay ahead and innovate within customer projects, particularly when you're already deeply engaged in delivering critical software services, as I am at Solidsoft Reply. Project delivery is governed by milestones, priorities, and standards - great for ensuring quality software, but these guardrails can limit the opportunity for innovation. Wouldn’t it be great to step away and innovate in an environment free of constraint, to explore what is truly possible?

That’s exactly what I had the chance to do recently at the Reply Microsoft AI Innovation Den, where I explored the potential of Microsoft’s Copilot technology in a fast-paced, collaborative environment.

An innovation day aims to achieve exactly that: to identify, build, demonstrate and pitch an innovative software solution that provides real, demonstrable business value to the customer - all within in a single business day.

Innovation Day: Recipe for success

A typical Innovation Day within Reply is designed to rapidly move an idea through multiple lifecycle stages—energised by an enthusiastic host who encourages bold thinking, avoids getting bogged down in the details, and inspires a sense of pride and friendly competition to win the day's innovation award. The stages include:

• Build a collaborative team with a mix of consultants, developers and customer stakeholders
• Identify and select an idea that has the potential to bring the most business value
• Build a simple app or AI agent to demonstrate the potential and bring the idea to life
• Pitch the idea to validate the business case and receive valuable feedback
• And ideally, take the idea back to the business and continue the innovation!

To maximise the benefits of the innovation day, multiple customers and teams should participate to share their ideas and innovative solutions.

Establishing the team: a collaborative blend for success

A key ingredient for successful innovation is establishing a team with a strong mix of Solidsoft Reply consultants and developers, and customer stakeholders. Representatives from both business and technology streams are key to ensure that technical innovation delivers real business value.

Customer representatives working alongside our consultants see for themselves how Solidsoft Reply delivers a solution to address a real-world business challenge. Along the way, the customer benefits from exposure to new technologies and techniques that can be applied within their business. As a Microsoft Partner, we bring breadth and depth of expertise in the Microsoft stack with our cloud-based solutions, AI agents and Copilots.

Pictured: Emerald Publishing customers in front of the Reply AI-Scape Room

Now that we have established the innovation team, we are ready to get started!

Identifying innovation: maximising business value

The customer stakeholders should describe their business domain, challenges and pain points, so that our consultants can understand where a technology solution could add value.

The team can then collaborate to identify candidate ideas. A short timeboxed discussion should review each idea, briefly exploring the business value, and what app or AI agent could be built as a demonstrator within a few hours. The idea that maximises value and feasibility should be selected for the build.

All other interesting ideas can be taken back to the business, and added to the Product Backlog. They may be candidates for future innovation days!

Building the future: moving from idea to reality

This is the exciting part! In just four hours, the technical stream must turn the idea into a simple app or AI agent that demonstrates the idea, and brings it to life.

In my experience, the build is a rollercoaster of emotions: enthusiasm, fear and optimism at the start, making steady progress towards your goal. At some point during the build, you may encounter a blocker, at which point the pressure of the time constraint is strongly felt. Teamwork, creative thinking and perseverance will ensure that the blocker is resolved, perhaps just in time to complete the build, in readiness for the pitch!

Pictured: Solidsoft Reply prototyping AI agent concepts for SafeNationVS

At the same time, the business stream must create a business case for the idea, presenting the business challenges that have been addressed, and the projected return on investment.

The team can then take a well-earned break, and get ready to pitch the idea to a panel of judges and the other teams.

Pitching the idea: selling the vision

After the fast-paced and pressured activity of the build, the pitch is a fun opportunity for the teams to validate their solutions, and see what the other teams have come up with.

Each team will present their business case, followed by a short demo of the app or AI agent that has been built, and answer any questions other teams may have. This is a great opportunity to validate the solution, and confirm that others share your vision of the business value.

For some friendly competition, awards or kudos should be awarded for the most innovative solutions! Recently, the Solidsoft Reply and Emerald Publishing team, were proud to receive the Industry Game Changer award during an Innovation Day hosted by WM Reply.

Pictured: Industry Game Changer certificate awarded to Emerald Publishing and Solidsoft Reply

Continuing the innovation: beyond the day

At the end of a productive day, each customer will return to their business. In addition to having had a fun and insightful day, they will have a demonstrator built and ready-made business case to take the idea further, and continue the innovation.

At Solidsoft Reply, we believe that innovation should be a continuous activity, and not limited to a single day. Regular innovation days gives the team the opportunity to take a fresh look at business challenges from a different perspective, and the time to test new technologies and solutions, maximising business value.

Solidsoft Reply is a leading technology company creating award-winning solutions utilising the Microsoft Azure cloud platform. As a globally acclaimed Microsoft AI Cloud Solutions Partner, we specialise in GS1 traceability systems worldwide, crucially ensuring the authenticity, legality, and safety of our customers’ products and services. Serving non-profits, NGOs, healthcare, and the pharmaceutical industries, we deliver technology for positive social impact. Your products, safe in our hands.