In our previous blog posts, we’ve explored examples of incremental and breakthrough innovation. Now it’s the turn of radical innovation.

Radical innovation involves harnessing new technology and a new business model simultaneously and as such, is very rare – only about 10% of innovations fall into this category.

So who’s achieved this? In this blog post, we take a look at three companies that have mastered the art of radical innovation.

Salesforce

Salesforce is one of the few companies to have launched a truly radical innovation. Its CRM system harnesses not only a new technology platform in the form of cloud computing but a new business model too. When the company launched back in 1999, its business model of selling the software as a service was truly innovative. And to this day the company continues to push the boundaries – it has been named by Forbes as one of the World’s Most Innovative Companies 4 years in a row.

Metromile

Metromile, a US car insurance company, is another great example of a radical innovation. The firm harnesses a new technology – a plug-in telematics device for your car– to offer a new business model; the ability to buy insurance on a pay-per-mile basis.

The Amazon Dash button

Our final example of radical innovation comes from Amazon. The company made headlines last year when it launched its Dash buttons, small WiFi connected devices that allow you to reorder household essentials such as toilet paper, razors or washing powder at the click of a button. Both the technology and the business model of relying on repeat orders are both new but we’re yet to see if this radical innovation will be a hit with customers.