What Traditional Companies Need to Consider When Innovating

When a company has decades of experience, reputation and achievements, it is natural that, at some point, innovation and creativity begin to stagnate. Then an inevitable question arises: What next? At that point, experimentation can become both an opportunity and a risk of paralysis. For long-established institutions, taking the leap into the new, betting on innovation and staying relevant in the market represents a challenge as necessary as it is complex.

Technology has paved the way for emerging startups — agile, flexible, and bold — to advance at breakneck speed, disrupting established norms and reinventing the rules of the game. They are setting the pace for trends and new demands from the public, which prioritizes immediacy and rejects traditional processes. Given this landscape, how can established companies remain competitive? How can they reignite innovation without losing what has made them successful?

From our experience at Sensedia, accompanying companies of different sectors and sizes in several countries, we have identified three key pillars to drive a transformation that preserves the essence of the organization, but at the same time projects it into the future and positions it at the forefront of its respective market.

1.   Technology Enablement: The Starting Point

Technology is no longer a support function, it has become a strategic enabler and key driver of business growth. However, many organizations still operate with fragmented or legacy digital infrastructures, which makes it difficult to integrate new solutions and limits their ability to scale. Modernizing companies’ infrastructure and adopting open architectures, such as those based on APIs and cloud technologies, empower  business teams to act with greater agility, unlock data trapped in obsolete systems, and leverage new technologies more efficiently. In this context, platforms such as Sensedia play a crucial role by facilitating the connection between legacy systems and new applications, promoting interoperability, and significantly reducing development times.

2.   Innovative Mindset: Beyond Technology

Transformation isn't just about technology, it is also cultural. Companies need to reconnect with their original entrepreneurial spirit, the one that drove their creation. How is this achieved? By fostering an environment where curiosity, creativity and intelligent risk-taking are valued.

This means creating a culture of trust, where employees feel empowered to propose ideas, experiment and, yes, even fail. Mistakes should not be penalized, but understood as part of learning. Continuous training, co-creation spaces and recognition of disruptive thinking are key to awakening this innovative mindset.

3.   Multidisciplinary Teams for Innovation

Another essential component is to break down the barriers between areas. When business and technology teams work in isolation, results are slow and inconsistent. But when business vision is aligned with technical capabilities, innovation flows.

A multidisciplinary team, with shared goals and common metrics, not only solves problems faster, but does so more creatively and effectively. This kind of collaboration makes it possible to adjust strategies in real time, respond with agility to market demands, and develop truly customer-centric solutions.

Ultimately, transformation is not about giving up the legacy, but about adapting and projecting it into the future. Established companies have an invaluable advantage: they know their industry, their customers, and have overcome countless challenges. But to continue leading, they need to combine that experience with new ways of thinking, operating, and creating. Betting on technology, cultivating an innovative culture, and fostering diverse and collaborative teams is not an option, it's the way to stay relevant and prepared for what's next. The question is no longer, "What's next?", but "How do we lead what's next?"