Business innovation is the process of making something new or improved that better serves a business. This can include a new product or service, a workflow improvement or anything else that improves the business in a new way.

At its most basic level, innovation is coming up with a new way to do things. Those new ways of doing things are introduced with the goal of earning the business more money. Beyond that basic definition, business innovation is a general concept that can apply to many different products, services, efforts, and policies. It can include new products that will better serve customers or a new program that will help employees better communicate about projects they’re working on.

In the business world, innovation is often used as a synonym for research and development (R&D). However, R&D is a fairly limited term that usually refers to the development of new products. Business innovation is a broader term that describes any type of innovation that occurs in a business context.