We are featuring a blog series entitled, 'Voices From
Last Year' to highlight key themes that BEI Back End of Innovation attendees took
away from last year's event. At BEI 2012 Michael Stratton, Ph.D. Enterprise
Project Management Office, The Boeing Company, shared some of the biggest
challenges that innovation teams face today.

BEI is all about the strategy and execution of innovation. It's a conference
where the entire innovation process comes to life- from leadership &
organizational structure, to optimizing the idea portfolio, to process and
strategy, to commercializing new ideas, ultimately driving bottom line
profitability.

According to Stratton when it comes to innovation teams,
communication is the most important and the most difficult thing to do. He
works with a lot of different teams, and in some cases, they are totally
virtual. He suggests that when dealing with teams virtually, you just have to
be a little more creative in your management strategy.

Check out the full
interview below:

Do you agree with Dr. Stratton? Share your thoughts with us!

Amanda Ciccatelli,
Social Media Strategist at IIR USA in New York City, has a background in
digital and print journalism, covering a variety of topics in business
strategy, marketing, and technology. She previously worked at Technology
Marketing Corporation as a Web Editor where she covered breaking news and
feature stories in the tech industry.  She can be reached
at aciccatelli@iirusa.com. Follow her at @AmandaCicc.