Rodrigo Cantelli, CEO, Domo Inovação and VP Sucesu/SP
Rodrigo Cantelli is the CEO of Domo Inovação. He is a seasoned executive with extensive banking technology experience (CIO/CTO) and strong business acumen, skilled in product, operations, payments, and customer experience. Data-driven, customer-focused, and innovative, recognized for building high-performance teams and delivering transformative business results. Rodrigo shared his expert insights for the 2025 edition of CIOReview.
Innovation as a Driver of Value
“Innovation is transforming ideas into solutions that generate real value in economic, social, or human.” This definition summarizes the business consensus that innovation is essential for competitiveness and growth and needs to be aligned with enterprise goals. Another aspect of this definition is that innovation is not about technology but business.
Even in times of adversity, organizations that innovate can expand, reinvent themselves, and capture opportunities. Studies by McKinsey (2023) and BCG (2021) confirm that innovation correlates directly with longterm growth and shareholder returns.
The purpose of this article is to consolidate some key ideas about innovation and propose a support approach to an innovation framework.
Innovation is transforming ideas into solutions that generate real value in economic, social, or human. 
The Body of Knowledge: Frameworks and Standards
Innovation is not improvisation. There is a substantial body of knowledge that organizations can draw upon. The ISO 56000 family of standards, for example, defines principles and processes for systematic innovation management. These frameworks emphasize alignment, governance, and culture — three elements that are also at the heart of any sustainable innovation journey.
“Culture eats strategy for breakfast.” Says, Peter Drucker
Growth Strategy and the Three Horizons
To innovate effectively, organizations must also decide how to innovate. The Three Horizons model is one of the most influential strategic frameworks for growth. Initially developed by McKinsey, it divides innovation efforts into three categories:
• Horizon 1 (H1): Incremental improvements in existing operations and markets are often focused on efficiency.
• Horizon 2 (H2): Expansion into adjacent markets or the development of new products and services.
• Horizon 3 (H3): disrupted innovations and the creation of entirely new business models.
The genius of the model lies in its balance. Companies that focus exclusively on H1 risk stagnation as competitors overtake them. Those who bet everything on H3 often lack the cash flow and stability needed to survive the long gestation periods of disruptive bets. Sustainable growth emerges when leaders manage a portfolio across all three horizons, creating a pipeline of innovation that balances short-term efficiency with long-term transformation.
Disruption, Incremental Innovation, and Jobs to Be Done
Not all innovations are created equal. Some are incremental, making existing products better, faster, or cheaper. Others are disruptive, fundamentally changing the way industries operate. Clayton Christensen’s groundbreaking work on disruptive innovation explains how new entrants often start in overlooked or low-margin markets, offering simpler, cheaper solutions. Over time, they improve their offerings and eventually displace incumbents who ignored them.
The Jobs to Be Done (JTBD) theory complements this framework by asking a deceptively simple question: what progress is the customer trying to achieve when they ‘hire’ a product or service? This approach shifts the focus from demographics or product features to the underlying task the customer needs to complete.
In the development of a retail bank, both incremental and disruptive models of innovation can be observed.
For example, when incumbent banks launched Internet Banking or Mobile Banking, their main goal was to improve branch efficiency. Yet, they still anchored their business models around the physical channel, which remained their core strength.
When neobanks emerged, however, they introduced a completely new business model. Every customer interaction was designed to be digital—from onboarding to lending. This contrast shows that the same technology can support very different strategies. The decisive factor is not the technology itself, but the underlying business model.
We can also apply the Jobs-to-Be-Done (JTBD) framework to this example. A bank customer visiting a branch was not necessarily seeking face-to-face contact with a manager. What they really wanted was to solve their financial issues quickly and effectively.
By integrating JTBD with the Three Horizons model, organizations can ensure that their innovation initiatives are not only forward-looking but also firmly aligned with real customer needs.
The Technological Waves of the Last 50 Years
Technology has been the most powerful enabler of business transformation. Over the last decades, successive waves of technological innovation have reshaped industries:
• Mainframes centralized computing power, allowing organizations to process large volumes of data for the first time.
• The Personal Computer democratized access to information, placing computing power on every desk.
• The Cloud revolutionized scalability and cost efficiency, moving infrastructure off-premises and enabling startups to compete with established giants.
• The Smartphone put supercomputing power into every pocket, empowering consumers and redefining user expectations.
• Artificial Intelligence, today’s dominant wave, is bringing intelligence and automation at scale, transforming industries from finance to healthcare.
“LLMs bring us a new interface, easy, natural and have the potential to evolve the human-machine interaction as Windows 95e IPhone has done.”
Each of these waves has not only enabled efficiency but has also supported the collapse of old business models and created entirely new categories of leaders. Consider the decline of physical retail in the face of e-commerce.
What is Next?
The future will not be defined by a single technology but by the convergence of multiple exponential trends. Artificial intelligence, clean energy, and immersive technologies (such as AR/VR) are beginning to intersect. The implications are profound:
• Data as competitive fuel: Generative AI and machine learning will revolutionize customer service, enabling personalized, realtime interactions across industries. In banking, AI-powered assistants may soon help customers manage finances through natural conversations on platforms like WhatsApp.
• Banks can, for example release AI Agents to run on our devices (cell phones, smart watches, Smart Glass) to make recommendations about our financial lives.
• Shorter product cycles: With product development shrinking from years to weeks, agility and resilience will become survival traits. Organizations must master rapid prototyping, continuous learning, and adaptive scaling.
• Governance and trust: Innovation without responsibility is a recipe for failure. Responsible AI, ethical data practices, and human-centric design will be essential not only for regulatory compliance but also for maintaining customer trust.
The organizations that thrive in this environment will be those capable of pairing bold experimentation with strong governance frameworks. This dual mindset — innovation with stewardship — is the new leadership imperative.
Final Reflection
Innovation is not merely about technology. It is about purpose, culture, and disciplined execution. The companies that master the art of balancing incremental and disruptive approaches, grounded in an appropriate framework, and powered by the three horizons of growth, will shape the future of business. The last decades have shown us the transformative power of technological waves. The next will be defined by how well we govern and direct these forces.