A Supreme Court Justice once famously exclaimed (about a much different topic): "I shall not today attempt further to define [it], but I know it when I see it." The same could be said about identifying authentic innovation. With that in mind, one perspective that might provide some clarity is to define what innovation isn't. So let's take a look at three characteristics that are often mistaken for innovation.

1. It's shiny and new – There's nothing wrong with being shiny, or new. Who doesn't like that new car smell? But true innovation has to have something under the hood. True innovation disrupts some aspect of its market.

But therein lies one of the fundamental traps of misguided innovation: Rushing to discover (and present) the next big thing. Sometimes less really is more. The best innovations are usually the most simple, easy, and convenient for the customer.

Our business revolves around making the world of benefits – our specialty – simple and easy for our customers. Make the billing, eligibility and enrollment process as little work for employers as possible. Make the enrollment and payment process as easy as possible for employees on voluntary products. Increasing simplicity, ease and convenience are often the best forms of innovation.

2. Gizmos and gadgets – We love our gadgets. Technology and personal electronic devices are practically synonymous with the concept of innovation. But we need to ask ourselves: What does this technology do and what need does it fill? Many times, it's not the technology itself, but the application of it.

A big trend in the voluntary business the past few years has been enrollment via systems that are increasingly self-administered by employees. These systems enable the use of multiple products, delivered in multiple ways to diverse audiences. Clearly, this is an example of technology filling a need and making enrollment more efficient.

However, according to Prudential's Eighth Annual Study of Employee Benefits-2013, the fact is, when employers are asked what employee benefit communications methods result in the greatest degree of success, the top two methods were group meetings/seminars (74 percent of surveyed benefits managers), followed by individual one-on-one meetings (72 percent).

So you can see, technology isn't driving the bus alone. People like the convenient elements of technology as a voluntary enrollment medium, combined with the personal element that comes from an enrollment meeting, personal counseling session or a real-time discussion with an advisor. For all our technological advancements, at the end of the day, what employees really want is access to an advisor, and affirmation that they are making a good decision for themselves and their family.

3. Just different (not necessarily innovative) – Is the product or service a game changer, or is that just a fresh coat of paint? In our business, the core product areas – medical, disability, life insurance and retirement plans–have been around for years. Over time, these products change and improve, but those outside the benefits profession may not be able to tell the difference.

Truly different and innovative products arise as needs emerge. Critical Illness protection is a good example. One of the primary drivers behind CI coverage is that fifty years ago we didn't have as high an expectation of survival. Today, survival is a reasonable expectation. Critical Illness events are not uncommon, and people usually survive. The cost of that survival goes well beyond the cost of medical procedures.

A critical illness event is likely to trigger the full deductible and out-of-pocket coinsurance in a major medical plan, plus a great deal of additional family financial and emotional stress. CI products help preserve savings, and can be a financial bridge during recovery. They help people afford the expense of surviving a critical illness, and they help people preserve their savings. As you can see, Critical Illness is a genuinely innovative product addressing a legitimate need.

Armed with this list of characteristics, we should now be able to easily separate the innovation pretenders from the players, right? Well, maybe not. Adding just a tad of mud to the water is the fact that this list and innovation are not mutually exclusive. A genuine innovation can have all three indicators of an imposter, but still be the real deal.

For example, when Steve Jobs unveiled the first iPhone (all the way back in 2007), it was a shiny new gizmo that was different. Strike one, two and three. Ironically, the iPhone wasn't even the first phone (that had already been invented well over 100 years prior); it wasn't even the first mobile phone or the first portable computer (those had already happened, too). But it was undeniably innovative…and you knew it when you saw it.

Marty Traynor is vice president of voluntary benefits at Mutual of Omaha. He can be reached at [email protected].