What is innovation?
It is a word that you hear with increasing frequency within client organisations. Yet all too frequently, innovation is just a word, a promise that is never fulfilled: “we must be more innovative”. At Atos Origin, we are very clear about what innovation truly means and about how we enable our clients to ensure that it becomes part of their company DNA.
There are of course many different definitions of innovation, but to quote Dominique Rerat: “Innovation is a matter of life and death, it is the key to the survival of a company.” The pace of global change; the expectations of stakeholders and the complexity of business are increasing every day. Companies must be ready to evolve, or die. Innovation therefore, is one of the best enablers for corporate success and survival.
Staying one step ahead of the competition
In today’s globalised economy, companies are facing ever-tighter margins, ever-faster time to market and leaner and swifter new market entrants. The rise of the mobile knowledge worker and the incredible power of the internet in disseminating information, means that competitive advantages do not last long. Companies that are tireless in their search for innovative new products, services and processes are those which will stay one step ahead of the competition.
Yet too many organisations appear to confuse innovation with creative ideas. The key point is that innovation must create business value - ideas in themselves do not do this. Creativity and inventiveness that are not effectively optimised will add nothing to the bottom line.
Think of Leonardo da Vinci’s amazing design for a helicopter – was that innovation? No, not really. Certainly it was the pinnacle of Renaissance imagination, but the fact that it was never translated by Leonardo into an actual working model, means that it remained a beautiful dream for Centuries. Too many business ideas suffer the same fate, remaining on the drawing-board, because organisations have no process of innovation built into their business strategy.
Innovation is not simply the cherry on the cake; it must be baked into the cake
By this we mean that it is essential that companies cultivate a culture of innovation and collaboration, where innovation is encouraged, thrives and has a material impact. In order to make this happen, the right processes and models need to be put in place. At Atos Origin, we are highly experienced in being able to help our clients to do this, ensuring that they pull through those great ideas to be executed as part of the business plan.
There are three ways through which we are able to help our customers innovate. Atos Origin can support, facilitate or advise on the innovation process; create value via the use of technology and assist in scoping out the short, medium and long-term landscape, to mitigate and share risk. By putting a clear process in place, all the elements of a successful organisation - its culture, people, technology and business strategy – can play their roles in transforming those drawing-board ideas into something tangible.
Over the past 12 months we have worked on many fascinating projects spanning areas as diverse as ticketless journeys, responding to natural disasters and accelerating the internal innovation process of a major utility company.
Companies that don’t harness their capacity for innovation risk losing everything.
And what about the future?
We believe in preparing our clients to do business in 2050. We will ensure that they are ready for Generation Y’s increased expectations, the fact that they will take as standard everything from Enterprise 2.0, to always-available mobile services and Green IT. It’s an exciting, collaborative vision of the future that we share wit our customers and the superior innovation processes we create for them, will enable them to meet Generation Y’s expectations and as yet unmet needs.