WHAT INNOVATION MEANS TO IT SERVICES

WHAT INNOVATION MEANS TO IT SERVICES 

 

Innovation is hard. Or at least, so it seems. Since innovation became fashionable, we have all been creating innovation strategies, forming innovation centres or teams, and trying to bake innovation into our corporate culture. Depressingly few of my IT/services peers have succeeded in a meaningful way.

There are exceptions. Recently, Google has built a strong reputation for innovation. For the rest of us, innovation is a lot like truffles. It can be extremely valuable, but it's hard to find. Some companies have managed to train their corporate senses. However, the trade off (and Google's differentiator) is an unconventional corporate culture. What we need is innovation for the mainstream. We need a measured approach.

A key lesson is that collaboration is key. Innovation is the chance combination of previously unrelated ideas. The ideas do not need to be new, or even particularly special. They can also come from anywhere.

When challenged, we can bring all stakeholders together (and all means all), creating an environment where innovative solutions float to the top. Often this needs a facilitator to help people overcome the trauma of stepping outside their day-to-day role.

This approach is at Capgemini's heart. Our focus on collaboration has resulted in the creation of an innovation friendly forum, known as the Accelerated Solutions Environment (ASE), that has been used to deliver innovative solutions to previously intractable problems, from boardroom deadlocks through to (recently) designing a new national rugby competition for the
Australian Rugby Union.

We have put collaboration at the centre of what we do. Innovation - for those of us who aren't Google - is not about reinventing the world. Innovation is recognising the truffles buried within the organisation, and then making the most of them.

Paul Thorley, chief executive officer,
Capgemini Australia

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