EMC

EMC 

 

Information has become the most important and strategic asset in an organisation today. Virtually every business these days needs to manage this information electronically. To maximise competitive advantage, using innovation to work with and manage this information is critical. The agility, security and simplicity of management of organisations' information are essential in achieving competitive advantage.

In an average business, information is growing at an exponential rate of 60 per cent every year. Given government regulations and legislation, much of this information needs to be saved for at least seven years, and in some instances, forever. This requirement poses the challenge of how to store this information in a way that is secure while also classified, categorised and manageable so it can be found and retrieved when needed.

The solution to this challenge is to implement an holistic information infrastructure which stores, protects, and automates information which is categorised based on value of the information and its usage requirements.

At EMC, we work with clients to ensure cost effective and efficient information management. Innovation within EMC is driven by our customers' needs as well as the contribution from internal EMC employees. Through the EMC Innovation Network, EMC collects thousands of ideas from staff around the world which are then evaluated and developed depending on their application.

With over 8000 engineers dedicated to research and development, EMC develops solutions that enable organisations to build holistic information infrastructures.

EMC constantly develops innovative new products that will help our customers better manage their information from creation to back-up, recovery and archiving. Our recently announced flash technology for enterprise storage platforms is just one example of this innovation which increases performance by 30 times while at the same time reducing carbon footprint by up to 70 per cent.

- David Webster, president, EMC Australia and New Zealand

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FUJITSU

FUJITSU 

 

The IT industry is perceived to be innovative because it markets new products on what seems to be an hourly basis. I see an inherent danger in allowing that perception to become an industry-wide reality.

We put innovation at the heart of everything we do. Our dedication to realising our customers' dreams drives innovation. Our research and development approach has shifted from having an idea in mind to how we provide solutions and end our customers' pain points - in line with our Japanese heritage and commitment to continuous improvement (kaizen).

While investment and innovation in new products remains integral, we cannot escape the fact that growth in this highly competitive marketplace rests on our ability to deliver great service. Information technology should enable business success, motivate and inspire people and exceed their expectations.

Research from Fujitsu's Innovation Index 2007 shows that collaboration outside organisational boundaries is one of the top attributes of innovation performance. We leverage our capabilities across the whole of the company - we're the third largest IT services provider in the world - as well as across our strategic alliance partnerships, to produce better business outcomes for our customers.

We don't sell technology because it's fascinating; we listen and give customers what they tell me they want - access to proven, reliable innovation that will deliver measurable returns on investment.

Our approach is to industrialise the 80 per cent of IT that underpins standard activities from one organisation to the next and frees up our customers to work with the 20 per cent of IT that makes their business unique.

It's a method that works for innovative manufacturers and true IT innovation at work. The future is about great service - not a slice of bespoke technology for its own sake.

- Rod Vawdrey, CEO, Fujitsu Australia and New Zealand

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IP AUSTRALIA

IP AUSTRALIA 

 

Australians are as inventive as any nationality. But they are often not successful at capturing the full value of their innovations. IP Australia can help with this.

IP Australia grants rights under legislation relating to patents, trademarks, designs and plant breeder rights. We aim to provide robust IP protection so that Australian innovators can maximise their returns, whilst being protected.

On an international scale, it is also important for IP Australia to ensure we have respect as a global player.

Firstly, it is important that Australians are provided access to the broad variety of technologies available from overseas. Having a well-respected IP system in Australia gives overseas inventors the confidence to make technology available to Australians.

We also want Australian inventors to be able to secure protection for their inventions in overseas markets - easily and with certainty. We work with overseas counterparts on this. We also help Australian inventors to understand the processes involved in this international access, through a variety of channels including online, print and events.

Legislation sets the boundaries of what we can offer. However, as an organisation, we constantly need to be innovative with these processes to make them as efficient as possible.

We analyse the processes we are running and look for methods of reducing bottlenecks while making sure all legislative tests are met.

- Philip Noonan, director general, IP Australia

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MELBOURNE IT

MELBOURNE IT

 

Innovation means different things for different people. For some it means a cutting edge new product or solution. We believe innovation must cut through every facet of Melbourne IT.

HR is just one example. How do you attract and keep the best and brightest people and keep them motivated and innovative? We are not all Google, with extensive budgets. More than 50 per cent of our staff have an 'at risk' bonus that is attached to achieving annual KPIs. Also, to keep a healthy and sharp environment, we provide staff with massages, gym memberships and fresh fruit.

Innovation is something that must always be measured. Recent times have also seen a growth in interest with green IT. We have been developing this for a couple years using virtualisation and blade servers as our platform. Most importantly, we have been measuring our footprint. Through innovation, we have been able to reduce our carbon footprint in 2007, saving 1700 tonnes of CO₂.

Many companies talk about the importance of customer relationship management (CRM). Equally important these days is linking into supplier relationship management (SRM). Innovation is led by our customers and supported by our suppliers. Seven to eight years ago you could build something and wait for customers to come. Now you find out what customers want and work with suppliers to build it. This is all done with just-in-time solutions to ensure competitive rates can be maintained.

Most importantly, IT companies need to ensure that integration is complete. There is no use getting caught up with the latest product if you forget the customer experience. And this experience needs to be supported throughout the process from aggregation and provision through to billing and ongoing support into the future. Throughout these processes, KPIs measure how new innovations are improving the process and rewards are assigned accordingly to staff.

- Theo Hnarakis, CEO, Melbourne IT

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RICOH

RICOH 

 

I joined Ricoh in the early 1970s as an engineer and was part of the team that developed the first high-speed digital office fax machine, the RIFAX 600s. In Japanese, it was nicknamed the ippunki or 'one minute machine' because it took one minute to send a single A4-size page from Tokyo to New York. After that, I was project leader on a range of business teams, an experience that taught me a valuable lesson - innovative technology for its own sake is worthless. The only worthwhile innovations are those that offer new customer value.

Many people tend to think that an innovation has to include new technology, but it's simply not true. Take the iPod as an example. It combined pre-existing technologies to offer an irresistible proposition: all your music, pictures and documents stored on a single device. It wasn't about new technology, but about a new form of customer value.

This is our product development philosophy at Ricoh. Over the years, we've seen copiers transform into multifunction devices that could also print and scan. Now, with the addition of more and more software functionality, we are seeing these devices transform again into office communication hubs.

For example, in Australia last year, our local Business Solutions Group developed ESA TransFormer, an embedded Java solution that, very simply, converts scanned hard copy documents into useable electronic files. Of course, OCR scanning is not a new technology, but by embedding this application directly into an MFP, we've been able offer customers a new form of value. We want our machines to do more, so our customers don't have to.

It's important not to forget that customers are actually the source of many of the best ideas. It's by analysing how our customers work that our worldwide technology centres can come up with tailored solutions to optimise workflow in specific environments. Our goal is to deliver solutions to problems that our customers haven't even recognised as problems.

I truly believe that any business product developed must improve office efficiency or boost productivity. After all, wasn't that the great promise of the technological revolution?

- Shiro Kondo, CEO, Ricoh Corporation

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