9 March 2018 – 4th National Convention of AON “Made in Future”. My vision of innovation. In front of me, there are 1,200 professionals who manage services for people on an everyday basis and who are questioning themselves about the huge changes now taking place. The location is the San Patrignano Community, a place that regales great emotions and reminds me of the value of the word Opportunity. Innovation is no more and no less than a new opportunity.
Innovation is the act, the work of innovating; the action carried out to introduce new systems, new sets of rules, new methods. By its very nature, innovation is an experience that continues in time. It is a journey we started millions of years ago and which has led us towards ever newer and better things. The innovative process (the journey) answers a question, it resolves a pain. We are uncertain as to the destination but have no doubts regarding the reason which has forced us to depart, the reason why which prompts humanity to change, in a never ending cycle.
The innovative process is instinctively re-enacted whenever there is a new requirement to meet: what we do is to question the innovation introduced, while verifying the possibility to make new improvements. We ask ourselves new questions, to which we provide an answer thanks to the creative act, the birth of new opportunities.
An analysis of innovation in the history of mankind shows that there were very few changes for a long time, even though there were improvements: a series of short steps which, one at a time, have taken us far, thanks to our perseverance along the way. Then, at a certain point, rather recently in fact, everything changed. More than ever before in our past history, today new questions emerge. We feel the need, that is, to undertake a continuous process of innovation, which evolves at the pace of the exponential age. This is an age of great change and constant acceleration (from the Big Shift to Constant Disruption) and a complex and interconnected ecosystem is taking shape and evolving at an unprecedented speed. These are exponential times.
In his book “The Inevitable” Kevin Kelly identifies 12 «inevitable» meta-trends destined to shape the next 30 years. These technological forces are highly accelerating intermingled actions, each one of which depends on the others and accelerates them. They are not end goals but merely indicate that society will inevitably move in those directions.
The first forces are closely interrelated and we can already perceive their innovative impact today.
Everything is in a state of becoming | Technology leads to «protopia»: a state of becoming rather than an actual destination, in which today is better than yesterday, even though only slightly better. It is a cyclical expansion of both problems and solutions, which may mask the continuous accumulation of small net benefits in the long run.
Everything is backed up by Artificial Intelligence: powerful, economical, omnipresent | AI will become increasingly embedded in our everyday existence. Machines that are able to think, in different ways from us, beyond human capacities.
Everything is a stream of data in real time | We are entering the third phase of computation: that of «flows». Immersed in a constant stream of information and updates, thanks to which our Apps continue to improve.
As a result of all of this, we feel like – and indeed we are – beginners [newbies]: no one knows for certain what will happen, what will be the social impacts of this wave of technology that is passing through our lives. What we can do is to grasp the numerous opportunities in the making which stem from the perfect partnership between human beings and machines. We can get ready to welcome the complex and amazing convergence between man and machines.
Every day, we wonder how to improve our business, how to develop our systems and which technologies to implement. To reply to the “hows” of innovation, we can study the best practices of exponential organizations (ExO), entities whose impact (output) is considerably superior – at least ten times greater – than their competitors. Companies which grow exponentially thanks to the use of new organizational techniques and by leveraging accelerating technologies. Let’s take a look at some examples.
Ongoing experimentation and the iteration of processes. Constantly verify hypotheses and implement experimental actions, while keeping risk under control. Make room for bottom-up ideas. Experimentation also applied to core processes, not only to initiatives that spring up outside normal company procedures. An open-minded approach to positive, rapid and productive failure.
Search for innovation beyond the company boundaries (open innovation). Make recourse to temporary collaborations and out-sourcing to find more specific and innovative skills. Open up the organization to new points of view, new ideas to implement. Learn while remaining agile. Cultivate skill growth, facilitate the culture of innovation.
Exploit social technologies to unite individuals around a topic. Engage by interconnecting people and valorising their participation. Ensure that collaborative human collaboration comes into play (gamification) in order to reach a shared objective. Create network effects and positive feedback loops to encourage innovation.
“Sustained Innovation is powered by People” (Faisal Hoque). So long as we human beings pose the questions, the success of innovation processes will be fruit of people’s commitment and ingenuity. The promotion of idea generation processes, experimentation and productive collaboration at all levels and the engagement of people with different roles and tasks within the company is the first step to building a culture of innovation for driving ongoing change.
Our role, that of Altea Federation as an enabler of transformation, is to interpret as effectively as possible the evolution of technologies and to provide our customers with an approach to innovation. The aim is to make Business and Technology converge, in other words, to introduce the most suitable technological innovations for supporting and growing the business. The two visions converge in a harmonious plan founded on: Business Agility | Sustained Innovation | Operational Excellence.
Once again, innovation is at the centre of the Business Transformation process, with a twofold value:
With a view to starting the journey and building the best approach to innovation, some useful suggestions are provided by Nextea: here is the link to the free
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For 26 years, Altea Federation has been working alongside the global leaders of technological innovation through a holonic-virtual business model which embraces the professional approach and high degree of specialization of a federation of companies under one brand: different yet complementary worlds which reinforce each other while preserving a strong Group identity and an unmistakable approach to the challenges posed by new paradigms in the ambits of Consulting, Technology, Digital and Operations.
