 |
||||
|
|
|
||
|
Contents 
Introduction
Servcorp
Ausmelt
Suncorp
How to be an innovator
Executive Summary |
|
||
|
|
||||
|
|
||||
His challenge is to find customers looking to use new technology as a differentiator. Compared with the days of the dot-com bubble, "the business case needs to be a lot stronger now", but partnering with a company like IBM helps mitigate the risks of such projects, he says.
Such innovation is often found in SMEs, he says, partly because the CIO in a smaller enterprise is more likely to have the authority to proceed with a project if he or she sees the justification. Larger organisations -- notably banks and telcos -- always have an eye on new technology but their huge IT base makes it hard to implement change quickly.
"Australia is quite progressive, technologically," he says, and local CIOs and IT architects are more likely to look for ways to apply new technology than their colleagues elsewhere in the region.
There can be a trade-off between the characteristics of the individual and the organisation. A CIO may be very aggressive when it comes to finding ways to apply new technology to business problems, but when the company is working with an outsourcer the deal is probably organised around optimisation and efficiency rather than innovation.
Even where players in an industry are keen to apply technology to gain an advantage -- financial services is one example, says Kassell -- any downturn in that sector works against innovation, and that's a "flight to security" rather than a "flight to quality".
When an organisation wants to explore a new technology, it is almost axiomatic that it will lack skills that are hard to find in the employment market, and there will also be a shortage of training courses. Teaming with an organisation the size of IBM can provide a way of obtaining and transferring those skills.
jStart projects normally involve proofs of concept, pilots, or first-time implementations. "We like to build things because that's a good way to determine that the customer's doing the right thing," says Kassell.
| "Customers are always going to be nervous... the company needs to be financially viable, or have some sort of funding." |
Success is generally measured against three criteria: Does the technology work? Has a business problem been solved? Is the customer self-sufficient in the technology?
Kassell suggests that early adopters can work with smaller companies, particularly where the vendor has something unique to offer. But "customers are always going to be nervous... the company needs to be financially viable, or have some sort of funding," he says.
2%
4%
