Nick Donofrio has been a chief catalyst in transforming IBM’s technology culture from one of technical achievement to one in which technical leaders are active contributors to IBM’s business strategy. Under Nick’s direction, in 2004 IBM launched the Global Innovation Outlook (GIO) which enabled IBM for the first time in history to engage a range of experts outside of the company in the analysis of technology and business trends. The goal is to elevate a global conversation around innovation and its impact on all areas of society.
In his recent visit to Mexico City, I had the opportunity to chat with him. Here is a summary of what we talked about and his main remarks.

Why has innovation become so relevant lately?
The industry doesn’t grow 40% anymore. Innovation is more critical.  All our research confirms that it is the most critical element for all leaders in order to climb in the food chain. GIO allows people to concentrate on that.
Today you don’t just innovate in products. That’s why it is different. It can be a business model or a service. Technology is enabling things to happen, like ubiquity, social networking, and it allow you to build different business models.  

What are the main features of an innovative company?
There are at least four attributes that you have to build, no matter if you are a country, a company or an individual:
Open environment
Collaborative environment
Multidiscipline environment
Thinking global
If you put together these four elements you can nurture innovation. You have to look at innovation broadly. Innovation is unlocking value in the intersection between a business need, your technological knowledge or the products or services in a unique and special way. That’s when you create a real innovation. 

Innovation has to be part of the DNA of every business. How is it embedded in IBM’s culture?
It’s a cultural transformation. With Sam Palmisano, our CEO, we set three corporate values: Dedication to every client success; Trust and personal responsibility in all relationships; Innovation that matter for the company and for the world.
We created a new tool that is called Think place. It’s a portal where you can place your idea and ask to be evaluated, and if it’s appealing the person gets a reward. 
Recently we had an Innovation jam among all IBMers (350,000).  For 72 hours, everybody at IBM got together in a portal and talked to each other about our ideas, moderated and engaged by experts. And we got over 45,000 ideas from people. I took those ideas and chose the best 300 and we came back with the population and asked them to refine them, and then we chose the best 10 and funded them for two years up to $100 million dollars.
We just finished the first year and deliver a report to the Chairman, and half of them are going to continue. Four of them are already part of the business, but in one case we couldn’t find the value for us, which is not a bad record.
What is the biggest innovation do you think Mexican companies should concentrate on?
Mexico needs to focus on the future. It’s rapidly becoming a services economy, so it has to concentrate in educating its people. It is always about people, if you are educating well, finding the value of innovation. It has to start at elementary school, and continue through high school. Countries that are going to walk faster are those who have already changed the education system.

Are the IT departments loosing the innovative drive and becoming just another utility? How can CIOs make a difference in their organizations and become leaders in business innovation?
CIOs are terribly important. CEOs are looking at CIOs for helping people to perform. At the root of everything I’ve said there is enabling technology.
That is why IBM has created the CIO Leadership Forum. We already have some counselors and we are funding it, but the idea is for it to become self standing.
The demands to CIOs are going to be bigger not smaller. They will have to balance business and technology as they never have done it. We will give them training in both areas.
The role of the CIO is increasing in importance, not decreasing. After 43 years in this company and this industry, I like to say that the best years are still ahead. Now we have the technology to create things in different ways and add value, while in the past we had to create the technology.

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Jan 08, 2008 | My digital life | No Comments »