Innovation is the big buzzword with most of the software development organisations. At Inteliment, we try to put a lot of emphasis and focus to drive this concept and make it an integral part of the company’s day to day activities and value structure. Innovation is an idea or concept that can be transformed into reality and applied for practical use, which can eventually contribute to the success and growth of the organisation. It is an important catalyst for an organisation to adapt to the ever changing and dynamic market. Being innovative does not always mean the need to come up with new inventions but it can also mean changing the existing strategies, mode of operations, business model, etc. to deliver better products or services. Inteliment follows a culture which fosters innovation. To achieve this, we follow these basic set of guidelines within the organisation. This blog is an attempt to share with you all our learnings in the process.

Innovation Workshops

At regular intervals, we organise innovation workshops for our teams. The idea of having a dedicated workshop ensures that we all get time, apart from our day to day tasks to collaborate, brainstorm, and work towards our innovative ideas. As a part of the workshops, specific teams are created with employees from different teams and departments. This not only helps to build a camaraderie within the organisation but also generates ideas which are out of the box, build trust, and prevents conflicts or disagreements among peers. Also, the workshops are conducted as a contest where the top innovations are selected and brought into practice. To encourage participation, rewards and company wide recognition are published for the winning team. At times, some of these workshops are conducted offsite to create a more relaxed environment for the teams and help their minds to wander in search of the ultimate idea.

Making it a part of everyday activity

Although Inteliment focuses on dedicated workshops it does not limit the creativity of its employees to occasions like the above. Employees are continuously encouraged to share their innovations with each other as a part of their day to day work, meetings, and also coffee breaks.  Simple targets are set to come up with one idea per week for each team. The brightest ideas are then selected, nurtured, and taken to the next step for implementation. At an individual level, we set personal goals for each employee to think creatively and differently and help them achieve those.

Accepting Failure

We do not believe in building a culture which inhibits people from taking risks or making mistakes while coming up with innovative ideas. Failure is inevitable and if criticised, it often brings down the morale of the employees. Not a single great idea or innovation is done right the first time. Learning from mistakes paves the way for more innovate thoughts and brighter ideas for the next time. If an innovative idea is not feasible then the best option is to understand the root cause and develop alternate approaches. Inteliment’s belief in nurturing innovation also stresses on having an open culture where employees can regularly freely interact with their supervisors or the management team irrespective of their designations or positions.

Training

It is not rational for an organisation to consider each and every employee to be sharp and inclined towards innovation. As a part of the on-boarding program at Inteliment, specific training related to innovations is provided to the employees. In the long run, the Return on Investment is high, both for the organisation as well as the employee at a personal level.

Ideas Bank

We have a well-defined process in place to ensure that innovate ideas are captured and thoroughly documented; kept at a centralised location which is accessible to every employee. This helps us to check how a similar issue or problem was dealt with in the past or what approach was suggested or implemented in order to fix it. Also, by having a repository, it acts as a source of reference for the employees. They get a broader view and a better perspective to study the innovations in detail which have been already documented.

Innovation can help organisations to deliver better and produce exciting products and services. In today’s highly dynamic and volatile market, there is no future for run-of-the-mill products. There is no option but to keep evolving by using innovation to ignite the spark.