As the world hears with sadness of the passing of one of the greatest innovators on earth, Steve Jobs, Sir Alan Sugar reminds us that Apple’s success is due to a number of inventors and designers within the company.
In an interview on Sky news, Sir Alan talked about the number of people within Apple who were responsible for the impressive range of products which have changed the way we communicate and engage with the world.
Apple’s success is not purely attributable to Steve Jobs’ vision, but also in part to the innovative culture which he created. He recognised that Innovation is key to Apple’s competitive advantage and the entire organisation is designed to support and foster innovation.
Many organisations recognise that Innovation is an integral part of their future survival, but are so risk averse that they are not prepared to experiment, nor are they designed to foster Innovation. Rather they are so involved with the day to day operational running that Innovation is an add on.
Employees are a great source of ideas. Very often they are in a better position to spot opportunities from their vantage point, serving customers or as users of your products and services. These ideas may not be radical, the equivalent to an iDevice, but could be incremental improvements which change the way we compete. We need to find better ways to listen to them.
Steve Jobs was a visionary and creative genius, but he surrounded himself with great people who also had great ideas, his genius was also in communicating with and listening to them.
RIP Steve Jobs, you changed the world.
About Digital Bridges
Digital Bridges creates high performance organisations by unlocking the business value of the innovation and technology. We create digital strategies, user requirement and functional specifications for Intranets, websites and web applications. We also develop and implement social media strategies and create powerful digital brands using eMarketing and Communication.
Digital Bridges has recognised the changes to the business environment, brought about by enterprise technologies like SharePoint 2010, social media and gamification and is focussed on this.
We partner with great technology companies in order to ensure that our solutions are fit for purpose and deliver on organisational strategy.
We have also partnered with Innocentrix to bring Spigit Innovation software into this country. We offer Innovation services to grow organisations and equip them for change. This includes Innovation strategies, culture interventions, measurement tools and campaign development to release the power of Innovation.
Digital Bridges relies heavily on rigorous academic thinking as well as business experience. It is headed up by Kate Elphick who has a Law degree and an MBA from GIBS. Kate has spent the last fifteen years of her career on the business side of the IT industry with companies such as Datatec, Didata, Business ConneXion and Primedia. Her skills include innovation and growth through marketing, communication, innovation, collaboration, knowledge management, human capital, performance management, process engineering and BI.
Digital Bridges has a broad range of experience working with significant, successful clients in the Financial, Gaming, Tourism, Pharmaceutical, ICT, Legal, Airline, Professional Services, Media and Public Sectors.
To find out more about Digital Bridges, please visit http://www.digitalbridges.co.za or contact Kate Elphick on katee@digitalbridges.co.za.
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