tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626138365756026776.post2585557361492593010..comments2008-10-18T15:09:46.068+05:30Karthik Vijayakumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09152143287771215874noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626138365756026776.post-65904720536283063942008-10-18T15:09:00.000+05:302008-10-18T15:09:00.000+05:30Absolutely. Overall, the message is - "Innovation has to be outside in, than inside out". When our customers want a less expensive solution/product, we need to innovate at every level in the value chain - both internal and external to the enterprise. <BR/><BR/>Dell's strategic decision and the SOA approach to IT/business is apt. Even in the manufacturing industry, Toyota has continuously focused on innovation with its very own and famous principles like Kaizen and Kanban. By innovating their internal processes, they are able to produce a product with the highest quality and performance.<BR/><BR/>KarthikKarthik Vijayakumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09152143287771215874noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626138365756026776.post-48500875814647945312008-10-18T11:01:00.000+05:302008-10-18T11:01:00.000+05:30That said, there is whole lot of innovation which is not focusd on the customer - these are innovations that focus on operational excellence. Sure, eventually they will somehow impact a customer - better service, lower cost, faster turn around times - but the focus is more internal than external.<BR/><BR/>The best known example is how Dell revolutionized the business of manufacturing and selling PCs by pretty much sub-contracting everything. The PCs themselves were no different from those sold by any other vendor but the process of making them and bringing them to market was innovated to reduce costs (and risks) to Dell.<BR/><BR/>Another example is the recent big innovation called SOA - this is focused on better leveraging existing IT investments by making different software systems collaborate with each other. Customers could't care less if their health insurance claims are processed by a system leveraging SOA or not, but IT departments care a lot.kishorekumar62http://kishorekumar62.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626138365756026776.post-4948403676974470832008-10-18T09:23:00.000+05:302008-10-18T09:23:00.000+05:30Could've have asked for more 'customer-focus'!!<BR/><BR/>Mr.P.J.Thangavelu has created a wonder by not just creating a customer-focussed innovation, but by also innovating something that puts the customer 'in the focus'!!<BR/><BR/>KarthikKarthik Vijayakumarhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09152143287771215874noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3626138365756026776.post-43074674708123403992008-10-18T08:23:00.000+05:302008-10-18T08:23:00.000+05:30Check out this customer-focused innovation:<BR/><BR/><A HREF="http://www.bangaloremirror.com/index.aspx?page=article&sectid=11&contentid=200809262008092619180448144d7b337&sectxslt=&pageno=1" REL="nofollow">A Light and Sound Saree for Diwali</A>KKhttp://kishorekumar62.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.com