On the Net

with Chris Goh

Don't confuse innovation and technology

Recently I was asked for my responses on how IT budgets are tied up to maintenance and how essentially innovation was losing out in the process. What was apparent as I continued to answer the questions was what innovation really was.

It is amazing that the piano has been around with us for centuries but the music generated from it has continued to be innovative even though it has always had 88 keys. What I realised was how easy it is for us to confuse the latest technology with innovation, when one can have nothing to do with the other.

Innovation is best surmised as knowledge applied in new paradigms to create new solutions and because of that, the fundamental basis of good innovation is applied intellect. I look at businesses that have fitted their staff with new Pocket PC's and while the actual device is innovative, their applications in most businesses never extend from being a glorified electronic diary and that's not innovation.

So innovation in essence comes from informed people who are given the knowledge, the skills and the tools to be able to solve solutions in better (and for businesses) cost reducing ways. So to invest in innovation, you have to invest in your people before technology, which is difficult when staffing costs are the highest recurrent costs of any organisation.

However organisations can do a better job in allowing their staff to become more innovative by resourcing them well and providing them with opportunities to increase their knowledge about the organisation and its processes.

The most important assets an organisation has are time and knowledge of the people that work in IT. Time will always be fixed and acquiring and applying knowledge will always take time. Organisations who tie up their staff solely in operational maintenance lose the opportunity to use their staff to be more proactive and innovative in finding better technological solution to overall business processes.

HotNews

In a first in Australia, Qantas will now allow passengers to use their mobile phones in aeroplanes before the plane moves for takeoff and after the plane has landed and seat belt lights have been removed. Mobiles and PDA's can also be used in the air when the seat belt light goes off.

Nokia has announced it will allow all existing patents to be used freely to support the Linux Open Source movement, which means they have joined the ranks of other big companies, like SUN, IBM and Novell.

Hotsites

ourmedia.org

Thanks Warwick for this site, which is well put together and has excellent design. OurMedia's goal is to allow the sharing of all types of media and provides users with free space to put in anything from their audio and video blogs to Flash animations. Well done on this initiative.

nimbinradiomedia.libsyn.com

Nimbin Radio (thanks again Warwick) has jumped onto the Podcasting era, allowing you to hear their interviews and broadcast. I have a soft spot for Nimbin because there are a number of talented people who are innovative and pioneering technology. One of my early mentors in ICT still lives there.