Innovation & Its Dance with Modernity

Author: BBOBBYOBBY V VARANASIARANASI, , COP, COP-GOVCOP, COP-GOVChairman & CEO

ISSUE 5, VOLUME IX, SEPTEMBER 2014

GGLOBALLOBAL S SOURCINGOURCING & T & TRYSTRYST WITHWITH G GROWTHROWTH

IINNOVATIONNNOVATION & I & ITSTS D DANCEANCE WITHWITH M MODERNITYODERNITY

A BA BRIEFRIEF L LESSONESSON ININ S SOURCINGOURCING H HISTORYISTORY

The (accidental) discovery of an opportunity – to change year-date permissions as a

run-up to the second millennium – opened up the technology world to anyone who could

provision technically competent labor and resolve simple problems. Availability of

thousands of engineers alongside an under-utilized global telecom network (thanks to

the dot-com bust) paved the way for the world to participate in cross-border

businesses at a scale unprecedented before. Sourcing for such competencies helped

derive an industry from scratch – technically capable yet cheap and easy to

provision. Companies followed suit, starting in India and then elsewhere, clamoring

for the growing pie as successes piled up. National endorsements to this model came

late, almost toward the end of the first decade in sourcing, once the reality sunk

in – that their economic woes could perhaps be addressed by promoting an industry

needing little gestation periods. The consequential clamor is evident as a host of

supply nations have contributed to a supply glut today.

As businesses grew and globalized, the woes they encountered – in the form of

competition compounded by technology obsolescence – became too many to decipher /

resolve. Enter the disrupters: in the form of technologically sophisticated platform

and channel providers. Operational issues that were earlier seen as the domain of

sourcing providers began to quickly become a battleground where sourcing vendors and

technology providers took each other on – the former through familiarity, the latter

through new provisioning (that partly resolved the attendant issues sourcing

providers did create as well, particularly for retained organizations). This is now

an ongoing battle, and summarily an essence of the past two decades of the sourcing

world. Interestingly the word being used to describe this shift is innovation. I am

quite concerned and perplexed as well. Concerned how we are defining and measuring

innovation. Perplexed that enlightened leaders continue to ignore socio-economic

issues – misplaced priorities perhaps?

WWHOHO I ISS R RELEVANTELEVANT??

The continuing battle between these two camps of vendors is raising questions not

just about relevance and continuity, but of value and distinctiveness. The

conversations have moved away from bottom-lines and costs, to top-lines and

Matryzel ConsultingStrategy. Sourcing. Globalization of 10

revenues. Organizations that have enlisted their vendors on such a journey continue

to face obstacles, most crucially from their vendors (in the form of the latter’s

lack of readiness). The consequential gap between expectations and reality is

palpable. Who is relevant, has become an irrelevant question. What is relevant has

now become the primordial question. Any leader worth his salt would state innovation

to be the answer. Is it that simple though, I wonder? From time immemorial, humanity

has been witness to innovation and creativity – just a look around will reveal the

many kinds of innovation that permeate our daily lives (to the point that we don’t

even acknowledge it anymore unless it is something as spectacular as Google Maps,

iPod or a Netflix.

Innovation is increasingly being seen as a function of the technologies deployed, as

opposed to the problems the idea is meant to resolve. Deliberations around

technology and innovation reflect interchangeability not envisaged as a function of

value anymore. In other words, you are an innovator because of some great

technologies you may have deployed, not because you may have solved some thorny

problems. They are inconsequential, and don’t get you browny points with inclusion

into the elite group ala Google or Apple or Microsoft.

I am reminded of a very poignant observation made by Neil Postman in his book titled

“Technopoly – Surrender of Culture to Technology”. He says, quote “The technopolist of

today stands firm in believing that what the world needs is yet more information. Attend any conference on

telecommunications or computer technology, and you will be attending a celebration of innovative machinery

that generates, stores, and distributes more information, more conveniently, at greater speeds than ever before.

To the question, ‘what problem does the information solve?’, the answer is usually ‘how to generate, store and

distribute more information, more conveniently, at greater speeds than ever before’. This is the elevation of

information to a metaphysical status: information as both the means and end of human creativity. In Technopoly,

we are driven to fill our lives with the quest to “access” information. For what purpose or with what limitations, it

is not for us to ask; and we are not accustomed to asking, since the problem is unprecedented. The world has

never before been confronted with information glut and has hardly had time to reflect on its consequences”

unquote. Is this what we are emphasizing about as well?

DDEFININGEFINING I INNOVATIONNNOVATION


While there are various ways that innovation has been defined, most are

predominantly stuck in the “new”, and almost inextricably married to “technology”.

However, in the larger context of economics, and civil society, innovation takes on

meanings far greater than understood1. C.K. Prahalad’s simple yet extremely

significant articulation of innovation is worth understanding: “any solution that

identified and addressed unmet needs, or any approach driven by a need for

advancement, improvement or a better way of doing things could be termed

innovative”. In this context innovation has come to mean many things. At the

strategic level, it’s a departure from traditional protocols/ processes toward more

collaborative, multi-pronged and inter-dependent pursuits; at an operational level

it’s about changing the manner in which functions work and contribute to an

organization’s outcomes; at a technology level it’s about the manner in which

technologies are adopted, and how the utility value they help create are measured /

accounted for. A pursuit of innovation deploying Prahalad’s definition presumes

taking cognizance of two key aspects, namely (a) that resources are global, hence

to be leveraged, and (b) each customer is unique, hence treated thus2. The greatest

and perhaps the most poignant test of all is that any beneficial innovation results

in unshackling the human spirit.

As we ponder the above, the question surrounding how to drive innovation becomes a

crucial point to appreciate. Typically, the following questions precede any

1 A detailed explanation, understanding and examples of successful, sustainedvalue creation through innovation can be found in the book titled “The New Age ofInnovation” authored by C.K. Prahalad and M.S. Krishnan. Prahalad was named the“World’s Most Influential Management Thinkers” by Times of London’s annual surveyin 2007, and was ranked # 1 in Top 50 Most Influential Thinkers” by Thinkers 50.Until his recent passing, Prahalad was a Professor in Columbia University.

2 Interestingly, and much to the frustration of end-customers, the assembly-linestyle of production adopted, and siloed styles of functional management createdover the past three decades has resulted in customers becoming part of “masscustomization” models. Distinctions between needs, wants and the applicability ofproducts/ services/ solutions had always taken back-stage to replicability andmonetization at all costs. This mindset has to change in order to make innovationmeaningful, while ensuring that value created doesn’t face eventually decliningshelf-lives.


innovation endeavors. Is intellectual property being created? Are flexible products

and services that enable realization of customer benefits perceptively being

created? Are new needs of customers, employees and civil society being addressed?

Are changes continuous or disruptive? Is the degree of disruption pushing customers

and employees to the tipping point? Is the tipping point a precursor to something

beneficial or detrimental? Are corporate support structures flexible enough to

accommodate continuous changes? Is the responsibility of success of products/

services a shared accountability?

I shall refrain from providing insights into what could be the potential answers to

these questions, and how organizations have pursued these questions as it is

currently beyond the scope of this paper. Suffice to state that the foremost need

is to ensure markets and contributing individuals understand what innovation means,

and what it does not. Such a competence would permit us to recognize innovation

when it confronts us, while also taking a less-than-emotional approach in the face

of products/ solutions that are peddled as the next best thing that’s even happened

to humanity. The one crucial lesson I have learned is that euphoria almost always

dilutes one’s ability to assess an idea for its worth. Instead it pushes an emotive

stance where inputs become heroes, or worse, are treated as critical to success.

The consequential maze that one ends up is an unfettered pursuit at enhancing

inputs. The need or goal driving innovation in the first place is then lost.

RRECOGNISINGECOGNISING I INNOVATIONNNOVATION

Would we consider the following as innovations3? How many of these are not

necessarily innovations but mere opportunistic endeavors that have short shelf-

lives?

Cat

.

Name of

Solution

Brief Description

A Hippo Water

Cooler: Pettie

Petzer and

It is a drum that can be rolled on the ground, making it easier for

those without access to taps to haul larger amounts of water faster.

Two out of every five people in Africa have no nearby water 3 Source: The Guardian, 2012.


Johan Jonker

(South Africa,

Tanzania etc)

facilities and are forced to walk long distances to reach water

sources. Traditional methods of balancing heavy loads of water on the

head limit the amount people can carry, and cause long-term spinal

injuries. Women and children usually carry out these time-consuming

tasks, missing out on educational and economic opportunities. In

extreme cases, they can be at increased risks of assault or rape when

travelling long distances.

A Farmer-Managed

Natural

Regeneration:

(Senegal)

Restores existing trees on drought-stricken land, to improve

Senegal's dwindling harvests. This puts the emphasis on

reinvigorating the stumps of nitrogen-fixing trees, which were

formerly cleared to maximize crop space.

A Portable Water

Pumps: by

Kick-Start an

NGO (Kenya,

Tanzania,

Mali)

Portable irrigation technology helping sub-Saharan smallholder

farmers grow crops out of season. Africa faces enormous instability

due to unpredictable climate and poor resources. Only 6% of Africa's

cultivated land is irrigated, limiting the volume of crops that can

be grown out of season, but increased access to irrigation systems

stands to increase food productivity by up to 50%.

B Easy Taxi:

Bankole

Cardoso

(Nigeria)

A free smart-phone app which allows users to hail a licensed taxi in

just one click. It also lets taxi drivers get more passengers when

they want them. Its an on-demand car service that seeks to create

efficiencies in the Nigerian transportation network by bringing

business innovation to the country’s urban transportation challenge.

A/B iCow: Su

Kahumbu,

Farmer

(Kenya)

Small-scale dairy farmers often living in remote areas don't have

access to valuable information about latest prices of milk or cattle,

and they may not keep accurate records of important details such as

their cows' gestation periods or their livestock's lineage – often

resulting in inbreeding and disease. It harnesses the power of mobile

phones to encourage best practice for dairy farmers and increase milk

production.

A/B Cardiopad:

Arthur Zang,

(Cameroon)

A computer tablet diagnoses heart disease in rural households with

limited access to medical services. It collects signals generated by

the rhythmic contraction and expansion of a patient's heart.

Electrodes are fixed near the patient's heart. Africa's first fully

touch-screen medical tablet then produces a moving graphical


depiction of the cardiac cycle, which is wirelessly transmitted over

GSM networks to a cardiologist for interpretation and diagnosis.

You may have noticed the categorization as A or B or A/B. Category A represents

ideas that intend to resolve socio-economic woes, focusing their efforts on the

problem. Ideas in category B tend to leverage technology in creating solutions, but

continually risk the danger of making technology the emphasis (which more often than

not tends to be viewed as an end in it). Category A/B type of solutions are the ones

that perhaps stand the rigor of the demands placed by a problem or unresolved

plight. The ability to leverage technologies in a manner befitting the problem can

translate into sustainable solutions else ideas in category A risk the danger of

slipping into category B and subsequently become irrelevant over time. Interestingly

ideas of the nature stated in category B are a dime-a-dozen, mostly adopted by the

youth whose views of the world are so conditioned (and constrained) that their view

to resolving problems tends to be myopic. While I shall refrain from debunking all

technically sound ideas, I will insert this caveat – pursuit of technology in itself

because it is available, and then identifying some random problem to solve may not

stand the test of time (acceptability, relevance, value).

The seemingly small, useful, yet highly impactful innovations governing humanity

today (category A) don’t seem to pass the benchmark in the context of today’s

pigeonholed definitions of innovation. And that is a significant problem. I have

been witness to leaders pursuing technology for its own sake, for its modernity, and

for its apparent sophistry. However innovation is not a slave to technology, and it

shouldn’t become one.

IINN C CONCLUSIONONCLUSION

Having taken an expansive view toward innovation, and applying it to the sourcing

world, the obvious insights that most pursuits to date have been nothing as

significant as made out to be becomes apparent. Recognizing the industry for its


worth, nothing more, nothing less is perhaps the first mature step. As fast-growing

developing nations embark on their transformatory journeys by leveraging ICT, it is

crucial that they appreciate the limits of ICT for the sake of itself. Any endeavor

devoid of a plug into environment, civil society, and economic value is nothing more

than a pursuit of modernity. I believe it is high time economies and the youth

within these nations recognize their capacity to innovate, pursue such endeavors

with utility value in mind and measure needs as the barometers to success. In such

an endeavor should sourcing be recognized as one way to create innovative solutions

(and consequential value), then so be it.

******************


AABOUTBOUT T THEHE A AUTHORUTHOR

Bobby Varanasi is one of the acknowledged Top 25 Globalization Leaders in the global sourcing

space and the Founder of Matryzel Consulting – an independent advisory firm that has been

acknowledged as one of the World’s Best Outsourcing Advisory Firms two years in a row (2013 &

2014). He brings with him two decades years of experience in consulting and management across

IT, Business Services and building global operations. He advises federal governments across

four continents on ICT sector development with particular emphasis on policy development,

industry-government partnerships aimed at creating domestic resilience through increasing

productive (and inclusive) faculties of entrepreneurs. Bobby also advises Fortune 500

customer organizations and emerging market entrepreneurs on strategy, growth, sourcing and

expansions. He is often quoted and published in Forbes, fDi, Economist, The Outsourcing, ICT

Media BV, Ratio Magazine Africa, etc.

Bobby holds Board positions with the International Association of Outsourcing Professionals

(IAOP) – a standard setting organization – and the Global Sourcing Council (GSC) - an entity

focused on sustainable and socially responsible sourcing practices (both headquartered in New

York). He is an External Advisor to Outsourcing Malaysia, a non-profit association engaged in

developing the outsourcing industry, and an Assessor & Mentor, Product Development &

Commercialization Fund (PCF), established and managed by Multimedia Development Corporation,

Govt. of Malaysia that focuses on new technologies, new trends and entrepreneurship

development.

He is author of a book titled “Humanomics – Making Sense of Socio-economic Impacts of Global Sourcing”

published by Author House (a Penguin Random House company), which is available on Amazon,


http://www.mscmalaysia.my/

http://www.outsourcingmalaysia.org.my/

http://www.gscouncil.org/

http://www.iaop.org/

http://www.iaop.org/

Google Books etc. An avid scuba diver and basketball player, he currently splits his time

between Newark, DE, USA and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia with his wife and two sons.


Innovation & Its Dance with Modernity

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