Innovation on a dime – putting all the pieces together

Little known to my peers, in August 2007 after purchasing a laptop for my dad, a marketing flyer that came with the packaging had a catchy subject, “Join the IdeaStorm website and help us to craft a new wave of products”; the actual site still exists www.ideastorm.com; at the time I submitted this idea “Bluetooth enabled printers: The technology is out, Bluetooth has demonstrated to be a reliable and fast way to transmit data. Network vendors even have Bluetooth printer adapter that sells for $99. Why not make a photo/laser printer with a built-in Bluetooth adapter?. Less cables, less weight for shipping, less space for packing and ability to share the printer without having a network (and a print server) setup.”

Fast forward 3 years, in June 2009, I received an email from this website saying “Your ideas and comments help to not only shape our future as a company, but also ensure that our customers have a voice in the developments in the products they are passionate about. The idea you submitted was implemented by the Dell Team.”; this idea was the inkless Wasabi printer; I got nothing other than a “thank you” letter and a pen made of recycled wood as a token of appreciation for my idea; my wife still gets upset for that.

Innovation comes in many shapes and forms; some innovative products or technologies are a total break-through in space; something absolutely revolutionary that changes our ways to think, behave and operate with others; take Facebook for example. Many other innovations are spin-offs of current innovative areas, like adding 2+2 to get 4; the pieces are right there screaming at us, willing to get utilized, exploited to create new innovative opportunities; a good example I like to bring here is the taxi revolution called Uber; which utilizes the social power of Facebook and clients have the opportunity to post their experiences, and drivers post on clients as well; takes advantages of Smartphones, GPS technology and direct communication between clients and drivers; and to top it like a cherry on an ice-cream; it adds a business model that simply works great.

If we were going to break these thoughts in individual areas; we can actually see a pattern: Technology, Need, Application (usage or benefit) and Personae; add them together and the idea, the actual innovation will tend to flow easily. I guess that something like that went through my mind that evening in 2007, I just took current under-utilized technologies, like Bluetooth in this case; saw a need, wireless printing, open connectivity, easy to use; spotted it’s benefits and applications and put myself on the shoes of the actual end-user to benefit from it.

Depending on your line of work, some people call them architects, others are called visionaries or innovators; I don’t put titles or monikers, but I do think that is fascinating to look around and think on a need to see what can I do with what I have around me and solve a current issue, need, desire; sometimes is even frustrating not to have the full knowledge or time to actually implement it; perhaps that’s a discussion for another day on “Why you can’t do all alone”; and is no less fascinating that adding 2+2 to get 4.