Fight or Flight: Battling it out in the travel industry

Summer is travel season, so it makes sense for us to explore innovation in the travel industry. Hard hit by a variety of technological inventions that have transformed the way people book travel and whether they travel at all; an economy that discourages any type of expenditure and the miscellaneous impact of oil prices, terrorism and accidents, this is an industry that needs to innovate to survive.

Our guest this month, Ryan Phillips of Flight Centre Business Travel, brings not only his insights about the travel industry, but also some interesting observations about how marketing and sales have changed... and stayed the same.

Even in this low touch era where deals are as likely to close over the web as they are in person, effective sales people understand that personal contact can make all the difference in whether the deal gets signed or not. The rise of social media sites have been a boon to those companies that recognize the consumer need for personal contact and travel industry companies have been some of the first to understand their value.

JetBlue and Southwest Airlines have both harnessed the power of social networking on Twitter, Facebook and other social networking sites and brought a new level of transparency to the industry. They have been some of the leaders in using social media and find new ways of using these technological innovations to increase customer satisfaction every day.

As the hassle factor and the economy together strive to make leaving home an unpleasant experience, those who truly understand the nature of innovation stay one step ahead. Our guest Ryan Phillips, when asked to name an innovative company, chose Nine Inch Nails and their strategic use of free distribution and selected copyrights.

Of course, my immediate thought was, "wow what a leap from travel to music!" But in reality, it's often innovations in a field far removed from the one in which an individual works that drives creativity. The Post-it Note, famously it is said was inspired when the inventor was singing in the choir. Maybe it's something about music.

Whether or not music has anything to do with it, we all know that we live in an era when consumers' access to information is unparalleled, so the old rules of first mover advantage are falling by the wayside. In a matter of moments any concept, promotion, advertisement or idea can be copied and disseminated to the target audience. Which make the ongoing relationship that much more important.

Relationship is key in the low touch century. Ryan understands that and shares his ideas on how his company strives to develop strong ones with their customers.

What is your role at Flight Centre?

Business Development Manager with Flight Centre Business Travel (FCBT) which specializes in corporate executive and employee travel. Essentially I work with companies to identify ways that FCBT Travel Consultants can help streamline processes while offering a personalized service, 24 hours a day.

I frequently talk to my clients and the most common feedback regarding their experience with FCBT is how our travel consultants are very responsive, friendly and knowledgeable. I would love to take all the credit for that, but I really do owe it to the team I work with.

In your opinion what are the key trends affecting the travel industry?

The current economic climate is definitely affecting the travel industry both in terms of personal and business travel. On the leisure side, people are trying to get the most value for their travel dollar in terms of inclusions and options. In terms of corporate travel, a large majority of companies have much stricter travel policies, which is another reason we are seeing an increase in business. We have an excellent process in place which allows for simple, yet effective, ways of tracking company travel policies.

What is the greatest marketing or sales advice you've ever received?

As an extremely ambitious new young sales representative very early in my career, I can remember meeting with a client to do a sales pitch. After the pitch the client looked at me and told that he was interested and that I should call him back in two weeks. Feeling pretty proud of myself I sat back and waited and after two weeks made the call and asked him if he would like to go ahead. His response was "sorry we went with the competition." My manager asked me why they decided that way and I couldn't answer him so he asked me to call the client back and ask why. With a damaged ego I picked up the telephone and called the client and explained to him that I was new to sales and I wanted to learn what I could have done differently. The client explained to me that the competition had come in to talk to him on several occasions during the 2 week period and every time he met that person it made more sense to work with him. Approximately one year later that same client was looking to replace another piece of office equipment and I was given the opportunity to present a proposal. Recalling the conversation we had one year earlier, I followed all his rules and ended up winning him as a long standing client who still currently works with my previous employer and stays in touch with me.

If you could go back in time and change something, what would it be?

I have always been a true believer that all that has happened in my past has been a big contributing factor to my success today. Although we never want to forget our past, we never want to live in it. Live in the present with an eye on the future. The short answer to your question is nothing.

What is an example of an innovative company that people have never heard of?

This may seem like a strange answer, but Nine Inch Nails (NIN), yes the music group! Many people know of them but not many know them as an innovative company. Their marketing tactics have been a true inspiration for me in thinking outside the box. They are almost single handedly changing the music industry. Trent Reznor the mastermind and front man of NIN is paving the way for new and old bands to connect with fans. Taking tactics like this and applying it to a corporate business environment would allow us to connect with clients on a whole new level.

Who in their right mind would think that by giving away an album for free would end up leading to it being the bestselling album on Amazon in 2008 and generate $750,000usd in three days? http://arstechnica.com/media/news/2009/01/free-nine-inch-nails-albums-top-2008-amazon-mp3-sales-charts.ars

List a few of your favourite business sites.

Stockhouse Is a great took for looking at market trends and learning about new and upcoming business.

http://www.stockhouse.com/index.aspx

CNW Group is a good resource to find out what is happening in the Canadian business market.

http://www.newswire.ca/en/

The Flight Centre blog always provides up to date travel information and advice.

http://www.flightcentre.ca/blog/

iGoogle is an amazing tool which allows you to create your very own customized page with 100's of different widget options. It's the first place I start every morning!

http://www.igoogle.com

Linked in has always been a great place to keep a database of contacts I have connected with along the way.

http://www.linkedin.com/in/ryphillips

BIO:

Ryan Phillips joined Flight Centre Business Travel as a Business Development Manager after more than 10 years of working in Business Development with a range of companies from those in its infant stages to Fortune 500. His extensive experience in all ranges of companies allows him to appreciate the importance of creating long lasting relationships while developing effective strategies for increasing profitability.

Ryan attributes his success as a Business Development Manager with Flight Centre to his passion for understanding that each of his client's travel needs are different. As a frequent business and vacation traveler himself, Ryan strives to ensure that his clients are provided with the unbeatable service of Flight Centre's Corporate Travel Consultants.

Ryan is an avid supporter of the community and the people around him. Outside of work he enjoys volunteering for a local children's charity, as well as being involved in regional and community projects.

Ryan Phillips

610 Robson St.

Vancouver BC

604-374-2200

Real Estate 2.0? Understanding the basics with Ben Smith

It's great this month to get some perspective on innovation from a leader in the real estate, an industry that's been hit so hard in recent year, they are ripe for innovation. Beyond the obvious financial hit, real estate, like travel has been dramatically impacted by the web.

New sites to short cut the house hunting process have replaced part of the traditional role of an agent. An astounding 80% of home buyers use the web as part of their home shopping process and real estate agents are scrambling to adapt to the newest tools available on Web 2.0.

If ever it was time to consider revamping the industry, the time is now.

Fortunately our guest this month, Ben Smith is a web savvy social media pioneer in the industry. Ben, as VP Marketing of Polygon homes has a catbird seat for theses changes, yet unlike many who embrace social media, Ben brings a solid marketing perspective to the adoption of social media.

He still measures success the old fashioned way, in terms of sales and referrals. But he understand the power of Web 2.0 as a marketing tool to drive those key metrics forward. Ben tweets at @bensmithinc and @polygonhomes. He manages Polygon Homes Facebook Page and he has an eagle eye on the trends impacting his industry.

Though many of us might say, "Who would want to be in the real estate industry in these times", these are exactly the times when great innovation takes place. We know that from history. Every recession has been followed by a boom in innovation and entrepreneurship, those on the leading edge of the new innovations arising from a recession lead the way out of it.

Ben understands Web 2.0 and what it brings to the real estate industry. I was impressed with his insight into how the social networking tools now available rather than replace word of mouth marketing simply move it online. The power of these new sites enables home shoppers to move beyond relying on friends and neighbors for recommendations and opens them up to opinions from around the world.

And though real estate is a local business, new tools arise every day that increasingly make it a powerful tool for local business as well. Now home shoppers can connect with more than just their immediate network of contacts in their community to more or less everyone in their community - at least those that are on the web.

Ben's is a story of adapting to the innovation in one field and using it to drive innovation in another. HOW the real estate uses these Web 2.0 innovations to bring about change in their own industry will be the interesting story as we come out of this recession.

What is your role at Polygon Homes?

VP Marketing.

In your opinion what are the key trends affecting your industry?

As it relates to the Real Estate Industry: the obvious trend or "state of being" is the current economic situation. Currently prices have fallen, interest rates are at historic lows and we are seeing a lot of activity in the market right now. The suggestion is that we are at the bottom... only time will tell. Let's hope that this increased traffic and sales are the "trend" ; ) The other trend is the end of presale and a launch style of marketing and a movement to selling from finished product and a steady tempo approach to sales and marketing.

As it relates to the Marketing Industry in general: let me say first that the fundamentals have not changed despite what all the self-proclaimed "experts" will tell you. Marketing remains about developing one-to-one relationships that grow in to one-to-many referrals, which become huge successes when they transcend to many-to-many conversations. The trend is that the tools we now have to foster this are getting better with Social Media etc. and the trend of "transparency", social responsibility, info sharing, are all just results of customers using these tools and gaining power and a level voice with the companies they support. Don't be fooled, people have always wanted transparency, have been assembling into tribes that multiply since before Jesus and the 12 tribes of Israel, and have always cared about social issues, there has just been a shift in power and share of voice that has elevated these concepts more recently and made marketers pay attention to them. This is grossly oversimplified but you get the general direction.

How do you measure innovation or marketing success?

1. With money. Did it make and / or save any?

2. By leads / traffic. Did we draw anymore to our website and / or to our sales offices.

3. By education. Did we learn anything?

4. Anecdotally. Was anyone talking about it?

5. Emotionally. Did it encourage / motivate / empower the team to move forward, be better, keep going.

6. By speed / simplicity. Did it do any of the above faster or make it any easier?

If you could go back in time and change something, what would it be?

I would be a lot more humble about all the things I didn't know anything about and a lot less opinionated about all the things I thought I knew a lot about. Having said that, youthful arrogance breeds passion and passion allows you to risk.. and I likely would not have pushed myself and my career had I not been passionate and willing to risk, so maybe these were all great experiences and lessons. I suppose it's not about "good" or "bad" experiences, but what you make of them ; ) But now I am getting too philosophical, next question...

What is an example of an innovative company that people have never heard of?

Great question. I saw a company at LPV6 called Mobify.me... they allow you to take your existing website and "mobify" it for your mobile phone - thought that was pretty innovative. www.mobify.me

Also, my friend has a company in San Francisco called Brain Park that is doing some pretty exciting things to connect people, knowledge, and resource in organizations by building an enterprise solution that incorporates many social media type tools. www.brainpark.com

List a few of your favourite sites on marketing or innovation.

Don't really have any "favourites" in particular. Been caught up in twitter lately and follow a bunch of people who tend to pass around good stuff on these topics from a plethora of sources. I do read Seth Godin's blog fairly frequently, and watch TED for ideas, I also get fired up to watch and learn from Apple keynotes.

For a complete list of my bookmarks check out my del.icio.us account www.delicious.com/bensmithinc

www.twitter.com/bensmithinc

www.linkedin.com/in/bensmithinc

www.delicious.com/bensmithinc

About Ben Smith

Born in Hamilton, Ontario, Ben faces the world with the work ethic of a steel worker, creativity of his interior designer mom, and rational science of his dad... he is the guy in the MAC ads standing between MAC and PC facilitating the conversation.

By age 30, he had been the Managing Director of a leading boutique creative agency, the VP Marketing for a leading Vancouver Real Estate Developer (current), got married and had four kids. He's worked for brands both large and small and everyone in between. Credentials aside, it is an insatiable curiosity that fuels him to innovate and pursue excellence in marketing.

Incremental vs Radical Innovation - Do Consumers Care

I was reading yet another article on innovation on the web when a short sentence caught my eye:

Do consumers sincerely differentiate between incremental and radical innovation?

The author went on to describe the difference between the two

As I see it, incremental innovation... is most times, short-term and more profit-oriented. Furthermore, incremental innovation is used by larger corporations who might not have the right tools, creativity or knowledge to create new original cutting-edge products/services yet have the financial capabilities to execute and implement them!

It's true that most radical innovations are actually discrete accumulations of much smaller improvements yet they have the ability to be life changing, and those seem to have seized to exist these days!

In a nutshell, it seems in his view, radical innovation is what happens when you do a lot of incremental innovation. Sooner or later you reach a Tipping Point, where the next iteration is a radically new idea. (For further discussion of Tipping Points read Malcolm Gladwell's fascinating book of the same name.)

In some sense I would have to agree. Often radically new ideas are iterations of ideas already being explored, but aren't seen by the general public. And this is where I would diverge form the author's opinion.

I actually DO believe that big corporations have the " .. right tools, creativity or knowledge to create new original cutting-edge products/services... ". They also have the financial wherewithal to launch them. What they don't have is the ability to take a huge risk.

Large companies are risk adverse by nature (unless you are a financial institution apparently given how we've been watching them implode over the last year.) Large companies often come up with radical new innovative products but for one reason or another choose not to launch.

Sometimes this is due to how destabilizing the innovation would be to current products. Sometimes it is because of entrenched political positions against this type of innovation. Sometimes it's just that the champion is not well connected. (He or she has been known to leave said big company and go out on his or her own for just that reason and successfully launch the radical new idea.

But back to the question: Do consumers care if a new idea is radical or just an incremental innovation? No, I don't think so. Consumers are motivated by products and services that meet their needs. If that need can be met by making a small change - great. If it requires a radical change- that's fine too.

True consumers get a lot more excited about a radical innovation, but there's a place for both in any well run business. Why, because radical innovation is much riskier. For every success there are hordes of failures.

A well run company pursues both strategies. Incremental innovation builds the infrastructure for radical innovation and provides the fall back when things don't turn out quite like planned.

Which happens rather more often that one would wish.

Tackling Telecom: Innovation at Telus

This month we're featuring an interview with Bob Petrovic, Director of Services Planning at Telus. In his role at one of Canada's leading telecommunication companies, Bob has been closely involved with managing innovation and sheparding new communication products through the new product process.

As Bob is at the forefront of one the fastest growing segments in virtual communication, mobile services, I was interested in his take on managing innovation. Huge capital expenditures are common in the telecommunications industry, so Bob has a common challenge on a bigger scale, in these economic times - trying to manage long-term investment with short term risk.

In times of financial crisis where companies of all sizes are challenged with funding projects, innovation tends to come from those smaller, more nimble and less capital intensive companies. However, on the telecommunications front, where building the infrastructure takes massive amounts of money, larger companies with legacy systems have the advantage.

In my interview with Bob I was particularly struck by his comments regarding the disconnect that often occurs between Marketing and R&D. In a technology company, in particular where new product development tends to reside with those involved in technology development, this

communication gap can mean the difference between being first to market with an innovative and successful product and time spent developing products that don't meet consumers' needs.

I've talked before about how crucial I believe it is to develop strong working relationships between Marketing and Product Development. Cross-training and working groups comprised of members of both departments tend to improve communication and prevent "orphan" products. I've seen this time and time again, where a great technology product lacks a champion in marketing and so languishes in development stage or the reverse, when marketing research uncovers a consumer need but, without R&D support never moves beyond the idea stage.

In the fast moving and competitive telecommunications marketplace, this type of disconnect can mean the difference between being first to market, and obtaining critically important patents and scrambling to play catch-up as the industry moves forward. Marketing is tasked with correcting identifying the drivers that rule the market is critical and communicating that to those responsible for developing products to meet those needs. When this type of communication breaks down, the result is lost time and lost opportunities.

Bob points out in our interview how critical it is for those of us on the forefront of innovation to reach out beyond out own industries for new ideas and expand beyond our computer screens for ideas on managing innovation. I know you'll enjoy reading his thoughts on managing innovation in this critically important time.

What is your role at Telus?

My primary responsibility at TELUS is for consumer services planning. The scope of the role is broad, ranging from development of product strategies through to incubation of new mobile and broadband services. The goal for these activities is to align activities across the organization & assess emerging opportunities.

In your opinion what are the key trends affecting your industry?

Economic conditions are obviously a key consideration for network operators, impacting a range of decisions from market planning to capital spending. This will be an ongoing consideration for mobile and wireline service providers for the foreseeable future.

In terms of technology trends, it's fair to say that the rise of 3G adoption, driven by smartphones and mobile applications, is a key mobile trend. Video continues to be a key theme in the home with an increasing number of options for time & placeshifted viewing. As with any trend, there are opportunities and risks that need to be understood and acted upon.

How do you measure innovation success?

Commercial endeavors are ultimately measured by profitability and I don't think innovation can be treated differently. Successful innovations will be those that drive usage and adoption in a sustainable way - they have to fulfill a need and be convenient so that people will want to use them. While forecasting commercial success for new initiatives can be tricky, convenience, as measured across economic (price, cost) and esthetic (ease of use) dimensions, is usually a pretty good indicator of future performance.

What is a biggest pitfall that impedes successful innovation?

In any industry, a disconnect between technology and marketing organizations is probably the greatest hindrance to innovation. Opportunities that arise in one area may not be fully appreciated in the other. Maintaining an on-going conversation across these groups goes a long way to realizing opportunities appropriately by managing priorities & expectations.

What is an example of an innovative company that people have never heard of?

In my industry (and hometown), Teradici stands out as a company that's using technology to solve some real problems today with a great vision for the future. They develop thin client solutions that push computing power into the cloud efficiently and transparently.

Outside my industry, I really like what folks like HippoRoller and Kyoto Energy are doing by creating low-cost, simple solutions to real-world problems for emerging nations. Both are applying innovation in a way that increases convenience for the basic needs of life.

List a few of your favourite sites on innovation.

I find myself gravitating to books more than websites for understanding the art & science of developing ideas - I really liked Blue Ocean Strategy and find myself going back to it often.

Lightreading.com is a great site for telecom developments and they do a great job of covering startups which helps me keep a pulse across a wide range of my industry's topics.

-------------------

Bob Petrovic is the Director of Services Planning for TELUS Consumer Solutions. In his decade with TELUS he product managed the mobile computing services portfolio from early telemetry to mobile broadband. Prior to joining TELUS, he launched a number of industry-first solutions for Internet developers. Bob has a Bachelor of Mathematics (Computer Science) from the University of Waterloo. He lives in Vancouver with his wife, 2 kids, and some fish.

Telling stories through numbers - An interview with Stewart Marshall

Stewart Marshall photo courtesy of Kris Krug

This month we are featuring an interview with Stewart Marshall, self-styled, "financial storyteller". I was intrigued by his description of himself as so often we are presented with numbers that, recently frankly are quite appalling. As we struggle to understand the meaning behind these numbers, we look to financial storytellers to interpret them for us.

The good ones put striking numbers in context and, beyond just helping us to interpret them, get us excited about what they mean for the future. Understanding the past is the first step, understanding what this means for the future and the opportunities it opens up for us personally and for our businesses is the next, key step.

As we are constantly bombarded with numbers and headlines about those numbers that can be misleading, the role of the financial storyteller becomes even more important.

The storyteller these days need not only be an expert at his or her craft but also at intersecting with technology in such a way that the word gets spread efficiently to the key people who need and can use it.

I’ll give you an example of a quote in an article I saw just the other day. "Contrary to popular belief, sales of green products are not tanking in a down economy". While this opening line makes me feel good about the opportunities in the green economy, a few paragraphs later (after many readers would have lost interest) I found the following paragraph:

...sales of green products are up 4.1 percent, driven mostly by price increases, as unit sales in this category dropped 6.6 percent in 2008.

This information, of course, leads one to the exact opposite conclusion, hence the need for not only storytellers, but trusted ones. And as we are all increasingly wired, we look to storytellers who can not only tell our story, but also have the social media savvy to disperse that information across the web using the most effective social media tools to reach our target audience.

As business owners, we all struggle to get our message across in a way that is effective and interesting. Creating interest leads to increased understanding and demand, whether for our product or to invest in our companies.

Using the multitude of new tools available on the web from Flickr and YouTube to Slideshare and Twitter we look to financial storytellers to help us get the message across to our stakeholders in an away that is interesting, creative and above all trustworthy.

Who were your early role models and what were the main things you learned from them?

Sir John Harvey Jones, MBE. He rose through the ranks to be Chairman of ICI and turned it around - proving you can run a successful company and have time and respect for everyone. In fact this is a key ingredient to his success. I remember he talked about riding in a company truck for a week just to learn about the problems his drivers experienced. Later, his Troubleshooter TV series showed me the challenges of being a change agent; what an outsider can bring and what they have to face.

Another person who inspired me early in my career was Sir James Dyson. His story about inventing the bagless vacuum cleaner demonstrated how hard it can be to convince people of your ideas and how important perseverance is in achieving your dreams. In a similar vein I was impressed by inventor Sir Trevor Baylis, who found his inspiration for the wind-up radio in the tragedy that is AIDS.

In more recent times, I've been following the fortunes of Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz and to a lesser degree, Michelin Award winning chef Gordon Ramsay. Both demonstrate a sense of values which I aspire to and show that the age-old idea of honest hard work can pay off.

Links:

Sir John Harvey Jones: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/6285160.stm

James Dyson: http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventors/dyson.htm

Trevor Baylis: http://windupradio.com/trevor.htm

Howard Schultz: http://www.myprimetime.com/work/ge/schultzbio/

Gordan Ramsay: http://www.gordonramsay.com/corporate/theman/biography/

Why do you call yourself a financial storyteller?

The succinct answer is that I help organizations tell their story with numbers. The aim of a successful story is to increase understanding. Numbers on themselves tell you little. It is only when you label, reference and put them in context with words and pictures that they make mean something: witness the rise of the pie chart in the late 1980s and 1990s. If you put the numbers together with the narrative and mix in some imagery, then you have a story which will resonate.

In my experience, many people struggle to make the connection between what they want or see is happening and the numbers they have available to them. Whether it's making a pitch to investors as a start-up, evaluating an investment appraisal, understanding business performance or even understanding your customer; there is a financial story to tell. Too often we can get wound up in the detailed financials and miss the bigger picture.

As a financial storyteller I can help you connect what you need in terms of facts and numbers with the meaning and underlying story to increase your understanding.

What is an example of an innovative company that people have never heard of?

BatchBlue Software out of Rhode Island - makers of BatchBook, an online CRM tools designed for small business. I've been impressed by their use of social media to connect with a growing customer base and the speed this gives them when responding. What's more I love the product!

More locally, Anthony Nicalo of Farmstead Wines is doing interesting things around wine making and farming. Anthony enables you to connect with artisan farmers who make rare, handcrafted fine wine. I had the pleasure of meeting Anthony recently when he described his goal to make farming sexy! How innovative is that?

Links:

Batchblue: http://www.batchblue.com/

Farmstead Wines: http://www.farmsteadwines.com/

What key trends do we need to be aware of?

The online world is in many ways a paradox. Through technology we can connect and reach more people. On the flipside, this can make us more insular and locked to our keyboards instead of getting out in the world and meeting people in person. I see a trend for connecting these two pieces so that one feeds the other. Social gatherings of Twitter users demonstrate this, I don't remember groups of MSN Messenger users or AOL Messaging having such impromptu and informal events.

This leads to an increasing trend of people returning to fundamentals. Technology is exciting and can in itself be exciting. What is more exciting and holds more promise is what use this technology can be put to. The world is in a state of transition and people are either through choice or necessity returning to things which don't necessarily require a constant internet connection. This could be spending time with friends, taking more exercise, growing their own food etc. Where it does involve technology, there has to be more of a specific purpose. Whether it's for business or pleasure, technology is now starting to target specific markets instead of a general populous of early adopters.

List a few of your favourite sites on innovation and business.

It feels like a simple answer but I have to mention TED. A wealth of ideas both inspiring and practical delivered in bite-sized chunks. Apartment Therapy is always throwing up new ideas in terms of design. For business related sites, I've been following Robert X Cringely for almost 20 years and I still find his columns, blogs these days; enjoyable.

Links:

www.ted.com

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/

http://www.cringely.com/

Stewart Marshall's bio is available http://www.linkedin.com/in/stewartmarshall

Greening IT with Faronics

The media spin this past week has been extremely positive in the midst of the world's problems. Barrack Obama's inauguration combined with the Hudson River plane landing has made this the biggest positive news week since Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon and declared it a "great leap for mankind." Meanwhile, Microsoft has sacked 5000 people today and there is no bottom in sight for the current economic meltdown. So where is the bright spot in the economic picture? It is green-tech and everyone is flocking toward it.

Obama is announcing his Manhattan Project for clean energy. Poker champion Doyle Brunson is seeing the new 11^th Hour movie he financed narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio doing well. The movie picks up where Al Gore's Inconvenient Truth left off. Everyone is talking about the environment and clean and green technologies as the solution to the world's problems. I'm more of a leader than a follower but if it is my turn to act as a sheep, I might as well be a green one. I don't mind as long as someone doesn't come along and steal my green wool.

This month's Network Insider has been a little slow in coming. This is because we have been intimately involved in financing an industrial project in these chaotic days. Yes, it is clean and green - veggie plastic products with zero emissions in the manufacturing processes. Then the holidays hit. But we're back. And I'm opening with a great example of a Vancouver company we have been working with that has taken a lead on greening Information Technology.

Dmitry Shesterin is Vice President of Marketing at Faronics. This privately held software company with offices in Vancouver and San Ramon (California) develops computer software for multi-user IT environments. The company employs approximately 100 people and the products are predominantly used in educational institutions, libraries, healthcare facilities, government agencies. Dmitry has taken the lead in producing this month's resource titled Insiders Guide to Greening I.T. This represents the first collaborative resource of this type for the industry. I was pleased to be able to interview Dmitry for this month's Network Insider and to share this resource with you.

Click image to download

Q: Why did you create this resource?

A: Over the last year I have taken a strong interest in green business practices. After seeing how much of an effect our daily practices have on the environment, I've made it my mission to help make Faronics as green an organization as possible. Working with organizations such as Climate Savers Computing Initiative and Offsetters is going to help Faronics get there.

Even with all the information that is available today regarding green computing, I still come across people who are unaware of (or misinformed about) the benefits of reducing the impact of computers on the environment. Through various Internet forums and discussions, I found there were others who shared my views and thoughts. That's when the idea for an Insiders Guide to Greening I.T. was born. I wanted to bring together a collection of stories, blog posts, and practical advice for employees- whether they are high-level or grassroots-that could be used to start green initiatives within their companies.

Q: What do you hope to accomplish?

A: My hope is that by reading this free ebook, others will be inspired with the messages of the individual authors and will take action in their respective workplaces and homes to reduce their carbon footprints.

Q: What do you want people to do?

A: Look for ways to incorporate environmental sustainability into one's daily routines, both at home and in the office. Yes, there is a lot of greenwashing out there with products that have green claims that are dubious at best. But among these products there are the real gems that do deliver the environmental, and often financial, savings as promised. I ask that people do their part in reducing their carbon footprint by taking advantage of green solutions and practices that have a proven ability to work.

Q: Give me an example of an innovative company creating change in this area.

A: Faronics is a good example. We are actively working with Offsetters to improve our internal operations and achieve carbon neutral status in 2009. Our flagship product Deep Freeze has built in capabilities that can help reduce unnecessary energy waste and we have developed a dedicated software solution that delivers desktop computer energy management that doesn't interfere with user or IT needs. Faronics Power Save keeps computers running when users need them, accurately determines when computers are inactive so they can be powered down, and can prove its rapid return-on-investment through network-wide power consumption and savings reports.

About Dmitry Shesterin

Dmitry Shesterin is Vice President of Marketing at Faronics. After completing his Bachelor of Arts degree from Tver State University in Russia and Osnabruck University in Germany in 1998, Dmitry has chosen a marketing career path that lead him through various sales and marketing management positions in Russia, Germany and Canada with such organizations as Seiko EPSON and Siemens before joining Faronics in October 2004.

Time to Get Innovative

There's a lot of buzz out there about the impact that this most recent economic downturn will have on innovation. Historically, great innovative ideas have traditionally gained traction as an economy comes out of a recessionary period. That means, of course that the brainstorming, development and initial launch happened during the downturn itself.

A New York Times article, cautions now, It's No Time to Forget About Innovation and like many in the field, we agree. Yet, frequently, those groups with little to show for themselves, i.e. no sales associated with the group and no direct P&L responsibility seem often to be the first areas cut. Rather than look forward when cost cutting is required, most companies look to dissolve those business units that would cause the least harm to the present operations to the company.

In a short sited way, this makes sense. Often companies that create business units focused on innovation that operate in their own silo. As we said before, this does not take advantage of the inherent creativity that abounds within the various operating units themselves and... is tempting to cut during downturns.

The fact is, innovation is inefficient. Hours and days of brainstorming often result in few if any workable ideas. Thousands of engineering dollars spent doesn't guarantee a real success. Innovation is, in some ways, a model of inefficiency. And there's the rub.

Wild market gyrations, frozen credit markets and an overall sour economy herald a new round of corporate belt-tightening. Foremost on the target list is anything inefficient. That's bad news for corporate innovation, and it could spell trouble for years to come, even after the economy turns around.

As creative pack up boxes and head out the door to home based sites and coffee shops, they take their innovative ideas with them. This is, perhaps one of the reasons innovative ideas often come from entrepreneurial ventures. And in bad times, the ranks of entrepreneurs swell and those lone operators often have time on their hands for the inefficient task of innovating.

David Thompson, chief executive and co-founder of Genius.com Inc., based in San Mateo, Calif., says that innovation "has a bad name in down times" but that "bad times focus the mind and the best-focused minds in the down times are looking for the opportunities."

All of this speaks to the issue of managing innovation in a downturn, especially for large corporations invested in producing short term profits, or at least limiting losses, for their shareholders. How to keep the innovative minds in a company from going out the door is an issue faced by most companies in this economy.