www.swissbusinessweb.ch42 SWISS BUSINESS · May/June 2011

InnOvATIOn

what sort of innovation is needed for Human Resources? Günter Pfeiffer: HR is expected to grow from a business partner into a player role. HR needs to be innovative and proactive in shaping this future role. It all starts with anticipating business and client needs. As Einstein said: 'Logic will get you from A to B; imagination will take you every-where.' In Europe, we are facing ageing societies and ageing customer and employ- ee bases. Demographic change is one of the global challenges besides increasing speed of change, more disruptive shifts and increasing uncertainty. HR is requir-ed to cope with these challenges and to lead the resulting business transformation by organisation and people development, even though the HR role varies in diffe-rent corporations due to different strate-gic priorities. Drivers of HR innovation are imagination, the willingness to shape the future, the use of co-creation in the process of developing solutions and the capability to execute. How can this happen?Based on self-conception and mission, HR needs to be both empowered and en- abled to fulfil the transformation task. HR staff need to be trained, in particular, in methods of human-centric design and

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staffed with experienced employees aged 50-plus who serve customers aged 60-plus – was developed and realised. Customer satisfaction and loyalty in this market seg-ment improved.

Will this innovation influence the under-standing of human capital management in a broader sense?The case above shows the account- able business impact and value creation of HR acting as a player and applying human-centric leadership and manage-ment, reflecting a change in human capital management. This shift is supported by the discussions on values and ethics fol-lowing the financial market crisis.

Will HR be more exciting in 20 years?Today, HR is transforming itself by using social media, portals and other web 2.0 services. The interconnection and interaction of billions of people around the globe via the internet is increasing the transparency of organisations and individ-uals. This will enhance the scope of HR and affect the HR service delivery model. Life will change even more dramatically in the next decades. Assuming a leading role in managing fundamental change and transformation adds to the future at- tractiveness of HR.

Imagination, co-creation and the capability to execute

co-creation in order to provide solution platforms to business and people.

Are there examples of successful imple-mentation? A good illustration is generation manage-ment. As experience shows, ready-to-im-plement HR instruments do not always meet clients' needs. For example, early retirement programmes are the easy way out for HR and line management, but are not sustainable instruments to deal with demographic change. value creating, sustainable solutions could be achieved by co-creating solutions with all people involved. I initiated the ‘Demographie Forum Schweiz’ to support enterprises in developing sustainable business solu-tions in our era of demographic change. Swisscom used this approach to create the ‘best age customer contact centre’. A working group was set up by HR compris-ing older members of upper line manage-ment, employees, customers and an inno-vation coach. The group was empowered to come up with ideas on how the com-pany could develop attractive assignments for older employees, especially those about to lose their job, that simultaneous-ly generated added value for customers and the corporation. Among other ideas, the idea of a “best age customer centre” –

Expert Günter Pfeiffer talks about the new role of Human Resources

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SWISS BUSINESS · May/June 2011 43www.swissbusinessweb.ch

PROFILE Dr. Günter Pfeiffer serves as member of several supervisory boards and advisory boards. Until end of 2010 he was Chief Personnel Officer and member of the Swisscom Group Executive Board. In this role, he shaped and supported the con-tinuous transformation of the company towards customer-centricity. Before he switched to the HR side of the business, he was in charge of strategy, participa-tions management, international projects for Swiscom, e.on, T-Mobile and Detecon. Günter Pfeiffer studied Economics at Bonn University followed by a doctorate at Cologne University. guenter.pfeiffer@demographieforum.ch

OPENINNOVATIONNew tools aim to develop innovation via the use of web applications. James Surowieckis concept of "the wisdom of the crowds" stands behind this: as the field of innovation becomes more open, there will be more contributions. And the wisdom of the crowd can predict the acceptance and success of an idea. Currently, there are two forms of web-based innovation: one open to the public, the other within a company. Atizo is the most advanced tool provid-er of open innovation for the public in Switzerland. Enterprises can publish their questions on the Atizo website and receive propositions and ideas from more than 8,000 Atizo members. The best ideas are rewarded financially. For example, in a past campaign, Cailler asked for chocolate innovations and received astonishing ideas, such as a package that glowed in the dark for people who prefer to savour chocolate at night. Ecosport asked for ecological ideas for sports clubs and had simple responses, like "shower with cooler wa-ter" – the idea presented in this cam-paign is that the running tracks could be transformed into power stations, the trampling of the runners could be used for producing electricity. Swiss Post applies open innovation via an application that can be used by

every employee. Pierre-Yves Caboussat, head of Innovation Management Swiss Post, explains: "There are a lot of valu-able ideas and smart people dozing in the organisation. With idea campaigns, we bring them out and are able to pro-duce benefits for customers as well as the company." The overall goal of such open idea management – which in the case of Swiss Post is provided by Qmarkets.com – is to increase total revenue by innovating new services and opening up new markets. But Caboussat also sees cultural and social advantages: "Our employees be-come more motivated when they see that their company really wants them to pro-duce relevant ideas. There are also some benefits on the organisational level: the relevant people are discovered more easily and thanks to the application, the employees start to network and share their ideas." Thus, "collaborative inno-vation" becomes manageable and can contribute to the development of the company.

www.atizo.chwww.post.chwww.qmarkets.com

Günter Pfeiffer