PURPOSEThe purpose of the panel discussion was to discuss aboutthe guest’s experiences with Innovation inside theirorganisations, the changes in the surrounding market andthestrategyintheirorganisationtosurvivethefuture.

METHODThegueststalkedabouttheirownexperiencesingettingtothe present day successful organization, how they look atinnovationworkandwhataretheydoing,tobeabletoleadinthefutureintheirmarketsegment.Theguestsenlightenthe participants about the different roles andresponsibilities along with the different skills that areneeded to survive the constant change in themarket andkeepingpacewiththetechnologicaladvances.The guests talk about their involvement in innovation, therole of the HR department, disruptions in themarket andcannibalization, role of competition in strengthening theorganization and how they measure innovation in theirorganization.

5TAKEAWAYS

• Thecompany’svisionisveryimportantfortheemployeestobeinnovative.

• Itisacontinuousprocessthatrequireseffortsandcannotbeachievedinadayoraweek.

• Themanagementteamshouldbeinvolvedandmotivatetheemployees.

• Thecompanyneedstoadaptwiththechangingmarketsandkeepfacewiththetechnologicaladvances.

• HavingskillsinITisuseful,thoughnotcompulsory,inafuturedrivenbyAI,IoTandmachinelearning.

PANEL DISCUSSION

Jeanette Jäger(BankGirot) and Niklas Siljeblad (Hertz) Innovation in Action 2017

Thisbriefingpaperincludeskeytake-awaysfromthePanelDiscussionfromtheInnovationinActionDay2.Jeanette Jäger, business developer at BankGirot and Niklas Siljeblad VD at Hertz Sweden shared theirexperiences from the past and provided tips on surviving the future in terms of innovation in theorganisations.

Innovation in Action 2017

2

HertzandBankgirotThe Hertz Corporation, a subsidiary of Hertz GlobalHoldings Inc., isanAmericancar rental companybasedin Estero, Florida that operates 9,700 internationalcorporate and franchisee locations. The car sharingmarket was not lucrative and the company struggledbetween 1998 to 2005 but has been growing rapidlysince2005afteratransition.Bankgirotwasestablishedin1959bytheSwedishbanks.Bankgirot’s taskwas todevelop andmaintain a systemof payment that was completely open, that minimizedcosts,providedeconomyofscaleadvantagesandhadahighlevelofsecurity.Sincethen,Bankgirothasdevelopedandchangedovertheyears.RolesoftheGuestsandInvolvementwithInnovationinBusinessNiklassaysthatInnovationisnotaboutITashewastheCIObefore.TheyhadbusinessdevelopmentaspartofthemanagementteamandnottheITteam.Whenasked,ifhavinganITbackgroundhelpedhim?Niklasrespondsthatitdid,as70-80%peopleworkintheITsectorandhavingknowledgeaboutithelpshimcommunicateideasbetterandeasier.Jeanettebelievesthatinnovationshouldbeinthecompany’sculture.Sheshowspeoplethedirectionandthenempowersthemtocarryoutthecompany’svisions.Asthebusinessdeveloper,shetriestounderstandthevisionandwheretheyareheadedarethemoment.Shesays,givingpeoplescenariosoftheresultsofnottransforminggivesthemthemotivation.AtBankgirot,theybelieveinnotkillingideasbyhavingprocessestostoreandkeepthem.As the guests point out, it’s not abouthaving innovationmanagers, but an innovative company. Theybelieveinnovationprocessesaretoughtosetupbutarefruitfulinthelongrun.TheCFOofthecompanyshouldbeonboard about ideas, innovations and businesses as he understands the financials of the company and theresourcesthatwouldbeneededtotakeupnewideasintoimplementation.RoleofHRinInnovationTheHR department shouldworkwith the CEO to build the journey of the company and transform it into aninnovativeorganization.Understandingandhearingthecustomer’svoiceisimportant.Whilerecruiting,theHRshouldunderstandwhatkindofcompetencesarerequired.Also,innovationisateameffortandnotindividualinnature.Therightatmosphereaddsfueltotheorganization’sinnovationcapabilities.

HOWTOPROMOTEINNOVATION:1. Involve all departments in the company

alongwiththecustomers.

2. Makeitateam-effortratherthanindividual

efforts.

3. Never say No to new ideas. Have an idea

managementsystemtostoreanduse ideas

forlater.

Innovation in Action 2017

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Competition,DisruptionsandCannibalizationTheguestsbelievethatitisimportanttotakedownthecostforcustomersatabigscale.Jeanettepointsout through her graph that over time, the value ofinvestmentgoesupandthecostcomesdown.The future belongs to machine learning and AI.Machineswillbe interactingwithmachinesand IoTwilldrivemorepayments,whichwill leadtoscalingofbusinessessuchasBankgirot.Theguestssaythatcompetitioncanstrengthentheposition of the company as other newmarkets areopened through disruptive innovations. Small

companiesare takenoverorareclosed if theycan’t keepupwith theconstant changes in themarket.Tobesuccessful,acompanymustexploreadjacentmarketsandplantomovetonewmarketsinothercountries.Theguestssumupthediscussionsas“AdaptandGrow”.OneofthechallengesthatHertzfacesisthatthecustomersdon’thavedrivinglicenses,ortheirdrivinglicensesaren’tvalid inthecountrytheyarevisiting.NiklasseesAIbasedself-drivingcarsasapotentialsolutiontothisproblem.MeasuringInnovationandToolstobeInnovativeTheguestssharetheirthoughtsaboutmeasuringinnovationintheirorganizationwhichtheybelieveisnotverytangible to measure and is tough. They believe in using key performance index(KPI) to keep a tab on theinnovation capabilities. The KPI’s include the number of ideas generated, the number of these ideas that aredeveloped,therevenuebroughtinbythesedevelopmentsandtheoverallgrowthofthecompany.On being asked about the three tools for being innovative in the organization, Jeanette points out businessstrategy,cultureinthecompanyalongwiththecompetencevalueandtheprocessesthatlifttheinnovationofthecompany.Niklas,believes inhaving the rightcompanyculture, risk takingand theprocesses thecompanyusestohandlecreativity.

LEARNING&RESULTSThepaneldiscussionsessionwasveryinformativeandtohearthepersonalexperiencesoftwosuccessfulpeopleintheindustryaddstothecharmofthediscussion.Bothguestshavebeenworkinghardtomakesuretheyhaveaveryinnovativecompanythatmakesprogressinleapsandbounds.Theaudiencehadafairshareofquestionstoasktosatisfytheircuriositywhichwereverywellansweredbythepanelists.