Panda Security Insight

Bernardo Quintero’s post (in Spanish) has made me think about how innovation evolves as companies grow.  I agree with him that innovation is fostered by, among other things, some of these elements: a visionary team, out-of-the-box thinkers, working in small teams, not being constrained by short terms profitability requirements, creativity, etc.  It also helps to have a clear focus and being challenged towards hitting a certain goal … and all of those things are easy to be lost as we add layers of management.  When the visionary/entrepreneur is close to those that implement the vision it is easier to transmit the sense of urgency, to feed the desire to win, to assess creativity appropriately and reward it through direct acknowledgement.

When any company grows and the product being developed gets more complex, it is critical that the company works according to well structured process so that the information flows all along.  This will allow everyone to have the required information to be able to contribute, within his area of expertise, his share of creativeness and innovation to the final product.

For all of us who operate in technology, to be competitive in the longer term it is key that we sustain a high capacity to innovate.  And that capacity depends on the team that works in the project.  I can’t agree more with Bernardo when he says that “innovation always comes from below”.  As Christensen & Raynor explain in The Innovator’s solution, “… because the senior-most executives in reality cannot participate when and where the big-decisions actually get made, decision making processes that work well without senior attention are critical to success in circumstances of sustaining innovation”.  That is why I strongly believe that one of the biggest responsibilities of a manager is to foster the correct framework so that innovation can flourish and implementing processes so that the decision making process is correct and the company goes ahead with those projects that are innovative.

At Panda I am lucky to count with a tremendously creative and innovative team.  And, most importantly, not only in that area whose key focus is innovation (Panda Research).  Many of the most innovative ideas that flourish in the company come from other areas, be it technical (development, QA, support or IT) or not (product, marketing, sales, etc.).  The only area where we don’t encourage innovation is in the finance area … in that area, “creativity” can only bring trouble … as we ready everyday in the press …

You can also succeed “copying” or “importing” successful ideas from other markets, but if you want to sustain your competitiveness in the longer term, there is no way around it, you have to be innovative and in order to succeed, you need to count on home-grown talent.  It is not always the case in other successful companies.  A friend of mine likes to say “don’t innovate, copy …” (J. I know that I am using your quote in another context to that you intend.  I know you value innovation).  At Panda, we have managed to recruit and retain very valuable individuals and we have seen the need to establish internal processes and mechanisms so that those individuals could develop their innovative technology. 

All in all, innovation in a company depends on the individuals conforming it and on the way the management ensures that the correct framework is established for the innovation culture to be born, to develop and to flourish.  In addition, management needs to have vision to be able to identify it, prioritize it over other needs and conduct it towards products with high impact in the market.

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