Over the years the scope of work handled by Indian IT companies has gone up the value chain and I foresee this scope to become more mature and of higher value and criticality. But, is that all?

My belief is that Indian software firms have overlooked their ability to innovate. Offshore work handled in India range from legacy to migration to application development and maintenance. However, most of this work is repeatable and Indian firms have mastered the art of handling repeatable work. Over the years, Indian companies have proved that they can achieve profitable growth paths by just doing ‘repeatable work’. The thinking seems to be, “why innovate when this itself derives steady revenues for us?”

But this is a pitfall that companies and individuals must learn to avoid. Repetitive work can become commoditized, which could prove counter productive. It will help neither the company nor the individual attain a leadership position in the market place. For any company, innovation is the key to become a leader—and remain one.

Why innovate? Customer demands are changing. The IT budget is driven by business imperatives. The customer is not going to invest in IT unless it increases his business performance. The applications that you develop for the customer should aim at making him or his business have a differentiator in the marketplace. This demand has opened up the room for innovation.

Innovative features are essential if you want to make the software efficient and reliable. Agreed, there is ample scope for innovation when writing complex software, such as operating systems or network software. But do not ignore the fact that there are opportunities for innovation even for those involved in process integration or in developing collaborative software.

Let’s look at application development. Earlier, application development would mean replicating codes from an existing application to a new application with slight modifications. But now the thrust is on application portfolio analysis. Portfolio analysis involves reviewing the different pieces of the application and analyze whether a particular module is really necessary. The process also allows the programmer to look at using newer technologies or methods to improve certain parts of the application. Simply put, the engineer now has to thoroughly understand and design the application so as to extract business knowledge out of it. To do this, the engineer must be competent in understanding the business needs and business processes of the customer.

To sum it up, application portfolio analysis is driving developers to innovate. At IBM we have noticed that most of the innovations are coming out of the demand from the customers to solve their problems in real-time.

Innovation doesn’t happen overnight. It is an ongoing process. One of the essential ingredients of the innovation process is to stimulate creativity among the employees, which calls for the creation of an ecosystem.

Right from the early days of IBM, there has been an accent on innovation. From the days of IBM founder Thomas J. Watson Sr.—when several of the most prolific inventors reported directly to him—inventors have been regarded as special people at IBM. And it is this carefully nurtured culture that has made IBM the largest IT company in the world.

SO HOW DO WE DO IT?
Encourage employees to contribute to the building of intellectual capital. The work turned in by over 3,000 scientists and engineers across IBM’s eight research labs in six countries is testimony to the effectiveness of this strategy. We generated the maximum U.S. patents in 2002—the tenth consecutive year that IBM led the world—according to figures released by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. IBM was awarded 3,288 patents, nearly doubling the output of the second most productive company. When we set up India operations, we have carefully transplanted the culture that exists in our parent company. At IBM India, all employees are put through a comprehensive skills development program. Apart from this, weekly technical talks provide an opportunity for the employees to hear academicians, industry leaders and senior IBM leaders. The central idea behind all this is to instill confidence and put the employees on the path of innovation.

Provide Challenging Tasks. Innovation is possible only if you provide challenging tasks to the employees. So as we strove to create the ideal ecosystem, we have also made sure we continue to get complex problems for our people to solve. In about 80 per cent of the cases, Indian engineers have created the inventions on their own initiative. A large number of these inventions relate to advanced areas in software technology such as compiler optimization, algorithms, network security, operating systems, and many more. IBM India is a significant contributor to IBM’s global innovation leadership. IBM India Research Labs (IRL) was awarded five patents in 2001 and eight patents in 2002 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.

Mentoring and Motivation form an important part of the invention process. At IBM Global Services India a dedicated group of scientists with rich and diverse experience work with employees to guide them and work with them to encourage people to work on patents and disclosures. Once an employee has worked on an invention or innovation that he or she feels can be patented then this core group works with the employee to get the patents process furthered and the glitches ironed out.

Why is Stanford University ranked number one? All other universities, across the U.S, offer the same courses and opportunities that Stanford offers. Yet, they aren’t rated equal to Stanford. Back home, we have the IITs and the Indian Institute of Science that are rated well above other technical colleges. They stand out simply because of the fact that these institutes have aligned their syllabus with the changing industry needs. For instance, when I pick up my daughter’s books, I notice that it is the same stuff I studied 20 years ago! This is no good if India has to compete in the fast changing world.

The underlying fact is that today’s engineers should keep pace with the technological changes around. At IBM, we have made sure our engineers are aware of the technology horizon for the next six months or one year. We disseminate information related to technology forecasts. Keeping track of technological changes will in turn reflect in the employees using new technologies for solving the problems in hand.

Innovation is not rocket science. Anybody can do it as long as he is focused on the given task. Innovation will never stop in the world. Remember, today’s innovations become tomorrow’s earnings!

Dr. Uday Shukla spearheads the IBM India Software Labs, partnering with IBM Software Labs across the globe to develop, enhance and support core IBM technologies and products. He holds a Ph. D. from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore and is also a Senior Member of IEEE, Fellow of Institution of Engineers(India) and Fellow of IETE. Prior to joining IBM in 1994, Dr. Shukla was heading the R&D Division of Tata Elxsi and CDAC's Bangalore Centre. His other interests include photography and golf. Dr. Shukla lives in Bangalore with his wife and two children.