• Founder and CEO, Unicoin.com
    Unicoin is the official cryptocurrency of Unicorn Hunters which Forbes called “The most iconic business series of recent times”.
  • CEO, TransparentBusiness
    TransparentBusiness SaaS platform was designated by Citigroup as the Top People Management Solution
  • International Entrepreneur
    Created the largest bank in Russia by age of 25 before defecting to the United States in 1992 and starting from scratch.

Innovar: del concepto a la estrategia

En la competitiva economía digital de hoy, el desafío de innovar se vuelve casi obligatorio. Empresas, tecnología y el nuevo paradigma de la transparencia.

Vivimos una actualidad cambiante en la que todas las compañías –sin importar su tamaño– se esfuerzan poraggionarse continuamente. Para muchos líderes de negocios, esto significa asegurarse de que su empresa esté siempre equipada con la mejor tecnología y con los recursos humanos capacitados para manejarla.

Aunque nadie negaría que lo anterior sea fundamental, la clave de la innovación corporativa descansa más en cuestiones de actitud y estrategia. Poder "tomar la fotografía correcta" del paisaje corporativo que nos rodea es, sin duda, el primer paso para innovar, pues nadie puede pretender transformar su negocio sin conocer acabadamente su punto de partida. Esa "fotografía" no sólo incluye conocer nuestro mercado y a nuestros competidores, sino también detectar a tiempo las cambiantes pautas de los consumidores.

Ahora bien, si todos estamos de acuerdo en la necesidad y el valor de la innovación, la pregunta es ¿cómo hacerlo? En principio, identificando su obstáculo fundamental: la complacencia. El experimentado consultor Kevin McFarthing escribía hace poco sobre este pecado capital que suelen cometer las empresas consolidadas.

Al margen de mencionar el emblemático caso de Kodak, McFarthing sostiene que no hay nada peor que una empresa que se vuelve "prisionera de su pasado". Por eso, dice el autor, cobra sentido aquel viejo refrán según el cuál cuando se trata de negocios "sólo los paranoicos sobreviven". En la práctica, esto puede traducirse en dos actitudes fundamentales. La primera es evitar la tentación de creer que nuestro mercado será "eterno". En segundo lugar, monitorear de cerca la evolución de nuestros competidores, tanto los reales como los potenciales.

Innovación y transparencia

Ahora bien, ¿qué significa exactamente "innovar" en esta era de transformaciones vertiginosas? ¿Qué esquemas de negocios facilitan la conformación –y mantenimiento– de organizaciones flexibles y propensas al cambio? La respuesta puede englobarse en la palabra “transparencia” y podemos describirla brevemente en los siguientes puntos:

  • Visibilidad digital: tal como apuntábamos un par de semanas atrás, la gestión de una presencia online exitosa nos obliga a tener “menos secretos” con los consumidores.
  • Relación con los clientes: en el "hiperconectado" siglo XXI la comunicación con los clientes –reales y potenciales- se establece bajo nuevos parámetros
  • En la nube: la computación en nube facilita la adopción de esquemas de trabajo flexibles. Al no tener limitaciones territoriales, se pueden armar equipos basados en el talento y no en otros factores.
  • Aprendizaje continuo: el valor del conocimiento en la era digital no está puesto en discusión. Por eso, la motivación a los recursos humanos de cualquier compañía del siglo XXI no puede descuidarse. Para innovar, necesitamos sujetos entusiastas.

Si la capacidad de innovación siempre fue un mérito valioso para las empresas, hoy se ha tornado prácticamente imprescindible. Una mirada rápida al ranking de las compañías más innovadoras en 2011 según la revista Fast Company lo confirma de modo contundente: 8 de las 10 empresas que encabezan la lista ni siquiera existían hace más de diez años.

Lejos de amedrentar a los líderes de negocios, este dato puede leerse como un termómetro perfecto de la economía digital y de las habilidades que necesitamos para hacernos un lugar en ella.

Konanykhine
Digital
Economia
Empresas
Esquemas
Flexibles
Innovacion
Innovar
Mercado
Necesitamos Negocios
Nube
Significa
Tecnologia
Transparencia

More Articles...

Washington Post:
Konanykhin, one of the first Russian millionaires after the fall of the commies, left in 1992 and was granted asylum here in 1999. He's built a very successful Web advertising business in New York City. He had been chosen "New York Businessman of the Year." "As such, you will be honored and presented with your award," NRCC chairman Thomas M. Reynolds (R-N.Y.) said, at a "special ceremony" April 1. " President Bush and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger are our special invited guests.
CNN:
Alex Konanykhin controlled Russia's largest commercial bank in the 1990s
Wall Street Journal:
Mr. Konanykhin was a whiz-kid physics student who became a pioneering Russian capitalist in early 1990s, building a banking and investment empire valued at an estimated $300 million all by his mid-20s. He was a member of President Boris Yeltsin's inner circle.
The Sun:
Alex Konanykhin fled Russia in 1992 and won asylum in the US after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The entrepreneur had set up 100 different companies in Russia and had an estimated net worth of $300million by the time he was 25. He is regarded as one of the first Russian millionaires after the fall of the Iron Curtain. One of the newly open country's leading lights, he even met with US President George HW Bush in 1991 on a joint visit with Russian leader Boris Yeltsin. However, he was then kidnapped in 1992 while visiting Budapest and all of his business assets were seized in Russia. … Being hunted by the Russian state, Konanykhin won asylum in the US in 1997 and set up a new life - but the shadow of the Kremlin continued to loom over him.He went on to rebuild a business empire and set up multimillion dollar firms such as TransparentBusiness in the US.
The Deal:
... a New York-based software startup called TransparentBusiness Inc. has drawn backing from Fortune 500 executives through a relatively new type of securities offering called 506(c) as part of an effort to raise $10 million this year ... Alex Konanykhin, CEO of TransparentBusiness, said he decided to reach out directly to accredited investors by purchasing ads in financial publications. One particularly bold ad includes the figure, 90,000%, with a question mark next to it. Konanykhin said the ad speaks to the large market opportunity for his company's software, which helps governments eliminate fraud by verifying billable hours charged by outside contractors. ... One of the investors, Ken Arredondo, told The Deal he invested in TransparentBusiness and agreed to serve on its board of directors because of the company's strong management team and the huge market opportunity to increase transparency of outsourced contracts worldwide. He believes in the company's product and said it's unique. "It's a Saas-based, easy-to-use tool," he said. "There are a lot of technology players out there that are a lot bigger, but none of them have what they have. There will be competition, but they have the product now. They have first-mover advantage."
The Baltimore Sun:
Business whiz kid.
WJLA TV / ABC:
Russian Bill Gates.
The Times:
By the time he was 25 he was one of the most important figures in post-Communist Russia. But in 1992, while on a business trip to Hungary, Alex Konanykhine was kidnapped.
The New York Times:
The Federal Bureau of Investigation notified Konanykhin that Russian organized crime figures had paid to have him killed.
Los Angeles Daily Journal:
Representing himself through much of the process, Konanykhin managed to convince an immigration judge of an alleged INS and KGB conspiracy and cover-up. Following the court's admonishment, the INS agreed to drop all charges and also pay $100,000..The judge also ordered an investigation of the Justice Department. In separate actions, Konanykhine subsequently won multimillion dollar libel judgments against two Russian newspapers. A $100 million lawsuit against the Justice Department is pending, alleging perjury, fraud, torture and witness tampering by U.S government officers on behalf of the Russian Mafia.
Profit Magazine:
Imagine you are a teenage physics genius who quickly amasses a $300 million empire of real estate and banking ventures, has dozens of cars, six hundred employees, several mansions and two hundred bodyguards—but you are nonetheless kidnapped by those you trusted, threatened with torture and death, and have your entire empire stolen from you one dark night in Budapest. You escape with your life by racing through Eastern-block countries and flying to New York on stashed-away passports—only to have the KGB and Russian Mafia hell-bent on your hide and the U.S. government jailing you and conspiring to serve you up into their clutches. All this before your 29th birthday. Sound like a Tom Clancy thriller? No. . . just a slice in the life of Alexander Konanykhine.