Inspired Innovation: Three Real-World Examples For CIOs

It was the end of a long day of travel. I had experienced long lines, flight delays, and misplaced baggage. I just wanted to get into my room and relax as soon as I arrived at my hotel – immediately.

I was truly amazed when a simple hotel app made this wish come true.

CIOs are always on the lookout for ways to use technology to improve the user experience, just like this. I hope to challenge you to think about your options and will offer some real-world examples as sources of inspiration.

How a hotel app saved the day

How did a simple hotel app deliver just the experience I wanted? Before leaving home, I had responded to an email from the hotel encouraging me to download an app to make my visit more enjoyable. When it came time to check in, I had a digital key right there on my phone – skipping the lobby and the front desk. In my room, I received a chat message checking that everything was OK, which allowed me to request additional towels with ease. Checking out a few days later was equally simple.

Think beyond the obvious

My experience at the hotel drives home how a company can simply yet effectively use technology to meet needs and improve the user experience. But let’s take this example a step further. What if the hotel had inserted artificial intelligence into this process to streamline and automate? Could the hotel use a chatbot to check on my satisfaction? The answer is yes.

The challenge for CIOs is to always take innovation to the next level. Are there ways you could introduce new processes that make it simpler or more enjoyable for your customer and could also benefit your bottom line? That’s at the heart of digital transformation – to create elegant experiences that keep your customers or end users speaking positively about your products and services and coming back for more.

There are many examples CIOs can consider when looking for sources of inspiration. Consider how technology innovation is changing standard ways of doing business at O Boticário and Brasif.

Using smart shelf technologies at Grupo O Boticário

Grupo O Boticário is one of the largest cosmetic franchises in the world. Based in Brazil, the company is fully committed to using digital technologies to their full potential. It has a long history of technology innovation to efficiently grow and increase production volume. To stay true to this operational focus, O Boticário is currently working to implement smart gondolas for real-time inventory tracking. The gondolas identify and interpret products on the shelves and make a comparison with inventory. If a gondola is empty or products are wrongly allocated, the system sends a warning to prompt correction or replenishment. O Boticário is also piloting image-recognition technology available through a digital innovation system. The aim is to take its smart shelves to the next level and provide insight into consumer preferences and buying behavior to better tailor its merchandising strategies.

Increasing field-personnel productivity at Brasif

A key player in Brazil’s machinery sector, Brasif Máquinas has a deep understanding of its customers and a solid operating base at its main business centers. For more than 50 years, the company has striven for product and service excellence. To improve the management and productivity of its field personnel across eight states, it developed an after-sales management app and mobile device management tool on a cloud platform. In the three months following deployment of the app and tool, field personnel productivity rose from 61% to 75%.

Keep it simple and straightforward

What these examples have in common is that each company inserted technology in just the right spot to influence positive outcomes. Innovation doesn’t have to be earth-shattering or require wholesale change to be effective. The hotel, O Boticário, and Brasif are all using technology to improve a process. Sometimes if you change simple things, you’ll get great results.

For more information on how to simplify innovation with cloud technology, learn more about the SAP Cloud Platform.

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About Orlando Cintra

Orlando Cintra is senior vice president of Innovation and SAP Cloud Platform for the Latin America & Caribbean region, supporting companies in their digital transformation roadmap. He helps companies take the right journey for the future, where digital transformation is the main – and current – focus in many markets and industries, using innovation as a key element of disruption and business value creation. An author and speaker, Orlando has more than 20 years of experience in IT and business in leadership positions with SAP, HP, and Informatica Corporation. He holds an Information Technology degree and specialization in Leadership from Harvard Business School, and lives in S?o Paulo, Brazil.