The title of this article Innovation Across Borders caught my attention because of the similarity to the title of my book. In fact, it is a discussion of the impact distributing IT resources around the world in larger companies with Credit Suisse as the prime example. Instead of having local IT resources serve each operation, companies are no starting to use global resources serve the entire company.

I am always skeptical about articles and publications that tout the power of innovation. On one level, stating innovation is powerful seems like a no-brainer. On the other hand, innovation can be such an abstract concept; it is hard to put your finger on the relevance of innovation to your own situation by what is described in these articles.

In other words, if you are a company that is smaller than Credit Suisse then is there really anything to learn here?

I think so in this case.

It is that you can be comfortable using global resources to expand and innovate in your own small business. You may be located in the U.S., but having your software developed in another country is certainly possible, practical and even preferred because of the low-cost benefits.

For a more complete discussion on innovation you can read Moore’s recent book Dealing with Darwin. You can read my review of the book in a past issue of Runtime posted on the Accelerance blog: “Moore groups 14 different types of innovation into 4 major “zones”. Fourteen types – that’s a lot of innovation! No wonder “innovation” seems like a nebulous and overused word. more…”

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