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On Sunday, 15 February, André van Eeden and Jaco Purchase of Fourier CEC, arrived in Oulu, Finland, in winter temperatures as low as -22 degrees, for a four day visit. The purpose was to validate their Operational Excellence in Complexity model against the Finnish innovation experts and to gain insight into the lessons learnt by similar endeavours in Finland. They met with the representatives from the Oulu Innovation Company and City of Oulu, academia from the University of Tampere, as well as representatives from QPR in Helsinki.
The Fourier Centre of Excellence in Complexity (Fourier CEC) was established as a result of a private enterprise (Fourier Approach) and an academia/research partner (UNISA) joining forces in developing a model towards achieving operational excellence in a complex reality – such as found in South Africa.
The centre, fully endorsed by the Innovation Hub’s ACTIVATOR™, focuses on taking an organisation’s strategies and translating them into optimised processes and organisational structures that efficiently support the offering of the business. Measures for tracking progress and creating a controllable environment are also put in place. The result: resilient operations.
I asked Andre van Eden to explain the term “complex reality” as it pertains to the South African environment; “Numerous complexities influence the way we do business on a daily basis. These complexities include legislative guidelines, social responsibility, economic environment, labour laws, and other external factors that impact the way the business operates. In order to achieve operational excellence, one needs to identify these complexities up front, and optimise within the boundaries set by these factors, defining the complex reality for the specific business and/or department. Optimising the operations without addressing these complexities will result in temporary gains but will not be sustainable as new rules will apply when the complexities change.“
Fourier CEC has developed an operational excellence model to apply to a “complex reality” and has validated the model on local academic conferences and in discussions abroad with international leaders on the topic of innovation. The Finland Centre of Expertise (CoE) – the very model ACTIVATOR™ is based on – was identified as an ideal source of information and further model validation.
“Our frist meeting was with the Oulu Innovation Company (OIC) where we met Mr. Olli Lukkari, Programme Director: Ubiquitous IT cluster, Oulu Innovation Ltd. and Marko Sulonen from the City of Oulu. Points of discussion included the Smart City concept, Oulu’s innovation projects, and the matter of innovation in urban areas.” André comments that important aspects of interest to our local environment emerging from these discussions include the immense possibilities for growth and efficiency in our cities once government, municipalities, research partners and business join forces. “The City of Oulu, with its exceptional bus system, free broadband for all and innovative citizen portal and interaction with the public, has achieved great success by applying well researched solutions to their public service through collaboration with established businesses.”
Mr. Janne Mustonen, Development Manager: City of Oulu, joined the discussions during a second meeting which focussed on the City of Oulu’s approach to Operational Excellence in Complexity. “The main strategy is to inspire and to promote an environment conducive to product and IT testing – especially wireless technology. The City of Oulu has been voted amongst the top 8 IT and innovation cities in the world. The main purpose for creating an environment of innovation is to increase their tax base and number of residents. The municipality provide services such as health and social care, which are normally supplied by national government, and has free broadband for all. This allows anyone to log onto the internet and provides the platform and connectivity required to leverage on the ICT applications.”
Challenges identified are issues around educating employees and the general public about new technologies rolled-out. Several examples of Near Field Communications (NFC) - “a technology that will change the way people use their cell phones” – were demonstrated to the Fourier members. Andre explains, “With the use of RF technology, cellphones can become excellent data gathering and transmitting devices. Current applications in Oulu include innovative solutions from the purchasing of food by touching the catalogue with your phone, downloading detail information from touch screen advertisement boards, and the self assessment of medical patients by simply making contact between the cellphone and the medical devices. In our local environment with its low level of education, (compared to Finland where more than 70% of the citizens have obtained a B-degree), there are definitely some applications for healthcare and service delivery where the NFC can reduce the paperwork and enhance the self help services.”
In Tampere, the focus fell on process innovation in Finland, collaborations between local authority and academia, as well as urban innovation in general. Dr. Mika Kautonen, Senior Researcher and the Head of Innovation Studies, and Professor Markku Sotarauta, Department of Regional Studies – both from the University of Tampere – provided valuable insights that focused on the CEC model and its application, their COE model, innovation as a concept, and public participation.
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The importance of the people side of the methodology, especially when it comes to change management, was emphasised during the meeting. Furthermore the current challenges in Finland were discussed. These challenges include the lack of diversity, resulting in a lack of challenging thoughts and ideas, as well as the difficulty to create a sense of urgency amongst people.
Next, the Fourier Delegation was off to Helsinki where van Eeden and Purchase met with Messrs Laurent Sali and Matti Erkheikki of QPR. “We see QPR as an excellent tool and as a means to further enhance the process. We were more interested in the services rendered, and the approach followed, in engaging with councils to ascertain whether the same could be applied in South Africa”, says van Eeden. “We acquired a good understanding of the route followed in Finland to ensure improved service delivery - a route that can be customized for the South African environment and streamlined to achieve results even quicker than in Finland.”
Fourier has recently taken up residency at The Innovation Hub - a move that makes sense considering their strategic relationship with ACTIVATOR™. I asked Andre what is next for Fourier CEC?
“We are extremely excited about the opportunities within South Africa and will be focussing on building relationship with both provincial government and local municipalities in an effort to start applying the model developed in order to ensure better service delivery. The academic research on enhancing the model will be ongoing whilst the relationship with the Finnish contacts will definitely be maintained. The collaboration will ensure that South Africa can capitalise on the lessons learnt in Finland to ensure better service delivery and efficient cities for all citizens.”
It is clear that the Fourier CEC has a proven model, sound methodology, great ideas and has learnt some great lessons from the Finnish people. The energy and excitement of our discussion was evident of great things to come and we look forward to see and experience the changes that the Fourier CEC will be making to our everyday lives.For more information contact Andre van Eeden at vaneedena@fourier.co.za
André van Eeden of Fourier CEC in Oulu Finland braving winter temperatures as low as -22 degrees
Jaco Purchase of Fourier CEC in Helsinki
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