Innovation as seen by Scalian

Do you have to be a start-up to innovate or do you just need an innovative spirit? 

There is a tendency to think that innovation is reserved for start-ups: small, agile structures capable of questioning their practices, processes, markets and solutions in order to be more closely aligned with – or even ahead of – users’ expectations. But what about innovation in bigger companies and other industrial groups?

It has become commonplace for companies today to talk about their commitment to innovation. It is even outdated at times, given how the word is so overused, vaunted everywhere by everyone without real justification. We therefore need to look inside a company’s genes for the right sequence of nucleotides, or more simply the different components that contribute to its DNA, to ensure that this innovation is indeed well rooted.

At Scalian, we like to think of ourselves as a start-up that is over 30 years old!

The innovation process at Scalian

Innovation is in the genes and the entrepreneurial fibre of its founders, directors and managers. To exist, survive and grow in the technology consulting and service markets, you need to know how to recognise implicit needs and find solutions for them, use the skills from one sector or field and transfer them to others, adapt the organisation according to its contracts and projects, and anticipate any vital or rare skills that may be needed. This is how the proof of a company’s raison d’être is forged, and it goes far beyond mere words.

If any demonstration were needed of this DNA for Scalian, it could be summed up with these four examples:

Centres of Excellence & specialist practices

Very early on in the Group’s history, through its specialisation and development of expertise, the products and services offered and the organisational choices made proved to be key differentiating factors in the market, helped by the critical mass of skills available in the same place and focused on the same themes. This organisational innovation is at the heart of the Group’s strategy and is expressed through its centres of excellence and specialist communities.

An inclusive company

Through our managerial innovations, with the deployment of the first agile projects in the mid-2000s, and on an everyday basis with our in-house collaborative methods, Scalian is committed to bringing out the creativity and diversity of the points of view of its consultants and managers. Our employer brand, knowledge-sharing rituals, in-house initiatives within the agencies and client offers therefore all emanate from the proposals and ideas of our consultants in the field, and that makes all the difference!

Corporate social responsibility policy

The implementation of our social responsibility policy has led us to rethink our daily lives and the way we operate. A true guarantee of sustainability, performance and attractiveness, CSR encourages innovation and creativity that then enable us to respond to the new challenges we face, to the demands and needs of our stakeholders, and to the achievement of our shared goals.

R&D and the Innovation LAB

Besides innovation for the direct improvement of the company, innovation is also a strategy for business. Scalian has had a laboratory for innovation and R&D since 2011. It benefits from dedicated resources focused on the common objective of being the Group’s control tower and service & support centre for all innovative initiatives and in-house or collaborative R&D projects.

And because business innovation is not achieved alone, the Lab’s development has been helped by numerous academic, technological and end-user partners, with whom it has obtained tangible results every year.

The best result is that our clients recognise this capacity for innovation!

Jean-Frédéric REAL – Marketing and Innovation Director