The objective of innovation management is to turn great ideas into financially successful products or services. This process used to take place mainly in-house and behind closed doors. Today, companies are increasingly pursuing an open culture of innovation. iPoint’s “Agile Sustainable Open Innovation” approach – ASOP Innovation, for short – actively involves clients, employees, and other stakeholders in innovation projects. “Together with our ongoing monitoring of relevant standards and trends, this enables us to develop software solutions that are always one step ahead”, declares iPoint CEO Jörg Walden.
The fact that since its founding in 2001 iPoint has succeeded in becoming global market leader four times with a specific solution within just three to five years attests to this approach. Our ASOP Innovation approach has also greatly impressed the TOP 100 jury that crowned iPoint “Innovator of the Year” in June 2016.
In the TOP 100 competition designed to reward those SMEs seen as the most innovative, iPoint has been crowned overall winner in category B (companies with between 51 and 250 employees). Having already taken top spot on the winners’ podium once before in category A (firms with up to 50 employees) back in 2012, this makes us the first company to be victorious in two different categories in this competition. This was preceded by an exacting selection process founded on scientific evaluation criteria, during which we answered questions relating to 100 parameters in five different evaluation categories.
According to the statement made by the TOP 100 jury, “The approach combines a number of the latest methods of innovation management in a highly exemplary manner. It positions the innovative capability of the entire company, the opening of innovation processes, and the development of an innovation-encouraging culture at the heart of and as the goals of all activities.”
March 2017 saw iPoint receive yet another accolade: the leading German business newspaper “Handelsblatt” inducted our CEO and founder Jörg Walden into the community of Germany’s 100 most important innovators and brightest minds. Walden has long realized that innovation no longer takes place behind closed doors. “The pursuit of sustainability goals is at the very heart of iPoint’s focus and strategy. Since classic management systems fail due to the level of complexity in our industry, we have to employ agile procedures and practices that only display their full impact when combined with the right culture of innovation.”
For Walden, innovation is all about developing “new, surprising and useful ideas and putting them into practice.” It’s no accident that this approach is rooted as a core brand value at iPoint. We have always based everything we do on an open, continuous culture of innovation, a high degree of customer focus, a global network of partners, and the systematic monitoring of relevant standards and trends. This enables us to always remain one step ahead of others when it comes to developing cutting-edge solutions – so that we can offer you tomorrow’s solutions today.