29 January, 2008

Finaref has put innovation at the forefront of its innovation drive. As France’s leading provider of private cards and a specialist in the remote selling of financial products, the company needed to create a space where its employees could share ideas,  foster participative attitudes and allow every member of staff to be an innovator. For this purpose, Finaref has chosen a collaborative platform tool developed by blueKiwi Software.  The aim is to capitalise on the ideas submitted by a select group of over one hundred employees throughout the company and to act on the best suggestions.
 

Web 2.0 has now completely changed the way that people interact. Social Networking software has become very prominent on the web, and many organisations are now considering the use of these types of tools within the organisation. blueKiwi Software was founded in order to meet this specific need.

It is a solution that allows any professional organisation to create, share, search and connect together all types of information and people. "At Finaref, we’ve re-named the tool ’Chrysalide’ and we’re using it to support our innovation drive," says Christophe Vandenkoornhuyse, Deputy CEO at the Information Systems and Organisation Division. Since September 2007, some one-hundred contributors from all divisions, business lines and levels of seniority throughout the company have been using an electronic notepad to publish and share their thoughts and ideas. Ultimately the aim is to extend the system company-wide. Mr Vandenkoornhuyse adds: "blueKiwi is starting to bear fruit. We are clocking up new ideas - good ideas that the company can use - at the excellent pace of one per week".

Thierry Candidat, Deputy CEO, Sales & Marketing, and sponsor of the project at Finaref, adds: "As part of our corporate mission, Ambitions 2010, we needed a tool to help us collect, share and exploit innovation-related information. We test-drove blueKiwi and it was great. It has allowed us to make greater use of ideas contributed by a wide range of co-workers".

Collecting ideas from employees in a company is nothing new: the "suggestion box" used to be a regular feature in the workplace. But putting these ideas together on a shared electronic platform has given the practice a collaborative dimension and a significant boost.

Carlos Diaz, CEO of blueKiwi, says: "Finaref has taken on board the key issues involved in enterprise collaboration. We’re pleased to support Finaref in its effort to share ideas and initiatives. The working group adopted the project whole-heartedly from the outset, and we’re delighted to see the enthusiasm that this innovation drive has generated".

The first ideas collected as part of the project will be put into practice in 2008.

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