Where Innovation Begins

The last 18 months have seen us advance the ClearPath Forward™ program in momentous and exciting ways. From announcing the game-changing ClearPath® Software Series to embracing an application-centric mindset to charting a path into the cloud, we’re taking big, bold steps to keep the environment aligned with clients’ changing business and IT demands.

The pace with which we’ve pushed the ClearPath Forward program toward the cutting edge is certainly a boon to the organizations that rely on our hardware and software every day. But, it also means clients might not be aware of how everything we’ve done in recent months could benefit their businesses.

After all, we’re busier than ever. We’re working in dynamic, competitive markets. And we’re juggling a number of responsibilities that continually pull our attention in several directions at once.

So while it’s understandable that clients may not readily recognize how to take advantage of all the capabilities we’ve added into the environment, the ability to put everything to use is essential to realizing the full value the ClearPath Forward program has to offer.

And that’s where our new Innovation Workshops come into play.

Prioritizing Collaboration

Facilitated by trained Unisys personnel and built around a methodology that encourages open collaboration, our complimentary Innovation Workshops gather together people from different functional areas of your organization – business, IT, operations, development, and so on – and allow them to discuss the goals they’re looking to achieve and the barriers standing in their way.

The Innovation Workshops begin with pre-session scoping discussions aimed at making sure the right roles are represented in the room and everyone involved knows how the workshop will unfold. As part of this pre-work, both the Unisys facilitator and your attendees will have an opportunity to share and agree on the pain points, business needs, and long-term strategies to be addressed during the workshop.

Then comes the core part: the innovation session. We begin by giving attendees access to a web-based decision-support tool they can use to capture and categorize ideas based on pre-defined areas. This helps to structure the session around a set of topics and gives the individuals who generated each idea an opportunity to share with the group why they’re important, how they feel each should be addressed, and what must be done to transition them from concept to initiative.

Attendees then vote on each idea to pare down the list to only the concepts and strategies they feel are most crucial – usually things like increasing business value, simplifying implementation, or accelerating application evolution. Based on where this discussion lands, we’ll generate a brief “initial findings” report outlining your “quick wins” and “must haves,” as well as a longer, more detailed report illustrating how the ClearPath Forward environment can bring these to life.

The longer report will also note which capabilities your team can implement today, what might require a bit more lead time, where Unisys help may be required, and more.

From Workshop to Working Features

Upon completion of an Innovation Workshop, clients consistently tell us they found the exercise to be extremely valuable. The ability to set aside their day-to-day responsibilities, convene with peers, and dig deeply into important issues isn’t something they typically have the freedom to do. So simply being able to get in the same room and interact free of distraction is particularly appealing.

They leave the workshop surprised by the wealth of capabilities they can put to use today. And this new-found knowledge empowers them to come up with unique and interesting ideas for their environments – new ways to connect applications, leverage big data analytics, ready existing services for mobile devices, and bring third-party technologies into their data centers, to name a few.

Specifically, one of our clients spent much of their workshop talking through what would be needed to make their disaster recovery environment more robust. What they found, however, was that simply automating recoveries using Unisys Business Continuity Accelerator and SMA OpCon software held the answer to many of their concerns.

Another client wanted to make it easier to attract new development talent to its team, while also simplifying integration with external systems. The workshop helped the client’s team determine that an upgrade from Enterprise Application Environment to Agile Business Suite (AB Suite®) could deliver the advanced capabilities they needed.

And, after hearing another client tell us they wanted to replace some aging integration technology, we proposed a “bakeoff” between the ClearPath Forward ePortal and Application Integration Services product, two Unisys technologies they were already using elsewhere in the organization.

As these examples show, our Innovation Workshops are truly living up to their name. They’re catalyzing innovation by enabling clients to view their operations from a fresh perspective. They’re enabling stakeholders to come together around common goals. And, most importantly of all, they’re helping clients – along with their business and IT leadership – understand the value of the ClearPath Forward environment, as well as the central role it will play in their organizational strategies for years to come.

For a more detailed look at how an Innovation Workshop unfolds, please download our brochure. And if you’d like to schedule your own Innovation Workshop, please contact your Unisys sales representative today.

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