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Personalized Innovation

By Cesar Vera Mendez - Naviera Integral
Chief Commercial Officer

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By César Vera Méndez | Chief Commercial Officer - Fri, 03/31/2023 - 11:00

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According to Cambridge Dictionary, the definition of innovation is “a new idea or method, or the use of new ideas and methods” and for personalization it states, “the act of making something suitable for the needs of a particular person.”

With those concepts in mind, one could define the term Personalized Innovation as the use of new ideas and methods in a way that suits the needs of a particular person or group of people.

Such a definition reads well, but how simple is it to actually act on it? In a one-to-one scenario, it requires some skills and abilities either acquired or innate, such as creativity, active listening, flexibility, patience, dedication, perspective, willingness, passion, focus, commitment, persistence, determination, and humility, just to mention the most obvious. Now imagine acting on Personalized Innovation in a Business-to-Business (B2B) situation that requires gathering  diverse needs and/or requirements to achieve an objective or objectives, within a time frame and a budget.

What skill or ability becomes the most vital? In my experience, all of them are. Thus, it is a matter of timing – when to utilize one or a combination of them. Let us initiate with willingness; that is, having the will to seek your customer’s vision, thoughts, needs, requirements, not as a task or a recipe from a cookie-cutter process, but as a true willingness to listen actively, and focus on the client and not on your ready-made plan to close a deal. Humility plays an important role too, because on many occasions we know our company's products and services so well that we assume the customer needs to be educated, and perhaps that is the case, but we are (or should be) solutions providers. Therefore, we need to understand the problem first. Still, this is not an assumption, it is a recollection of all situations around the issue, hence active listening, patience, perspective, focus and dedication. With this comes flexibility, time-wise, design-wise, transparency and honesty-wise.

This is a business model that is not made for every organization, especially those with a sound foundation of “we know it all, take it or leave it.” Though still a valid and successful business model, there is always room for those with a Personalized Innovation model, where a long-term relationship as a trusted adviser and strategic ally is the norm, and there is a commitment to perhaps not having a large client portfolio, but rather a solid, discrete one. Yes, there is growth in that business model too, as it becomes organic by nurturing the model and reaching out to those in need of such a solution. It even happens that one is called in precisely for the Personalized Innovation trademark, image, and reputation.

Let us keep in mind that your whole production process, either material or methodical, does not need to be entirely shifted. There is always room for squeezing in a different, specific or modified manufacturing process, and taking advantage of those hidden free times (see Availability %, Downtime, Performance %, Task Time and, of course Utilization). Similar to these  methods, the common thought and paradigm of “we have always done it this way” has to be put away. Nothing is perfect but everything can be perfected, and sometimes imperfection is more effective and better fits the needs of one or some clients – hence the creativity factor combined with passion. Something innovative does not necessarily have to be a product or method never before created, utilized, or followed. It is the approach, combination, flexibility, change of perspective and adaptation to particular needs or wants for that matter, which is and will always be innovative.

In my current line of work, there is an example that was actually published by Mexico Business back in January 2021 entitled, “The Paradigm Shift in the Energy Sector,” where I describe a project for utilizing a fast supply vessel to mobilize personnel back and forth to deepwater rigs. The concept was innovative and personalized; beginning from a concept of cost optimization without sacrificing people’s comfort and safety. It evolved into a multipurpose boat, one of its kind, that is now operating for one of the Top 5 private oil and gas companies in the world. Here is how Personalized Innovation was harnessed in this situation:

Active listening: Transport of personnel at the fastest speed, with maximum comfort, and with full compliance to the most stringent health and safety standards.

Perspective, Focus, Determination and Creativity: Custom-made fully reclining seats, extra-large and extra plush, infotainment system, fully equipped infirmary, coffee and snack bar, all inside a fast supply vessel with ax bow design that enhances performance and moves at a speed of 21 knots. Plus, we equipped it with a stabilizing gyroscope, thus reducing the rolling movement up to 80%, which significantly prevents motion sickness for the passenger, in addition to improving safety while transferring passengers up and down the drilling rig by use of a personnel basket. By the way, the stabilizing gyroscope installed on “Leonardo” (this is the name of our fast supply vessel that was enhanced for this project) is a VG1000SD (manufactured by Veem LTD), the world’s largest and most powerful system ever made and the first of its kind to be installed. The data from “Leonardo” actually helped improve the system and to help get the second unit installed on another project in conjunction with Damen shipyard.

Flexibility, Passion, Dedication, Willingness: Could this vessel also be utilized as a rescue and firefighting support boat? Well, it has a firefighting system, so let us install a rescue boat and deploy a crane, modify the access for a man overboard scramble net, and let us add 150 lifesaving jackets and warm blankets ready for a rescue. It was done. 

All the above planning and execution tasks took place right in the middle of the pandemic. Many innovative products and methods, like the one just described, take form during a crisis or tough times. We can conclude then, that personalized innovation has no limits once your mindset is determined to succeed, not in stubbornness, but with openness to ideas and desires.

Photo by:   Cesar Vera Mendez

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