I love this quote.  It is timeless and has sweeping application:  in business, in art, in life.  I was reminded of it as I listened to a recent Harvard Business Review podcast that highlights a few topics from their 172 page January/February 2017 issue.  In this podcast, HBR editor-in-chief, Adi Ignatius, interviewed well-known experts including Roger Martin from Rotman School of Management and Clayton Christensen of Harvard Business School.  Then, in the final two minutes of the podcast, Adi interviewed Jerry Seinfeld about the final article of this HBR issue.  Ignatius solicits Jerry’s thoughts on innovation, given Seinfeld’s recent launch of an on-line talk show called “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee”.  Jerry simply states that he believes innovation begins with someone saying: “You know what I’m really sick of?”

Innovation:  there is an interminable stream of books, blogs, articles on this topic.  A myriad of innovation models are at our fingertips.  Try googling “innovation model” images, and you will understand what I mean.  Yet, the concept continues to be elusive and many organizations struggle with its application.  But for me, Seinfeld nailed it, in just seven words, none of which contain more than six letters.  Simplicity is indeed the ultimate sophistication.

Bringing innovation from ideation to broad commercial application is clearly more complex than this.  But Jerry is right, all innovation, particularly the disruptive kind, starts with identifying a big problem.  Think the printing press (I’m really sick of… scribing by hand); think automobiles (I’m really sick of…slow travel by horse); think iTunes (I’m really sick of… buying a whole album to listen to just one song).

The regulatory compliance challenges faced by the financial services industry, while complex to solve, are similar to the examples above, in the sense that they start with the same, simple problem identification statement.  At InvestorCOM, we recognize that regulatory compliance is absolutely necessary to create transparency for investors, but it is also resource-intensive and time-consuming to deliver.

Our goal is to give our financial services clients the tools to efficiently fulfill their obligations, so that they can double down on their efforts to generate value in new ways for their customers.  Taking the difficulty out of regulatory compliance for banks, mutual fund and insurance companies was the genesis of our InvestorPOS and Publisher products, which streamline and satisfy increasing regulatory compliance obligations.   Our DOX and Customer Communications Management (CCM) technologies enable timely and efficient client communications.

There is no shortage of new compliance requirements on the horizon for the financial services sector.  Transparency needs will continue to grow.  At InvestorCOM, we are committed to providing innovative enabling technology that will efficiently solve the challenges of increasing regulation.  By simplifying our clients’ processes, we allow banks, mutual funds and insurance companies to focus on their own innovation agenda, which in turn, will be good for everyone.

 

Tags: Industry