Management

Cisco's Carlos Dominguez Says There Is No Innovation Without Process

Many IT and business leaders claim to be innovators, but when pressed for more details they can't articulate their plans.

Ricky Ribeiro

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Ricky publishes and manages the content on BizTech magazine's website. He's a writer, technology enthusiast, social media lover and all-around digital guy.

The "innovator" label has become the business equivalent of the trucker hat fad in the early 2000s: It's something many in leadeship are scrambling to foist on their heads and parade around in front of others, but without a game plan, it won't stick around for long.

"I've not met one single executive that tells me ‘We suck at innovation.’ Not one. Everyone's great at innovation. So then I proceed to ask them, ‘What's your process?’ And I can tell you that very few of them say they have any structured approach to innovation.
I conclude, very quickly, as an innovator, that if there's not a process to innovation, you're not innovative," said Carlos Dominguez, Cisco Systems senior vice president of the office of the chairman and CEO.

Dominguez was one of several IT leaders who gathered to discuss the most important and needle-moving technology challenges facing businesses today, as part of CDW’s Bring IT On technology leadership series. He also touched on the value of involving the CIO in innovation, emerging technologies and more during his talk.

Watch more of Dominguez 's Bring IT On talk below.