--- title: Innovation - Don't Overlook the Obvious description: Learn about Eka's Innovation Initiative, Eka Ideas, which has lead to ideas such as developing commercial drones for stockpile surveying, and modeling mine sites using VR+3D display technology. image: http://info.ekaplus.com/hubfs/innovation-blog.jpg --- [![Eka - Power of One](https://blog.eka1.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Logo-On-White-RGB.png?width=9601&height=5401&name=Logo-On-White-RGB.png "Eka - Power of One")](http://ekaplus.com) - [PLATFORM](https://www.ekaplus.com/platform/) - SOLUTIONS - [CTRM & ETRM](https://www.ekaplus.com/solutions/trading-and-risk-management/) - [Commodity Analytics](https://www.ekaplus.com/solutions/commodity-analytics/) - Supply Chain & Ops - [Eka CSM](https://www.ekaplus.com/solutions/eka-commodity-site-manager/) - [Eka Control Systems](https://www.ekaplus.com/solutions/eka-control-systems) - [Eka QMS](https://www.ekaplus.com/solutions/eka-quality-management-system) - Collaboration - [Eka Connect](https://www.ekaplus.com/solutions/eka-connect) - [Farmer Connect](https://www.ekaplus.com/app/farmer-connect/) - [Supplier Connect](https://www.ekaplus.com/app/supplier-connect/) - [Customer Connect](https://www.ekaplus.com/app/customer-connect/) - Digital Transformation - [Eka AI](https://www.ekaplus.com/app/customer-connect/) - [Eka Blockchain](https://www.ekaplus.com/solutions/eka-blockchain/) - [Eka Source](https://www.ekaplus.com/solutions/eka-source) - [Eka App Store](https://www.ekaplus.com/solutions/eka-app-store) - INDUSTRIES - [Agriculture](https://www.ekaplus.com/agriculture/) - [Metals & Mining](https://www.ekaplus.com/metals-and-mining/) - [Energy](https://www.ekaplus.com/energy) - [Crude Oil & Refined](https://www.ekaplus.com/energy/crude-and-refined/) - [Natural Gas & LNG](https://www.ekaplus.com/energy/natural-gas-lng/) - [Power](https://www.ekaplus.com/energy/power/) - [Manufacturing](https://www.ekaplus.com/manufacturing/) - [CUSTOMERS](https://www.ekaplus.com/customer-directory/) - [COMPANY](https://www.ekaplus.com/company) - [RESOURCES](https://www.ekaplus.com/resource-center/) - [News](https://www.ekaplus.com/news/) - [Blog](http://blog.ekaplus.com/blog) - [Events](https://www.ekaplus.com/event-center/) - [App Sheets](https://www.ekaplus.com/appsheets/) - [Brochures](https://www.ekaplus.com/brochures/) - [Case Studies](https://www.ekaplus.com/casestudies/) - [Whitepapers](https://www.ekaplus.com/whitepapers/) - [Webinars](https://www.ekaplus.com/webinars/) - [PLANS](https://www.ekaplus.com/plans/) - [Contact](https://www.ekaplus.com/contact/) - [GET STARTED](https://www.ekaplus.com/get-started/) - [GET STARTED](https://www.ekaplus.com/get-started/) [EKA](http://ekaplus.com/) > Innovation - Don't Overlook the Obvious December 22, 2015 # Innovation - Don't Overlook the Obvious [![](http://info.ekaplus.com/hubfs/innovation-blog.jpg)](https://blog.eka1.com/blog/innovation-dont-overlook-the-obvious) ![Innovation - Don't Overlook the Obvious](http://info.ekaplus.com/hubfs/innovation-blog.jpg "Innovation - Don't Overlook the Obvious") Innovation, Innovation, Innovation.. It seems like you can’t read a company prospectus, attend a product launch, or pick up an annual report without being hijacked by the word. And with good reason, a lack of innovation leads to a lack of rising star products, putting more reliance on the cash cows and the risk that you get left behind in an ever changing market. Innovation for a high tech software company should also be a no-brainer as the conception of new ideas and realisation in code is arguably the purest form of human invention. Our barriers to software innovation are super low; we don’t need capital expenditure on plant or suppliers, we don’t need complex facilities or factories, we don’t need to stock expensive inventory or fund long lead items, we only need **ideas and time**. ## Eka Ideas At Eka we run an innovations initiative called ***Eka Ideas**.* Any person can work on any innovation idea and be rewarded if the innovation adds to the profitability of the company. We have dedicated collaborative intranet sites and tools to help nurture innovation. We have had some wonderful innovation ideas which we are pursuing, such as developing commercial drones for stockpile surveying, and [modeling mine sites and facilities using VR+3D display technology](https://www.ekaplus.com/stockpile-management-software) (think Oculus Rift® or MS HoloLens®), but are we overlooking the obvious? It is natural for our employees to want to be linked to glamorous innovation projects, and this is to be encouraged (we’ve had some great ideas - see above!) and I am excited that these projects, and many others like it, will become the game changers our industry needs and give us our future star products – but it will take time. What we overlook is the simple small innovations that will reap benefits today. These innovations could include: - Process innovations - allow customer access and querying of online release notes - Product innovations - define a ‘lite’ and ‘pro’ offering of legacy products - Product marketing innovations - offer a subscription model - Efficiency innovations - record test cases direct to a rugged tablet PC, eliminating the paperwork - Product integration innovations - integrating our products into rich third party apps (e.g. Google maps) ## The obvious innovation So I encourage my employees to innovate around the obvious as well as the glamorous. My experience to date with this initiative has been rewarding. Our staff who daily interact with our customers and who are totally immersed in our technologies and processes are in the best place to innovate. Since we started ***Eka Ideas*** (which I guess was my innovation project!), not only have we had more than a dozen viable projects, but overall staff satisfaction and morale has improved, as has the customer experience. Perhaps we are not re-inventing the wheel? Perhaps the ‘obvious innovation’ went by the name of *CIP*, *TQM,* or *Six Sigma* when I started my career 25 years ago? Regardless, my team is focused on innovation and knows not to overlook the small, obvious quick wins. Learn more about one of Eka's recent innovation projects around leveraging IoT and time series data to improve bulk material handling sites in "*[Using Predictive Analytics Software to Enhance Throughput](http://blog.ekaplus.com/blog/using-predictive-analytics-software-to-maximize-throughput)*." 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