eir’s Andy O’Kelly on the importance of innovation

Andy O’Kelly, Chief Architect, eir business

Andy O’Kelly, Chief Architect at eir business, spoke to Business & Finance about the importance of innovation, particularly in this current climate.

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Innovation is a word dished out quite often but is rarely as important as it is now. Andy O’Kelly, Chief Architect at eir business, discusses what eir has to offer in this field.

Andy references in particular the network opportunities that eir offers its customers.

We all know what innovation is but do we have a definition for it? Andy says, to him, innovation is “something that’s new or novel that delivers a sustainable, long-term advantage for you as an organisation” and “differentiates you”.

The eir business Chief Architect also went on to say that innovation is so important as the capacity and capability to innovate is vital in today’s business world.

To further hammer home the need for innovation, Andy referenced John Cage, the American music composer’s thoughts and feelings on delivering new ideas: “I can’t understand why people are frightened of new ideas. I’m frightened of the old ones.” (Conversing with Cage (1988))

What we’re used to and what we’re currently doing may be wrong and may need freshening up. This is where Andy states not be afraid of embracing “something that’s technological different and maybe a little bit scary to really bring the innovation to fruition.”