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by Maxwell Orme Johnson
There are countless examples of niche market global
leaders in Denmark. What is less known is that there
are a number of newly minted companies with dreams
of becoming the market leader in highly specialized
fields of IT and biopharmaceuticals. Open Mind,
a small startup company located in Hillerod, a sylvan
city near Copenhagen, home to several biotech and
IT companies, is an exemplar of this sector. The
founding partner and managing director of Open Mind,
Lone Just, proudly admits that she became obsessed
with the idea that brainstorming in the traditional
sense was often counter-productive and that there
had to be a better way to facilitate collaborative
business process improvement.
With the able assistance of Lars Ginnerup, the
creative director of Open Mind, she has designed
and successfully tested a unique software package
that combines process with project, enabling idea
generation. This software system is a quantum leap
forward in the field of business process development
and reengineering, by providing a methodology that
cuts across all disciplines within a company.
Yes, there are other such groupware systems available
on the market, but “Open Mind is the only complete
‘tool in a box’ with global Internet access
for efficient business development based on structuring,
refining and catalyzing cross-company legacy assets.”
Until now, Microsoft and other software vendors
have supported whatever business strategy had been
developed and decided upon by the boards of client
companies. With Open Mind, Microsoft could now provide
a software framework that enables clients to redefine,
develop and expand their business strategies rather
than just support them. Furthermore, Open Mind enables
clients to structure and manage any unstructured
innovation process, dramatically increasing the
Return on Human Capital Employed (RHCE).
Open Mind features a radical new method for identifying
and selecting optimal business opportunities and/or
processes by allowing those employees who have been
granted access to co-edit documents, input recommended
improvements and engage in lively Communities of
Practice, smart chat rooms where specific issues
and ideas can be addressed. This system significantly
enhances the idea generation process through a collection
of readily available Best Process Templates for
idea management and cross-functional innovation.
These templates are based on years of research and
practical application, combined with valuable feedback
from customers who have participated in the beta
testing of the system.
Open Mind supports full integration with most popular
productivity software packages, such as MS Outlook
and MS Office, as well as full support for Microsoft's
.NET strategy. It integrates readily to legacy document
and knowledge management systems, enabling a higher
Return on Investment and improved efficiency in
extant IT infrastructures.
According to Lone Just, "With Open Mind, every
submitted chunk operates like a free wheel that
may roll out into other flexible contexts, rather
than a wheel track, i.e. information run down in
a fixed framework, which is precisely the limitation
of almost all competitors."
Perhaps the most significant feature of Open Mind,
which clearly distinguishes it from its putative
competitors, is that it allows secure access to
this system via the Internet from any PC located
anywhere in the world with a simple password. Open
Mind has been beta tested successfully and has been
used by several Danish and international companies,
such as Novozymes, a major Danish biotechnical company,
Nestle, and the Danish Ministry of Education.
Based on in-depth feedback from current and recent
users of Open Mind, it is clear that it is the first
true process management system with the built-in
possibility of turning the legacy assets of client
companies into real business development and process
improvement in a structured way through cooperative
business strategy redefinition and innovation management.
At the tactical level it enables knowledge transfer,
group decision support, ideation and inauguration.
At an operational level, it serves as teamwork flow
management. As a meeting accelerator and as a group
task management tool, it is flexible enough to be
open to all applications and industries.
Open Mind “is a software product that is able
to structure and manage any business process in
the organization from business development to improvements
in the manufacturing process. It is a system that
we will all be hearing about and using for years
to come.
For more information on Open Mind, visit: www.opnmind.com
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