Published 11. Jun. 2019

Data Meets People: Agile Innovation Transforms Business from the Inside Out

In an emerging world of data-fueled growth, Hot ITem presents flexible solutions for performance improvement and success. When innovative technology fuses with human needs, interests, talents, and intuition, the outcome creates evolving businesses that make their presence known in any market.
Financial Services

Fueled by rapid advancements in technologies like artificial intelligence (AI), cloud services, and Big Data analysis, companies and organisations compete for attention in an increasingly global marketplace. These and other innovations seem to put the success decision solely in the hands of computerized systems. According to Rob Honing, Chief Commercial Officer of Hot ITem, these data-focused innovations focus on and intrinsically include a strong human element.


The continuous flow of innovations and business paradigm shifts going on across the world today have no single force driving them forward. The first push comes from the simple force of discovery. As IT professionals develop new inroads into AI, data analysis and handling, businesses and organisations will most definitely rise to the occasion and use them.


Data Fuels Everything

Current innovation establishes multiple new ways to collect more specific data than ever before. Analyzing and working with this information requires even greater advancements. This creates a need for highly agile tech, based on business data in relation to the actions of other companies in a competing sector. Hot ITem methods use collected and secure data from client companies to create an effective link between the knowledge it provides and overall business intelligence. This focuses on how existing data creates new data that supports the positive effects of change.

Dynamic Global Changes

Although some innovation stems from the simple fact that more data and capabilities exist, other types come from the need for a smarter society overall. Why? Not only does the convergence of a global community require new adaptation to cultures and social issues, but things like climate change and environmental concerns push smart innovation skyward. At the same time, new regulations and laws must be taken into account.

People’s New Needs and Interests

In the end, both data and innovation exist to serve the needs or desires of people. Customers and clients drive advancements because the companies they do business with want to retain their interest. Rob Honing emphasizes that ‘People, processes, and technology must work together effectively in order to affect positive change.’


The idea of data-driving progress seems to take people out of the equation. That impression strengthens when things like AI and machine learning are adopted as methods for handling the data. No matter how smart technology gets, the human element still fuels most reasons for the innovation.

This is not only about pleasing customers, however. Businesses and organizations make money from selling services or products to people, ultimately, but it takes more than knowing what a target audience wants to develop new ideas or systems that provide it. Hot ITem focuses on an integrated approach that melds the tech-based data handling with human talent and desires.

Talent and Leadership

The value chain that pulls an idea through to culmination requires talented individuals to make the process work. Hiring the best individuals or teams to both create and implement new tech and innovative processes makes sense. Establishing a firm yet flexible system of leadership improves the chances of true positive change through proper organization and encouragement.

Team leaders and managers exist in an organization to fuel ideas and action and to get the right people on board who can help turn those things into reality. This is not just about shouting, “Work harder!” and policing compliance. This type of top-down approach does not explore all possibilities. Instead, Hot ITem improves holistically from the center out. In innovative companies and project groups, leaders must pursue a continuous advancement toward the type of technology that fuels growth.

They do this by hiring the right people, inspiring and informing their decisions, maintaining data transparency across groups, and connecting on a human emotional level to the workers. Although personality still matters, Rob Honing states that “Decisions and the execution of actions are based on facts, instead of gut feeling or politics.” This way, even the human element of innovation stems directly from data.


The world of business and technology advances so quickly these days that established companies may feel the struggle to keep up. On the other hand, start-ups rapidly outpace big businesses due to their more agile and innovative attitudes. The smaller new companies start with an impression of a wide-open field before them with virtually endless possibilities for growth. They accept more risk and base decisions on innovative thoughts rather than tried and true approaches.

As most industries turn toward new technologies and methods for conducting business on a day-to-day basis, organisations that already have methods in place must accept the need for change. If they do this, they have a considerable strength to truly make widespread advancements due to greater financial strength and a pre-existing customer or client base. Rob Honing mentions the example of the adoption of self-driving technology by big auto companies emerging after Tesla first developed them.

Hot ITem focuses on driving progress with data no matter how old or young a company or group is. Success against competition requires a flexible strategy that focuses on existing information cleverly combined with the ultimate goals of increased profits, cost savings, industry growth, or moving into new markets.

Hot ITem will be attending 600Minutes Executive Finance in The Netherlands on the 5th of September 2019.