Finding Innovation in Data Overload

Electronic News, Feb 1, 1999 by Karen Zelina

Until recently, it was relatively easy to be innovative, because fewer products existed, and engineers had lots of time to think creatively and research their ideas thoroughly. Product design cycles must now be completed in a matter of weeks rather than seasons. Innovation is seldom random; rather it's part of a process that is geared toward inventing products that are smaller, better, more convenient, or more appropriate to those who use them. To be truly innovative, the engineer must push beyond the envelope of what's possible, and the only way to do that is to research ways to accomplish the seemingly impossible.

Almost every engineer in every high-tech company can access the Web, a vast resource for anything and everything you could possibly research. It's a virtual maze of information -- vast and unwieldy, and potentially unreliable. Without some means of organizing relevant information, the Web can entrap the best engineer and usurp his design time, complicating rather than simplifying the design process. More and more, engineers are turning to dedicated hub or portal sites that can aggregate relevant information on a given topic while adding some of their own, thereby paving the way to innovation. By using a hub site as his primary research resource, the engineer saves valuable time and increases his productivity.

Some Amazing Statistics

In the world of electronic engineering, product market windows have become so narrow that little room is left to be truly innovative. Just a few years ago, the typical design process ranged from 12-18 months, giving the designer ample time to find the information he needed to develop an innovative idea. But in the last three years, the design cycle has accelerated dramatically, leaving engineers little time for research. According to recent findings, engineers work on an average of 13.4 projects annually (source: Cahners Electronics Group, EDN magazine).

Yet these same designers face an increasingly competitive marketplace, and design complexity continues to rise. Finding ways to be innovative in such a fast-paced, demanding environment requires new approaches to conceptual development, information gathering and assimilation, and design execution that were previously unnecessary.

As design complexity increases and more technology floods the market, engineers are required to sift through vast amounts of information to find the gem that will distinguish or make possible their design. The time engineers used to spend thinking must now be allocated to the long and tedious task of research. Because it's a convenient and comprehensive source for such information, most engineers turn to the Web. In fact, three-fourths of engineers say they spend more than half of their time surfing the Web for business purposes, for a total of 5.6 hours each week spent online.

What are they looking for? Engineers search the Web for datasheets, books, technical service information, product pricing, and company contact information. They use the Web to evaluate products, develop concepts, establish specs, seek design tips, select suppliers, locate brands, and even purchase the products they need to complete their designs. To make their job easier, engineers need to get to this information quickly and find accurate and updated information on vendors, manufacturers, and products. A site that fails to provide up- to-date information holds no value for the engineer, for whom time -- or a lack thereof -- is the driving force.

Take for example the design of an office copy machine. To produce a competitive copier product, the engineer must research the latest in print engines, controllers, forms of memory management, plus all of the best and most appropriate electronic components. This information must be gathered from a number of disparate sources, including catalogs, books, Web sites, and vendor datasheets. Assimilating this information takes time that would be better spent on conceptualizing an innovative design. QuestLink estimates that up to 35 percent of the design process is spent on gathering and assimilating the information necessary for designing a new product -- that's over one-third of the design process! What today's engineer lacks is time to think, and because he gets bogged down with the details of research, innovation take a backseat to time-to-market.

Home Base

The advent of the Web has unleashed vast opportunities for assimilating information in an efficient, easily accessible fashion. The birth of hub sites have simplified life for professionals in a number of industries and have made it possible for high-tech companies in particular to accelerate their research and design efforts to keep pace with shrinking market windows.

The engineer knows the information he needs exists somewhere on the Web. What he needs is a "home base" -- a starting point from which to begin his search. A hub or portal site for electronic engineers, such as www.questlink.com, can assimilate information from a variety of sources into a cohesive, searchable format that makes research easy, saving valuable -- and scarce -- time. Time is money, and any means of saving time can reduce project costs significantly by increasing efficiency and driving productivity. The time saved on research can be redirected into design and development. More importantly, by leveraging the time savings provided by a hub site, the engineer has more time to think of new ways to be innovative.