Innovation Drives Business

By Eileen Feretic

?We celebrate innovation,? said Steve Phillips, senior vice presidentand CIO of Avnet, a global distributor of information solutions, during ameeting with Baseline. ?We have aprogram that encourages our employees to submit innovative ideas, and we recognizethem for the ideas we implement.?

Avnet, which has more than 100,000 customers in more than 70countries, prides itself on continually searching for pioneering ways of doingbusiness. It even has a senior vice president of business innovation, GregFrazier. On its home page, the company features a ?Got an Innovative Idea?? buttonthat links to a page that invites employees, customers and business partners tosend in their ideas.

Viable suggestions are implemented, and the results areimpressive.

In recent years, Avnet made its data center significantlymore power-efficient, saving energy and money. It also implemented a successfuland ongoing mobility program. Currently, Phillips? IT organization is testing avirtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) pilot.

Several years ago, the company?s data center, located in itsheadquarters in Phoenix, was at its threshold. To provide enough power for thefuture, Avnet would have had to spend about $7 million for the power build-out.

The firm obviously wanted to avoid making that investment,said Phillips, so it began looking for ways to make the existing data centerrun much more efficiently. First up, it virtualized about 2,000 of its 3,400servers. Then it put unused servers in hibernation and recycled old ones. Otherenergy-saving ideas included managing the hot and cold air flow in the datacenter more efficiently and automatically turning off lights in unused areas.

As a result of all these efforts, the data center is now at 65percent power utilization, with plenty of room for future growth.

This focus on energy efficiency in its data center led toanother innovative idea: At the beginning of April, Avnet launched a newbusiness, Integrated Resources, which repairs, refurbishes, recycles andresponsibly disposes of electronic products.

A Mobility Strategy

Like many businesses, Avnet is dealing with thebring-your-own-device (BYOD) phenomenon. However, unlike many companies, thecompany is taking a very proactive approach to this challenge. ?People wantchoice, and we want to give them that choice?in a responsible way,? Phillipssaid.

Because it?s a global company, Avnet has different policiesfor various geographies. ?In the Americas, for instance, there are nocompany-owned phones,? he explained. ?There?s an employee affiliate programwith the major wireless carriers, so employees can buy their own phones andservices, and then get reimbursed up to a set amount.?

The program is different in Europe and Asia, where Avnetprovides the phones.  

In addition to standard mobile apps, Avnet develops customapps for employees who need them. Salespeople, for example, can use an app thatlets them check on inventory levels and order status. There are also standardPowerPoint presentations that employees can customize to meet their individualneeds.

Avnet is also running a pilot program to test VDI in the UnitedStates. ?We think we?ve got the technology right, so now we?re working on thepolicies to support virtual desktops,? Phillips said. ?Once the policies areset, we?ll roll this program out. Eventually, we plan to open it up internationally.?

Avnet?s progressive approaches extend to privacy andsecurity. ?We follow best privacy practices and procedures,? Phillips said,?and we make constant investments in protecting our data assets. We have adirector of architecture and security, along with about 20 professionalsworking on IT security.?

What innovations will Avnet implement in the future? Thatdepends, Phillips said, on input from their employees, customers and business partners.