"Our ranking among the TOP 100 is an exciting external validation that we are on the right track with our sophisticated innovation strategy. Innovation culture has always been important at Interflex, especially as a part of the Allegion family. We want to be on the leading edge of technology and solutions for our customers, and we want to empower our employees to be creative and curious," emphasized Dr. Jörg Wissdorf, general manager at Interflex, on the occasion of the award. In fact, as an Allegion company, one of Interflex’s core values is “Be curious beyond the obvious,” as well as “Have a passion for excellence” and “Be empowered and accountable.” Dr. Wissdorf said all of these values inspire and support innovation.
Innovating to Meet Customer Needs
One look at Interflex's culture shows that innovation is a top priority, especially for their customer-centric solutions. Their core business is the development of hardware and software for access control, time and attendance recording, and personnel scheduling for national and international business customers. In the process, Interflex relies on the following strategies:
1. Interflex and Allegion invest in the latest technology trends and are continuously analyzing all options for innovative use.
2. There’s a consistent focus on customer and market needs. For example, Interflex organizes customer focus days and creative workshops, in which teams from various functional areas at Interflex address the specific needs of their customers. In addition, a highly motivated user experience team develops innovative customer-oriented solutions.
3. Employees are provided with the resources, tools and communication structures necessary to work creatively and bring innovations to life.
4. Employees embrace company-wide innovation practices that encourage them to develop new ideas and drive innovation inside and outside of their own responsibilities.
Creating a Comprehensive Innovation Culture
Another pillar for Interflex and Allegion is the active development of internal innovation capacity. Interflex challenges its employees once a year in a company-wide competition: In the style of a popular TV contest ("Shark Tank"), employees compete for the most clever innovation ideas. The competition provides an opportunity for employees across all functions and at all levels to collaborate and communicate to develop new ideas. In addition, Interflex employees also take part in the annual "Trailblazer" event organized by Allegion for global employees. This annual competition similarly encourages those employees to compete to develop the most ingenious ideas for improving products and processes. But innovation is more than annual competitions at Interflex – idea creation meetings are held regularly throughout the year for employees across product management, sales and services to generate ideas for improvements. The most actionable ideas are assigned “mentors” who test and see them through to fruition. “We want our employees to have a thirst for knowledge and willingness to try new things. Even if they fail, we learn from them – and we continue on and try again,” Dr. Wissdorf said.
Driving Technology Trends: Intuitive Operation, Energy Efficiency and Convenience
Having an understanding of technology and using it to drive innovation in the security industry is important at Interflex. With "Access 5.0", for example, the company is launching future-oriented access control solutions. Interflex customers are already using smartphones to open doors today. When developing innovative user interfaces, Interflex relies on the latest technologies, such as reactJS.
Energy-saving solutions are also in focus - for example, Bluetooth low energy technology. In terms of product efficiency, the main focus is on specific user behavior. The state-of-the-art time recording systems from Interflex are designed to respond to the evolving behavior of users and offer, for example, the option of recording working hours on mobile devices, such as smartphones. This allows employees to clock in and out and, thus, record their working hours, even if they are working from home, in the field or on a construction site. The latest development from Interflex, the IF-6040 time recording system, allows mobile data recording and offers many other functions for convenient use. Employees can use the system to request a vacation leave or business trip, correct working times and set up an individual start page. When it comes to personnel scheduling, various working time models, desired working days, vacation and sick leaves, and many other features are taken into account. Furthermore, working hours can be assigned to individual projects, fields of activity or cost centers as required. Due to a clear overview, companies can, for example, reduce overtime and working hours subject to premiums and thus, reduce personnel costs. “We want the innovations of Interflex and Allegion to positively change the world of tomorrow and the day after tomorrow,” Dr. Wissdorf added.
About Allegion
Allegion (NYSE: ALLE) is a global pioneer in safety and security, with leading brands like CISA®, Interflex®, LCN®, Schlage®, SimonsVoss® and Von Duprin®. Focusing on security around the door and adjacent areas, Allegion produces a range of solutions for homes, businesses, schools and other institutions. Allegion is a $2.4 billion company, with products sold in almost 130 countries. For more, visit www.allegion.com.
About TOP 100: The Competition
Since 1993, compamedia has been awarding the TOP 100 seal to medium-sized companies for unique, innovative capacity and exceptional success in innovation. Since 2002, Prof. Dr. Nikolaus Franke has been Scientific Director of the competition. Franke is the founder and Director of the Institute for Entrepreneurship and Innovation of the Vienna University of Economics and Business. Science journalist Ranga Yogeshwar is the mentor of TOP 100. The “Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der angewandten Forschung” (“Fraunhofer Society for the Advancement of Applied Research“) and the “Mittelstandsverband BVMW” (“German Association for Small and Medium-sized Businesses”) are project partners. As media partners, the German magazines "impulse", "W&V", and "manager magazin" will follow the company comparison. More information can be found at www.top100.de.
