We recently spent time working on Imaging Office Systems’ “Why.” Namely, why do we do what we do? If you’ve seen Simon Sinek’s great TED talks or read Start with Why, this concept will be familiar to you.
When we got to the heart of it, we discovered that everything we do is based on this simple philosophy: it’s the idea that matters.
The Best Ideas Are Elegant—But Elegance Can Be Many Things
What drives us is the search for the most elegant way we can accomplish a goal, i.e. the best idea! When working with our customers, we pull in cross-departmental expertise and lessons learned from thousands of projects to provide context for the decisions to be made. Depending on the situation, “elegant” may mean inventive, or it could mean simple. Like beauty, elegance is defined by the eye of the user…and above all, we want our customers to use the solutions we provide them to bring their ideas to fruition. Because…at the end of the day, it’s the idea that matters. Not who came up with it. Not what departments are involved. It’s the idea.
Our focus is on empowering our customers’ ideas with the technology they need to take shape…and we view every engagement as an opportunity to exercise nearly 50 years of perspective on how technology can transform and translate ideas into bottom-line success. We love the challenge of adjusting to the unique needs 
of our customers and helping them find the right technology fit; big or small, quick-turnaround or on-going, simple or complex. We liken ourselves to a skilled chef who knows how to recast and redeploy 10 simple ingredients into an entire menu-full of unique and tasty dishes.
But why, after nearly 50 years, are ideas the most important thing to us—and not experience?
To that, one of the folks in our company recently said it’s because we like being right. That’s honest. Not the glossy finish a marketing person would put on it, but we can all identify with that feeling. When we come up with an idea that solves a customer problem, we are validated. We were right. When you go all in and come up with an idea that brings success to a customer, that’s huge for us. It feels great!
Another person had this take: when a customer engages us to do something, we are asking them to trust us and our ideas. By placing the order, they are extending us that trust, and when we deliver, we validate it. This particular employee said it was that trust and fulfillment circle that he found so fulfilling.
For me, I like the challenge of taking on something we’ve never done before or doing something we have done before in a completely new and different way. I love the brainstorming, research, mockups, and back-and-forth that happens while we triangulate on “the idea.” When the response is “that’s cool,” that’s my reward.