Innovation Brings New Ideas—A New Way of Thinking

Innovation is driven by creativity, curiosity, and the desire for improvement. It requires a mindset that embraces change, welcomes ideation, and encourages experimentation. At Qlarant, we empower our associates, encourage collaboration, and promote creativity while recognizing and celebrating the innovative spirit that drives us forward.

Why does Qlarant promote innovation? As one of our five core values, Innovation brings new ideas, methods, products, services, or solutions that have a significant positive impact and value on our clients, our business, and our colleagues. Innovation transforms creative concepts into tangible outcomes that improve efficiency and effectiveness. It involves challenging the status quo, thinking outside the box, and taking calculated risks to drive progress and achieve breakthrough outcomes. Over the last five decades, Qlarant has encouraged the mobilization of new ideas to create a better work environment.

Various components of innovation present at Qlarant provide the foundation of innovation and have enabled our company to provide an environment where our associates can drive innovation effectively:

• Culture: It is crucial to have an organizational culture that fosters and supports innovation. This culture includes values, attitudes, and behaviors that encourage curiosity, risk-taking, collaboration, and experimentation. Our culture of innovation has promoted an open and welcoming environment where individuals feel empowered to contribute their ideas and embrace change. Qlarant champions innovation by fostering a culture that thrives on new ideas and creativity.
• Risk Management: Effective risk management is crucial to mitigating potential challenges and ensuring successful outcomes. Our organization has implemented processes to identify, assess, and manage risks associated with innovation initiatives. This includes evaluating innovative ideas’ feasibility, viability, and potential impact and implementing risk mitigation strategies through our ISO 9001 certification – a set of international standards that ensures products and services are safe, reliable, and high quality.

• Resources and Infrastructure: Adequate financial and non-financial resources are essential for innovation. This includes dedicated funding, skilled human capital, technology infrastructure, research and development capabilities, and access to relevant information and data. Qlarant has allocated resources strategically to support innovation initiatives.

• Creativity: Creativity is the fuel for innovation; it involves generating new and original ideas, challenging assumptions, and thinking beyond conventional boundaries. It is the ability to connect disparate concepts and envision novel possibilities. Generating diverse ideas, both incremental and disruptive, serves as the starting point for innovation for our company and is a key feature of our culture.

• Feedback and Adaptation: Innovation requires a feedback loop that allows for continuous innovation. Feedback can come from users, stakeholders, and market trends. At Qlarant, employee surveys gather and analyze feedback, learn from successes and failures, and iterate on innovation initiatives. Adapting and pivoting based on survey feedback is essential to refining and enhancing innovative solutions.

• Leadership and Vision: Effective leadership plays an essential role in driving and supporting innovation. Leadership is valued at Qlarant, and leaders set the vision, create a sense of purpose, and provide guidance and resources for innovation initiatives. They foster an environment which encourages risk-taking, empowerment of employees, and leading by example. Leadership commitment and support are crucial in nurturing a culture of innovation and driving innovative efforts.

Qlarant encourages our associates to take risks and embrace the agile process of rapid iteration. This mindset paves the way for the next level of ideas and creates a culture of support that removes the fear of failure, a barrier that often hinders true innovation. Our associates are encouraged and supported in pursuing innovative solutions. We challenge them to embrace innovation, and we look forward to their new ideas and solutions.

Innovation is at the heart of our story. Qlarant began with a small group of innovators in 1973 and has grown through embracing their mindset over the last 50 years. We’ve proven that innovation brings new ideas and creates new ways of thinking. These new pathways open us to the future of program integrity, quality improvement, data science, capital investment, and philanthropy. We welcome you to join us on that journey.