Sky Italy is a media & entertainment company founded in 2003. It is part of the Sky group, one of the leading entertainment groups in Europe, which is controlled by Comcast Corporation, an international media & technology company.
The company has always focused on innovation and technological development and one of the most recent cases is undoubtedly Sky WiFi, which offers high-quality broadband solutions, with a team that manages the technological infrastructure necessary for transmitting streaming to subscribers.
L’Startup Thinking Observatory of the Polytechnic of Milan is among Sky’s partners for innovation, with the participation of Leonardo Brandi, Head of Broadband Platforms Systems, Fabio GarganoTechnical Solutions Delivery Manager, e Monica OrianaNew Initiatives, Scouting & Feasibility Manager, who in this interview talked about the way Sky innovates.
Sky: the importance of anticipating technological trends
In a rapidly evolving technological landscape such as that of TV and broadband services, it is crucial for an international group like Sky to stay up to date with the most advanced technologies, anticipating trends and opportunities. For this reason, the Group has centralized most of its R&D and innovation activities, while leaving the individual countries with the task of exploring innovation opportunities, experimenting with new solutions and examining the specific needs of individual geographical areas. This allows the development of a network capable of widely monitoring new technological solutions and proactively responding to the changing needs of end consumers.
Sky Italia: the organizational model
In particular, the Network Division – led by Massimo Bertolotti – reports directly to the CTO, Gabriella Vacca, like IT and the area that deals with TV production. The organizational model is aimed at maximizing synergies in terms of innovation ideas between the different business units, creating a virtuous circle of contamination and sharing of ideas. This is facilitated by the definition of a meeting and discussion space, organized on a monthly basis, in which all the Innovation Managers of the company’s Divisions and the main stakeholders participate in order to share ideas, projects and the progress of the activities.
The process of identifying and evaluating innovation opportunities has been structured with the aim of ensuring high speed and a continuous recirculation of ideas. The portfolio of initiatives is periodically subjected to analysis by an “Innovation Committee”, which monitors progress and evaluates individual projects based on an evaluation radar that uses three metrics: relevance, i.e. the business opportunity; the feasibility of implementation, in terms of costs and technologies used; and finally the progress status of the project. This is to ensure that the portfolio of innovation projects is constantly balanced and able to reflect the strategic objectives defined by the Group.
In the event that particularly relevant innovation areas with potential transversal impact are identified, such as success in the field of Generative AIis expected definition of cross-functional teams with figures coming from the various business units involved. This allows on the one hand to immediately involve the Functions potentially interested in the innovation opportunity, and on the other hand to create teams that possess a broad and varied spectrum of business skills and knowledge. The team then starts a Proof of Concept with the aim of experimenting and testing the validity of the innovation opportunity. In the event that the PoC is successful and reaches an advanced stage, the results are presented to the Innovation Committee, which has the task of evaluating the solution and deciding whether to proceed with the industrialization phase.
The Sky Italia model: a holistic vision
Sky Italia’s innovation model is an example of how an organization can improve its innovation capacity through an approach that combines centralization and decentralization, capable of responding to the specific needs of individual geographical areas and at the same time seizing opportunities that can act to global level. This holistic view may not only be able to improve user responsiveness but can facilitate the definition of new standards, demonstrating the power of innovation when well orchestrated and integrated into a global organization.
