Michael Shapiro is the managing director of Synthesis \u2013 a top South African software development company.<\/p>\n
In this role, he leads the strategy, marketing, sales, entrepreneurship, and customer satisfaction efforts of the company.<\/p>\n
Shapiro has a strong interest in the FinTech sector, including how technology and information security are shaping the financial services industry.<\/p>\n
He has worked at Synthesis for nearly 20 years \u2013 first serving as the director for business development, before taking up his current role in 2012.<\/p>\n
In this conference session, Shapiro explains the difference between sustained and disruptive innovation.<\/p>\n
He then describes why it\u2019s important for South African businesses not only to focus on sustained innovation but to investigate disruptive opportunities too.<\/p>\n
He then uses Discovery\u2019s Vitality platform as a great example of how South African businesses can embrace disruptive innovation to be extremely successful.<\/p>\n
Shapiro also discusses how local businesses can create a culture that fosters disruptive innovation \u2013 including how businesses can restructure to reward this type of creativity.<\/p>\n
He concludes by explaining how organizations can reject ideas that aren\u2019t feasible without demotivating their employees from generating them in the first place.<\/p>\n
The full conference session between Michael Avery and Synthesis MD Michael Shapiro is embedded below.<\/p>\n