Back in 2000 when Microsoft was still struggling for credibility within large enterprise accounts, it teamed with Accenture to create Avanade, a global systems integrator specializing in raising the strategic profile of its technologies.

To date, that company has delivered projects and services for more than 4,000 clients including L'Oreal, Sara Lee, Cable & Wireless, and Delta Airlines. What's more, it has amassed more than 23,000 certifications in Microsoft technology.

While still predominantly a Microsoft shop—after all, it was the developer's 2014 Alliance Partner of the Year—Avanade is now majority-owned by Accenture. It is pushing hard to become expert in technologies that help businesses define their digital identities especially when it comes to customer relationships or mobile interactions. That means thinking differently, a concept its relatively new chief technology innovation officer, Florin Rotar, is institutionalizing across the entire 21,000-person organization.

Rule one: everyone participates. This is not an ivory-tower function confined to the Seattle headquarters location. "The real action happens when we combine internal communications across departments with some of our great ideas," Rotar said. "That doesn't scale when you only have a central innovation team. This is not something that you do in isolation."

Can We Hack It?

One strategy Avanade has borrowed to its advantage builds on "innovation challenges" and developer hackathons that organizations are using to spur interest and practical uses of their technologies. One vivid example is the $1 million competition Salesforce ran last fall to encourage mobile app development. (It's got a repeat planned for mid-October.)

So far, Avanade has held three company-wide employee innovation contests focused on solving real world business concerns (two recent themes were "Work Redesigned" and "IT Without Boundaries). It offers a $25,000 to the winning teams.

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