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The ICO way
The ICO way is the value foundation on which we have built our company. This value foundation has derived from the beliefs and values of the early founders, the way the market has come to strengthen some while modifying others, and the interactive influence of our long serving members in the course of overcoming hardship and achieving growth together. Added to these we have also assimilated a lot of learning from our cultural ecology, including our business partners, clients, mentors and friends. Over the course of 15 years we have evolved a distinctive corporate character and come to embody a special spirit, clearly recognizable from whoever had worked with us.
In the following we will try our best to describe the key facets of this culture. This articulation of our culture is unlikely to be perfect, but it might be useful for you as a rough guide to compare us with other companies which you might be contemplating to join. You can decide whether this is a culture that fit with your natural inclinations.
The unfolding of the ICO culture is partly based on consciously design and partly based on learning.
The objective of the ICO cultural system is to provide a meaningful framework against which we could structure our activities and decisions. Our experience has taught us that for those members who have a natural fit to this culture, they tend to evolve a fish to water relationship. Such a relationship could be extremely rewarding. So we are very careful in our selection process, as this would ensure that those superb talents that you will be working with could develop exciting chemistry.
As we continue to grow, we will no doubt be experiencing expansion across product lines, across geographies, across functions, and across specializations. But we will strive for the forging of one company, one culture, one set of systems and a common set of principles and practices. We hope that this could become the most important integration forces that could unit us around meaning goals and common passion.
The ICO way is based on three core spirits:
--the spirit of unceasing progress
--the spirit of dream realization
--the spirit of worthwhile contributions
We believe that true spirit of IT could be summed up in terms of those three spirits, and we have come to embodied this through our deeds.
The ICO way is based on a number of important principles:
Client orientation
Our whole organization exists to serve our clients. We have established a tradition not only to satisfy, but to surprise, our clients.
Business obsession just as important as technical obsession
For an organization with a lot of colleagues who have background in technology, this fundamental orientation could not be overstressed. A good place to start is to realize that business and technology has evolved distinctive traditions, each with distinctive vocabulary, mind-set, and meaning structure. Communication between the two is very difficult. But each side needs to embrace the other in order that the potentiality of both could be realized. As a company aspiring to bring the best to our customers, we have to constantly remind ourselves that we are here to serve our clients who are not interested in the technology per se, but in what technology could do for them. This is where our challenge truly lies. But the spirit of technology is to generate alternative, and that of business the enlargement of choice. At that level, both are the same. So there is common ground across the two. Our establishment of two organizations, one oriented to the business side, while the other towards the technology side, should not be seen as signs that we have successfully bridged the two, however. This is a form of division of labor on the task level, and we are doing this for efficiency purpose. Within each organization we should strive to embrace both business and technical worldviews. On this foundation we could serve our customer well.
Commitment to deliver
Worldwide, ICO is one of the few companies which had never failed a project. This has enabled us to achieve a legendary status in the industry. At the heart of why we could achieve this level of performance is our commitment to deliver. A promise is a promise to keep. That defines us. We intend to keep this record. We also intend to find similar industry-standard-setting-opportunity in other activities that we are rapidly growing into.
Professionalism and quality of work
Not only do we have set an industry record of non-failing, our work has generally received commendations from our clients, not only at the point of delivery, but in our post delivery services as well. Some of these implementations have achieved international recognition, from United States, to Europe, to Asia. At the heart of all these is a sense of world class quality which has come to define our work in various spheres. We regards us as true professional when we could anticipate our customers need, be forthcoming in our help, be knowledgeable in our advices, be ingenious in our proposals, be elegant in our execution, and be truly listening to the inner voice of our customers. Our colleagues have built some very important milestones projects that has put us on the global map, and with such track record, we will be having more and more grand projects coming our way. We need to keep the same level of professionalism if we want to continue to grow in significance.
Trust, Openness and Integrity
This focuses on the relationship side of our organization. We don’t just talk about these, we institutionalize these through norms and leadership actions. We practice trust, we practice openness, and each of us set personal example of integrity. We love to be able to rely on you, and trust that you would try your best to do what should be done. Our base line of openness is as Karl Popper would have it. I might disagree with you wholeheartedly, but I will defend with all my strengths your right to disagree with me. We explain our decisions. Your reasoning and the logic are more important than your position and title here.
Teamwork, mutual respect and care
The nature of our work demands a lot of team formation and as such we will stretch your team player inclination to the limits. Collectively we achieve miracles. If you examine our records, you will be amazed by how such achievements are made possible. For after all, we are all human. Human we all are. But in team you become our heroes. The secret of team is in the removal of barriers and the formation of synergies.
Proactivity and creativity
From day one joining ICO you will be regarded as a professional in your respective field. You work hard to keep this regards deservedly from your colleagues and clients. One of the character traits of a professional is proactivity. By this we means that you take the initiative to assume responsibility when you think the situations call for you to be forthcoming. Always hold the big picture in mind, from there you will see the gaps that need to be filled. The other aspect of this organization is that it is free of dogma. It encourage you to challenge the status quo, to question authority, to go beyond taken-for-granted reality, and to always find better ways of doing things. At the heart of all innovation is creativity. And we try very hard to make sure that ICO is a fertile ground for encouraging, empowering, and enabling your creative being to come out. In our world of work, there are plenty of challenges which demand new approaches and experimentation. We encourage risk taking so that we could grow into new directions.
Leadership, boundary-breaking and making a difference
Everyone is a leader here. We expect you to be leading in certain knowledge fields or in certain areas of work. We expect you to bring us to new horizon. This is not a hierarchical organization. We learn from each others’ strengths so that collectively we could become even stronger. Be free to break boundaries. Fundamental contribution in the market economy are made by people who dare to go beyond the given and come up with ingenious ways to solve problems that could affect the multitude positively. Consider ICO as the platform for you to make a difference.
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