ow do you get your partner companies to work faster and smarter — ultimately increasing your own company’s revenue? If you’re European telecommunications giant Orange S.A. — Europe’s answer to Cingular Wireless — you send them to summer camp.

Orange’s partner companies are external developers of wireless applications, including everything from ring tones to specialty products such as Fireplayer, which allows cell-phone users to download and remix soundtracks. Orange, a wireless-network provider based in Paris, purchases and resells its developers’ content and applications to its customers through pre-loaded packages on its wireless devices — cell phones, PDAs, etc. — and as individual products on its Web site for $5.43 (£2.99) to $47.17 (£25.99) each.

Orange’s approach to innovation is what Darrel Rigby and Chris Zook of global management firm Bain & Co. call “open-market innovation.” The pair coined the phrase in an October 2002 Harvard Business Review article by the same name. They explain, “By systematically opening their innovation borders to vendors, customers, and even competitors, businesses are increasing the import and export of novel ideas. As they do so, they are improving the speed, cost, and quality of innovation.”

Although many companies consider open-market innovation a promising strategy, Orange is one of few who have actually taken the plunge. In a 2005 survey of 960 business executives, 75 percent of respondents agreed with the statement, “We could dramatically boost innovation by collaborating with outsiders, even competitors.” But only 26 percent have experimented with open-market innovation (“Management Tools 2005,” Bain & Co., 2005).

This strategy has proven to be very successful for Orange. Collaborating with partners to innovate new applications allows it to produce high-quality products quickly.

“We like to be first in the market with innovative new applications,” says Steve Glagow, director of operations at Orange Partner program. “Getting the applications to the customers quickly is lucrative for both us and our partners. It gives our customers content that will make them want to stay with us, and it increases revenues for our partners and ourselves.”

With more than 56 million customers in 16 countries, the potential revenue from one new, successful application is staggering. If 10 percent of Orange customers buy its lowest-priced application, for example, Orange pockets roughly $30 million (£16.7 million).

High-quality applications also grow customer loyalty. Not only do customers often make purchasing decisions based on a network’s available applications, but once they become fond of a particular offering, they’re less likely to jump ship for another provider without their beloved application.

Innovation and speed-to-market, however, aren’t the only criteria Orange looks for in an application. Before Orange puts its logo on a proposed application, it must pass a series of strict tests that prove it works flawlessly with Orange’s network, devices, and applications. “If an application we sell breaks or does not work, the customer calls us — not the developer,” Glagow says. “So we need to make sure each application works every single time a customer attempts to use it.”

Helping developers create innovative, tested applications as fast as possible sounds simple enough, but prior to 2003, there was a glitch in the system. Back then, if a developer wanted Orange to sell its application in each of its 16 countries, the developer had to hold a separate meeting with 16 different Orange country representatives.

In 2003, Sanjiv Ahuja, the CEO of Orange, created a company program called Orange Partner, through which developers can test and pitch their applications to all 16 country representatives at the same time. Once Orange Partner approves a new application, it is placed in a single product catalogue from which Orange country representatives purchase their applications.

To make it even easier for Orange’s partners to develop applications, Ahuja launched another strategy: Developer Centers. Located in Glasgow and Maidenhead, U.K.; Velizy, France; Rijswijk, Netherlands; Boston; and San Francisco, Developer Centers are “last-mile” testing facilities providing all the handsets, technology, and network access necessary to troubleshoot and finalize an application.

CODE CAMP
In 2004, after witnessing significant success with Orange Partner, Orange took the Developer Center on the road with its first Code Camp. The idea was to build on the successful tactics of the Developer Center, offering developers the experts and tools necessary to speed application development and testing — but also to supplement it with a sense of community that would further accelerate application development and foster loyalty among its developers.

“When partners feel like they’re part of the family, they want to work with you first,” Glagow says. “We wanted to retain the partners we already had, and to get the most out of them that we could.” After all, loyal developers don’t hawk their wares to other networks.

Working with The George P. Johnson Co., based in Auburn Hills, MI, Orange created Orange Code Camp, which it hoped would attract 250 attendees, including Orange staff and sponsors, and generate five new applications. Orange figured that by providing intensive information about Orange and its application requirements, it also could elevate 10 percent of attending general partners to premium status — a free designation Orange offers to proven developers that then entitles them to additional support from Orange.

What kind of corporate event focuses on active learning and fosters a sense of community? According to Glagow, it’s an event that offers innovative face-to-face interaction in a fun, informal environment, where attendees and experts work together toward a common goal. “We wanted a relaxing environment where people enjoyed themselves, but also where they got a lot of work done,” he says.

And what’s more fun — and productive — than summer camp? It’s the one time each year when kids with a common interest stay up late, eat junk food, and develop a sense of community with new friends and camp counselors. And when they board the home-bound bus, they take away knowledge, lifelong friends, and at least one craft project to show the family.

Described by one attendee as “a three-day event where those with an interest in mobile applications meet, workshop, talk shop, share code, and obviously, drink beer,” the first Orange Code Camp was held Sept. 13-15, 2004, at the convention center adjacent to Parc du Futuroscope — an Epcot-like amusement park roughly 200 miles south of Paris in Poitiers, France.

Hosting Orange’s top application and content developers, Code Camp 2004 was a 72-hour coding jamboree, complete with tents, sleeping bags, a camp-radio broadcast, and continuous entertainment and activities. With 80 educational sessions, 15 technical experts, and 11 big-name sponsors such as Nokia and Intel Corp., Code Camp offered access to the people, information, networks, and products necessary for developers to crank out applications at warp speed.

For Orange, the camp was also an attempt to foster a sense of community and loyalty among developer partners and to support them in creating cutting-edge applications.

Code Camp drew 300 attendees (50 more than its self-imposed limit), raised more than 16 percent of attendees to premium-partner status (6 percent more than anticipated), and generated 40 new applications — eight times its goal. Here are Code Camp’s basic tenets.

LIMIT ATTENDANCE
To offer attendees intimate, one-on-one time with Orange representatives and technical-support teams, Orange decided 250 attendees, including Orange employees and sponsors, was about right. However, as soon as registration opened, requests flooded in from every corner of the world. Everyone from application coders to C-level executives from companies such as Time Warner Inc. and The Walt Disney Co. were eager to pay the nominal fee of $146 (£81) to get a piece of the action.

When registration hit 300, Orange drew the line. “If we couldn’t keep the event relatively small, neither we nor our partners would get the results we were looking for,” Glagow says.

SET UP CAMP
To establish the summer-camp theme and foster a sense of community, Orange integrated camping elements throughout the event. Just as with a real summer camp, attendees were transported via bus from the airport to Futuroscope. As attendees arrived on-site, camp-related images such as forest landscapes greeted them throughout the venue.

Orange provided each camper with Orange-branded camping gear — a sleeping bag, ground mat, and wash bag filled with basic toiletries. A 24-hour picnic area provided camp favorites such as hamburgers and hot dogs as well as more nutritious offerings at mealtimes.

Tented nap areas encouraged attendees to unroll their sleeping bags for a few Zs whenever necessary. A 24-hour camp-radio broadcast filled the event’s entertainment and relaxation areas, providing coding information and interviews with key sponsors, along with announcements about upcoming sessions.

PROVIDE INSIDER INFORMATION
Setting the stage for the event, the opening session provided attendees with access to the people and information they couldn’t get anywhere else. It offered detailed information about Orange’s application-selection criteria as well as general suggestions to improve developers’ chances of selling an application to Orange. Individual country representatives talked about the types of content and applications they wanted to purchase.

Orange also offered Show Us Your Applications meetings. Prior to the event, developers booked on-site meetings with Orange Partner reps to receive one-on-one feedback about how well their applications met Orange’s needs, what areas needed improvement, and whether they were likely to be accepted into the product catalogue.

GIVE THEM TOOLS AND INFORMATION
To meet the needs of both developer and C-level attendees, Orange divided more than 80 educational sessions into two groups: technical sessions for coders and commercial sessions for
C-level attendees, which offered topics such as how to manage a content-development business.

The presentations were divided into four themes — Networks and APIs, Content, Operating Systems and Execution Environments, and Test Signature and Validation. Sessions from sponsors Nokia, Intel, PalmSource Inc., Symbian Ltd., and Microsoft Corp. were also interspersed throughout the three-day event.

An exhibit hall featuring exhibits from the 11 sponsors provided information about related products and services as well as access to technical reps capable of answering just about any question attendees threw at them.

When developers were ready to test their applications, they visited the on-site Developer Center, filled with handheld devices and enabled with Symbiam, PalmSource, and Microsoft operating systems. Here, they met with technical experts and tested their applications using Orange devices.

MOTIVATE THEM TO WORK AROUND THE CLOCK
Motivated by the sheer joy of being able to create their dream applications on-site with every tool and expert they could imagine, developers were already churning out applications left and right. But Orange provided two contests to urge them to crank it up one more notch.

The PalmSource/Orange Smartphone Application Contest challenged attendees to develop the best application for a Treo 600 smartphone. Judged by PalmSource reps, the competition offered Treo 600s to five category winners and a Segway Human Transporter to the champion.

The Nokia Series 60 Challenge awarded the most compelling Series 60 applications running on Symbian OS. From more than 100 application ideas submitted, the best 15 were short-listed for the development phase, where they would receive support from Nokia, Orange, and Symbian in the form of workshops, usability audits, and prioritized technical support.

Since most coders don’t mind pulling an all-nighter, Code Camp was open 24 hours a day, offering around-the-clock experts and testing facilities. While some coders opted for the comforts of their hotel rooms, others used the tented nap areas throughout the venue. “Many attendees worked 24 hours a day. One man was up programming for more than 40 hours,” Glagow says.

SECURE SPONSORS FROM THE SAME ECOSYSTEM
“For a first-time event, it’s difficult to get sponsors to dig into their pockets and give you money,” Glagow says. “So we hoped to get two or three sponsors for the event. Instead, we ended up with 11 sponsors.”

Industry giants Nokia, Intel, Symbian, Microsoft, and PalmSource are part of an interdependent ecosystem of sorts. Whenever Orange hooks a new customer with its cutting-edge applications, the customer likely purchases a new cell phone — enter Nokia — or maybe a PDA that runs on PalmSource’s operating system.

Thus, these five technology titans along with six others like them sponsored Code Camp, realizing that Orange’s success was their success. In addition to providing general funding, sponsors provided developers with educational sessions and 24-hour technical support. Reps and their products were stationed in the Coding Room and Developer Center, allowing developers to test their applications on sponsors’ networks and devices and to talk to technical reps whenever they hit a snag.

ENTERTAIN THEM
The first night of the event, Orange hosted a concert featuring the band Quool. To kick off the evening, Orange’s CEO rode into the ballroom on a Segway and welcomed everyone to the event with cocktails and hors d’oeuvres. The second night’s Blow-Out Party featured a 1960s cover band, magic tricks, and tunes from a top London DJ.

Orange provided each attendee with a full-day pass to Futuroscope. “But attendees didn’t want to leave Code Camp,” Glagow says. “Only a few people used their passes, and almost all of them went after the event was over.”

Orange also offered Chill-Out Zones where attendees could relax on beanbags, listen to music, watch movies on a 41-inch plasma screen, challenge each other in arcade games, and play table games such as billiards and foosball.

Some attendees, however, also used the Chill-Out Zones as workspaces, dragging their laptops into a quiet corner beanbag to hammer out more code. So Orange sent the experts in after them to offer technological assistance when needed.

ASK FOR FEEDBACK
While 90 percent of the give-and-take event involved Orange giving and developers taking, Orange also surveyed attendees for their feedback. The last day of the event, Orange asked attendees to complete a written survey to determine what they thought of the event and to find out what else it could do to meet developers’ needs. “More than 90 percent of our attendees said the Code Camp gave them exactly what they were looking for and that it was well worth their time and effort to attend,” Glagow says.

Eighty-seven percent of attendees said the event definitely helped them with their current applications. Plus, 48 percent said they’d deliver their applications within the next three months, and 32 percent would deliver in the next six months. A whopping 95 percent said they felt closer to the Orange partner-developer community, which fosters sharing of ideas and expeditious development of applications.

Orange also interspersed Talk to Orange sessions into the educational program. The open-format, 90-minute sessions gave developers the opportunity to ask their most pressing questions about Orange and its corporate objectives. Developers asked about product plans, customers’ needs, and specific market requirements, for example.

BUY THEIR WORK
After 72 hours of intense work — and play — attendees packed up camp and headed home, taking with them invaluable knowledge and contacts to help them crank out innovative applications consistent with Orange’s requirements. Some attendees, however, left camp with a business relationship in their hip pockets. Orange put its stamp of approval on 40 new applications created during Code Camp — each of which underwent final testing and was offered for purchase in Orange’s product catalogue.

DO IT AGAIN AND AGAIN
Originally, Orange planned to host Code Camp once a year in France. But due to the huge success of the first camp — and because immediately after the first Code Camp developers were banging down the doors trying to register for the following year’s event — Orange decided to host the event twice a year: once in France and once in the United States. Thus, the second Code Camp was held in Sarasota, FL, in April 2005, and the third Code Camp was held in October in Opio, France — each one building on the previous event’s success.