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This trend is not only transforming the way we
think about business but also how we organize
it and develop it. Organizations need to engage
customers, partners and employees into a productive,
trust-based relationship in which intimate business
information is shared; successes and failures,
strategies and innovations. The openness is breaking
down traditional organizational boundaries as
organizations ‘crowdsource’ knowledge and
funding, and clients/consumers are directly
driving innovation or even becoming producers.
Collaboration and co-creation with clients, suppliers,
partners and academia is driving strategy in
directions that are not planned or programmed.
“It is the long history of
humankind (and animal
kind, too) those who
learned to collaborate
and improvise most
effectively have prevailed.”
CHARLES DARWIN
It is this encouragement to think and act differently
which allows digital businesses to innovate and
disrupt so successfully. Some of the biggest
success stories in recent times change the rules
for competition, crowdsourcing content so that
consumers become collaborators. Airbnb is the
world’s largest accommodation provider, yet
owns no real estate. Facebook is the world’s
largest media owner, yet owns no content. Uber
is the largest taxi company yet owns no taxis.
But it is not just new market entrants who are adopting
this radically open approach. Large and established
names are transforming their business models. Many
Microsoft offices have opened up their ground floors
to the community to hang out with them. KPMG has
just acquired 40,000 sq ft of space in the West End of
London just for clients. Co-working spaces across the
world are increasingly attracting the big corporations
as well as the start-ups and medium sized enterprises.
THE PRINCIPLES OF RADICAL OPENNESS
Collaboration
anytime and
across multiple channels
Transparency
of
business processes
and physical space
Sharing
of ideas
and of space
Interconnectivity
and ease of movement
between all roles in
the organization
30 The Occupier Edge