Everyone at the C-level needs a proper sense of how fluid the technological environment is, and that technology policy must be highly adaptive. The pace of change means that companies must view investments in collaborative technologies as a part of R&D tied to specific corporate objectives. They must be much more able to jettison enterprise systems that no longer create competitive advantage.
Andrew Goldberg, Makovsky & Co.
Harmonize Different Disciplines
Converting knowledge into actionable programs and products, at minimum, requires a different approach to managing functions and people.
First, most learning technologies tend to be acquired by human-resource departments based on nonfinancial metrics. It’s often difficult to assign ROI to knowledge investments. Hence, CFOs must become more active in the knowledge space. Learning and collaboration are effectively subcomponents of companywide R&D. It’s therefore possible to create metrics—such as the amount of proprietary intellectual content created, the number of patents filed and the number projects brought to market—which are quantifiable and calculated in terms of return on investment.
Gauging the value of knowledge investments should also be a top priority for CIOs. In general, IT professionals are often seen by their peers as technicians rather than strategists. Yet because of their understanding of the firm’s internal systems, they can have the best overview of the volume and type of collaborative usage of technology. This means the merging and creative tension among HR, IT and the CFO can create powerful synergies in terms of managing technology to enhance the creative performance of the firm.
The second element is to use internal surveys to understand the actual interaction of people and technology in the evolving workplace. Senior executives must recognize that the workforce has changed in terms of its relationship with enabling technologies. We now have multiple generations who have developed in the midst of a 30-year evolution of information technology and increasing levels of virtual engagement.
Yet not everyone uses social and digital technologies in the same way or for the same purpose. Younger generations, especially those coming up in business programs, are often taught in highly collaborative team settings. The emerging workforce known as digital natives, 18 to 35 years old, grew up with social networks and mobile technologies and expect to have the most advanced, yet intuitive tools to access and share information and foster real time collaboration .
Everyone at the C-level needs a proper sense of how fluid the technological environment is, and that technology policy must be highly adaptive. Social networking, cloud computing, real-time collaboration and mobile technologies do help innovation. Yet the pace of change means that companies must view investments in collaborative technologies as a part of R&D tied to specific corporate objectives. They must be much more able to jettison enterprise systems that no longer create competitive advantage.
Until recently, an investment in enterprise solutions from companies such as Oracle Corp. (IW 500/38) or SAP was like a long term marriage—difficult and painful to disconnect when the partners no longer fit together. The power of shifting to cloud-based networks should, over time, make it feasible for companies to be more experimental with the collaborative technologies they employ. It also allows top management to give managers throughout the system more of a say in optimizing technology to the way they work best, rather than be slaved to embedded technical solutions.
We are indeed in a new world of work. It is dynamic, disjointed and will require much experimentation. But finding solutions that inspire and drive creative and growth is not primarily about finding or purchasing tools. It is rather a question of adapting organizational psychology to the unstoppable dynamics of the market, and then fitting the technologies to serve the creative.
Andrew Goldberg serves as executive vice president of public relations firm Makovsky & Co. Inc.'s Corporate Advisors division,which counsels CEOs and other C-suite executives in restructuring, change management and M&A situations. Goldberg was previously the president of WPP-owned Pivot Red and chairman of the corporate practice at Burson-Marsteller. He earned a Ph.D. at Columbia University in international affairs, specializing in the psychology of decision-makers under stress.
