By Nilesh Bhagat, CHRP

Consumers expect products which are continually pushing the boundaries of technological advancement. It’s true that they want efficient products – things that can do more with less: fewer commands, less physical space and less time to enact the things they want them to do. More than that, consumers want products which make their lives richer. That is, they want to be able to connect, to be informed and to interact with their surroundings. These are all things which we have evolved to want because it’s a part of what we’re meant to do. They seek products which enable effectiveness.

Commercial organizations are listening – and adapting. They’re responding by revamping their business models and product lines to enable themselves to offer these effective products. This also means the very systems and processes which our workplaces are built upon are changing. The brilliant Tayloristic foundations which brought us decades of increasing efficiencies in the form of scaled systems and processes are evolving into ‘smarter’ systems. These systems are built upon the scale-based models, but are focused on creating products and services which closely match buyer preferences (rather than mass production and sales). Consumers get what they want (richer experiences through products) because companies have evolved their processes to respond from producing alone, to producing with a purpose.

I’ll give an example of this evolution to smarter systems: McKinsey and Company recently presented an article that shows how organizations are becoming increasingly data driven. They use systems which harness the flow of data to produce adaptive neural webs which leverage data by turning it into information, then communicating this information to other parts of the web to build adaptability.

So we’re moving from implementing systems which do more with less, to systems which listen, communicate and respond to create more.

At the core of this new breed of organizations are smart systems built by smart people. These smart people are enabled because internally, our workplaces are becoming flatter and more connected. There are multiple channels being built with which to communicate, understand and renew people and systems. With this robust connectivity comes communication and with communication comes diversity, creativity and innovation.

Gary Hamel, in The Future of Management, describes how companies who achieve advancements in management innovation enjoy positive, long-lasting effects. Daniel Pink, in Drive, speaks of intrinsically satisfying activities – like FedEx days – which bring out the best in people. Don Tapscott, in Wikinomics, paints a globalized world of peering, sharing and collaborating to achieve breakthroughs in innovation and advancement. Top flight organizations – like P&G and 3M – are integrating these very concepts into their cultural fabric. They’re creating internally enabling work environments, which in turn lead to innovation in the form of adaptive systems that listen, learn, react and renew to achieve consumer satisfaction.

All these concepts have efficiency built into them. Emerging technologies, management innovation and increasing global connectivity all lead to the ability to do more with less. But what’s more, they all offer a stronger alignment with consumer preferences by enabling the people within to connect with and understand the people outside.

Nilesh Bhagat, CHRP, is a rewards coordinator with Best Buy Canada. Nilesh graduated from Simon Fraser University with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration, First Class Honours. He majored in Human Resources Management and tacked on an extended minor in Psychology. He’s a self-confessed nerd (the first step is admitting), likes to read, loves hockey and is struggling with the complexities of learning the game of golf.