Smart Business

CHAPTER 8

FROM MANAGING TO ENABLING

How to Retool the Organization

When computers can do the routine but energy-intensive knowledge work more efficiently than humans can, and the network can coordinate effective responses to consumer demands, what do organizations do? To be sure, a smart business—its operations, algorithms, and products—must be designed by humans. Yet once these elements are in place, the machines can do the heavy lifting. However, computers cannot create new products and services, much less engage in the visionary experimentation of the previous chapter. Innovation and creativity are the crucial human input that keeps an organization growing and thriving. Organizations of the future will focus on continual innovation. They ...