Sanoma SalesWiki: Power of co-operation

"We must be able to create an atmosphere and corporate culture where we can utilize the know-how of over 20.000 experts in 20 countries in the best possible manner" (Hannu Syrjänen, CEO Sanoma)

The media company Sanoma is a collective mind of a large group of over 20.000 individuals. Unfortunately, the combined intelligence of a group has always been inversely proportional to group size. That means the larger the group, the stupider the group. Larger groups have always been inefficient and stupid. Most large organisations are still very stupid collective minds.

Why is that? Because the limitation has always been that it is just to inefficient to share knowledge, to access what other people are doing, thinking or sensing. And because we have always been disconnected, because of space and time, it has always been hard to think as one ‘Sanoma-organism’.

New wiki-technology beats these (former) limitations and empowers Sanoma Account Managers to form dynamic networks, generating ’smart’ results to compete more effectively and to respond better to a changing world.

Last year, open source, webbased wiki-technology enabled us to coordinate the activities of individual Sanoma Account Managers so that the group output is of lasting value, gains competitive edge and increases productivity

Last year, we have proved to generate this valuable group output as a byproduct, without regard of institutional models, to coordinate the activities of the group. In fact, the Sanoma SalesWiki was not a product innovation, but a process innovation.

The impact of this result: Group size is not a weakness any more, but a strength.

We have succeeded to create a positive relationship between the group size and the combined intelligence & productivity of this group.

The 'only' limitation left is a widespread, fundamental business culture/mindset change in our institutional way of organizing. After getting used to 'user-generated-content' (for example Youtube), we have to get used to 'employee-generated-organization' (for example Company-groups @Linkedin).

Within the Ad Sales group we have succeeded to overcome the - understandable - resistance to this disruptive way of dynamic-network-organizing and reached the tipping point. I am confident that the network effect will continue in 2009, building valuable group output what was once only available in our imagination.

David de Boer, Head of B2B Marketing, Sanoma Uitgevers, The Netherlands



Sanoma SalesWiki from SanomaCrossing on Vimeo.