Arjen van Berkum | Technology & Contract Management Evangelist

26 maart 2015 by Arjen van Berkum Leave a Comment

Test your technology maturity in the evolution of 2015

TechVision2015 © Accenture Technology Vision 2015

In February Accenture released their Technology Vision 2015, which can provide leaders of organisations relevant ideas to stretch boundaries in their journey to become a digital business. What was standing out for me in the first place, was the alliance of the trends. It shapes the ideal business. The Internet of Me is the demanding party that forces the delivery of results in an outcome economy. This economy is built in a platform-based ecosystem, that runs on software which continuously learns and adapts and is operated by a workforce that entails the flawless collaboration of humans and machines. It starts with people and it ends with people. Although society saw technology often as the evil destroying monster in the past, it is now (hopefully) starting to realise that it is in fact our salvage. The vicious circle of people can connect through ideas; innovative thoughts. Around it there are the technologies, platforms, tools, devices and interfaces that help those people operate, innovate and improve.

16 maart 2015 by Arjen van Berkum Leave a Comment

Leaders know how to let their company sell a naked product

Golden circle - Simon Sinek (TED) Times of excessive margins are history. Every entrepreneur, CEO or CFO knows that by now. Organisations need to operate with lower budgets, costs need to be decreased to acceptable levels for business continuity. Companies have been confronted with this unruly reality for a few years. What is causing that reality? What changes would create a new balance for business continuity? Recognising this profound uncertainty, every organisation should stress the importance of making decisions when the time is right. In this article I hope to give you some insights on how to deal with the current turbulent market circumstances and the constantly changing customer’s demand.

27 februari 2015 by Arjen van Berkum Leave a Comment

Do you dare to let go of company rules?

Brazilian entrepreneur Ricardo Semler has built a global empire by engaging to two things: trust and constantly asking himself how he – as an employer – could contribute to his employees’ happiness. He even developed innovative schools to institute this mindset. The idea was to start teaching people this way of thinking as early as possible – in kindergarten.

Nowadays his employees choose their own hours, salary and boss. What? Yes, they really do. Besides that, they have the opportunity to learn how to make choices and how to take responsibility. Bureaucracy has been diminished to a minimum. Less company rules and supervision appeared to be a great recipe for productive and happy employees. What can we learn from this innovative success story?

21 februari 2015 by Arjen van Berkum Leave a Comment

Return of the scout: do you need innovation or agility?

Innovation or agility?

In my opinion there is a subtle, but significant difference between innovative companies and agile companies. I consider agile to be a more robust survival strategy than innovation. If you want to be able to adapt to both strategies, either separately or at the same time, you really need to understand that there is a clear distinction. Because of the decision support on these matters, I think the scout is on the rise again. Let me explain. First, what does scouting actually mean? Second, how can it benefit your ecosystem? And third, how are agility and innovation related in this context?

12 februari 2015 by Arjen van Berkum 2 Comments

Create or join? Business ecosystem to survive the knowledge-era

We all know the industrial-era has shifted to a knowledge era. So, why do a lot of organisations still behave in the old fashion way? These days we are living in a more volatile society with an almost unpredictable economy. Still organisations are producing and delivering according their good old business model. This is reality: networking capability, software systems that have little supply chain to manage, and global open source platforms innovating around customer problems in real time. Traditional business models are becoming more and more ineffective at driving business results. Why has the greater part not followed the transition yet?

Footer

Follow & contact