In today’s fast developing and interconnected world, ideas don’t have to come from a few ‘brains’ within your company; ideas can come from anyone, anywhere. Smart marketers are realising that the whole world is available to them for ideas and innovation and they can use professionals or amateurs around the globe to solve problems and create solutions.

In their book – Mavericks at Work – Bill Taylor and Polly LaBarre pointed out that the success of Linux and open source software – computer code written by programmers scattered all over the world – is one example of harnessing talent from around the world to develop an operating system that many companies and consumers now use. Given Linux’ success, many established companies like IBM and Hewlett-Packard have devoted their own resources and programmers to help the Linux cause.

Procter and Gamble is a consumer giant that has realised that the traditional way of handling R&D (through their own labs and scientists) would just not be enough going into the future. The advances in technology – in biosciences, in nanotechnology and in other areas – have been so rapid that it would be impossible to build capabilities that the company would need in the coming decades. There are thousands of researchers in the West, in Russia, China and India working on all kinds of innovations; it would be better to tap into their brainpower than rely on just P&G’s own internal scientists and researchers. P&G started a process to try and find out how to tap into the outside genius and has set up a division just to work towards this end.

And that is what Indian companies should be doing as well. New ideas and innovations will create new opportunities and rather than look at just internal resources, companies should be looking at getting people to work for their company rather than in it. And these people could be in Timbuktu or the Antarctica.

Visual courtesy : https://www.flickr.com/photos/works/ww