Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Wikifinance, Wikitreasury – Part 4

To quickly recap this theme - we have, from part 1 – change is going to happen; from part 2 – tacit interactions is where the rubber hits the road and the social network is the unit of work; from part 3 – change hasn’t happened yet but don’t let it fool us into thinking it won’t.
Web Trend, Forces and Phenomenon and Their Possibilities
When cooking pasta, one way to tell if it’s done is to take a handful and throw it against the wall. If it sticks, it’s done. So same concept here, I will throw a bunch of stuff against the wall. We can all think about whether it “sticks” or not for us.
From our previous discussion, we have talked about the social network being a principal unit. What if these social networks were branded? Think of something that sounds cool from a marketing perspective – maybe “Treasury Tigers”? We have a network of 500 Treasury professionals, each who meet some rigorous qualification standards. We hire ourselves out collectively as a network. Interviewer to CFO – “Who is your Treasurer?” CFO response “Treasury Tigers, of course”
One of the reasons to globalize and go virtual is demographics. The US, Europe and Japan are getting older. Even China has reported problems due to the one child rule. If the up and coming talent is from India, or Africa, and the service is needed in Canada, a virtual organization is the only way it will be provided. I headed a virtual Treasury organization, my folks could all have managed cash from a beach in Hawaii if they had wanted to.
Tacit productivity, according to McKinsey, is enhanced by better information, more value-added interactions, broader and deeper networks, collaboration to produce better ideas, and learning. Companies that find ways to foster these will have an advantage over others.
 In the book “The 2020 Workplace”, the authors Meister and Willyerd use the term “uber-connected” to describe companies performing their functions in this brave new world. These activities will involve knowledge capture, broadcasting thought leadership, collaborating, designing, and engaging employees.
One can imagine employees being trained virtually, making their location irrelevant.
Many assume that companies will become more “porous”. Thought leadership may become more important for the Treasury organization. If the most talented want to work at the top 100, there will be a lot of competition to attain that level.
As the flexibility of the web and mobile technology increases, one can imagine that collaboration with banking, supply chain, and customers may enhance payments and processing in a myriad of ways. Networks of these parties may also bring about benefits, such as the mythical “straight through processing”.
We have only scratched the surface of the possibilities that may arise. But the dynamics illustrated here, network connectivity and interactivity for knowledge transfer, design, collaboration and engagement purposes will be near the center.
I would love to hear your thoughts about impacts to the future treasury organization or your stories on this topic if you have them.
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