Accenture_Technology_Vision_2014

TREND 2: FROM WORKFORCE TO CROWDSOURCEIt will be essential that borderless enterprises work toharness the energies and enthusiasm of the expandedworkforce. The current workforce is not going away,of course; not every problem will be well suited tocrowdsourced solutions. However, it is no longer enoughto rely only on groups of in-house individuals to drivemarket research, innovation, and product-developmentactivities. Digital technology has brought a global voiceto those functions. It is pushing out the boundaries thatpreviously defined the enterprise workforce. It’s not anoverstatement to say that business leaders now neednew perspectives on the nature of work itself.Let’s walk through a few of the ways in which leadingbusinesses are starting to harness the expandedworkforce.Marketing moves towardperfect informationThe expanded workforce is already changing theway companies market their products and services.Technology platforms that promote comments, userinteraction, and even consumer investment are givingconsumers a direct voice with which to communicatewith the marketing department. In doing so, theseplatforms create a porous membrane between paidemployees and the expanded workforce. Consumers areproviding richly detailed information, giving companiesan unprecedented level of insight into their products,how they’re used, and the consumers that buy them.With the right digital tools in place, producers canpredict better than ever how the market will react totheir products and who will buy them. They can segmentmarkets more discretely and test premium feature setsto see who will pay for them. The new approach tradesabstract market projections for data-driven marketdecisions; consider the difference in outcomes between33ACCENTURE TECHNOLOGY VISION 2014