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How crowdsourcing has altered our views on corporate intelligence

by | May 26, 2015 | Public Relations

Most would agree the Internet is probably the most disruptive technology of the 20th century, if not all time.

Why? Because it facilitates ideas and communications in nanoseconds, along with mass collaboration. And it’s this mass collaboration that has turbocharged the pace of innovation.

This collaboration — commonly referred to as crowdsourcing — has turned entire industries on their heads overnight.

Uber and other ridesharing technologies are changing the way people view transportation and even food delivery. Google’s accessible technology has allowed business teams in both small shops and larger companies to work on business-related documents collaboratively, at the same time.

Other platforms, such as 99designs, have even allowed companies to rapidly create corporate branding in days as opposed to in months at a fraction of the cost.

But what about business intelligence?

At MediaMiser, we generate our own business intelligence by leveraging media data and our own technology.

We have both manual and automated processes to ensure almost nothing escapes our attention. But there are of course times when information may be missed, simply because we live in a time where technologies and even rules can change overnight. Somehow, companies have to account for this change.

This is where firms can leveraging crowdsourcing techniques.

You don’t even have to be a technology company to do this, because crowdsourcing is not necessarily all about technology. Rather, technology facilitates lightning fast communication in collaborative environment.

Rather, crowdsourcing is more of a way of thinking: A good, well-oiled team can outwork and outthink an individual no matter how smart any one person is, or how hard they work.

The diversity of thinking within a crowdsourced team allows it to rise above that of most individuals.

“The power of crowdsourcing always remains with the crowd, not the technological implementation.” – Jay Samit, CEO of SeaChange International

Having said all this, it’s crowdsourcing that allows MediaMiser’s media intelligence gathering to adapt to a rapidly changing landscape. On the flip side, it’s the technology’s job to bring information together and help organize such a vast array of viewpoints into useful business intelligence.

For example, a salesperson in our company recently crowdsourced some media intelligence that was used to help determine the direction of some of our technology. This kind of intel would typically come from our research and development team, but that’s the advantage of leveraging the diversity of a collective — you never know where ideas (or in this case, intelligence) will come from.

Everyone has different experiences and perspectives, and it’s this fundamental understanding that is creating mass change in both business and technology.

We’d love to hear your views and experiences on crowdsourcing. Feel free to contact us to share stories or learn more about our own crowdsourcing experiences. 

Brett Serjeantson

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