Work 3.0 – The Office Has Left the Building

I came across what I think to be a game changing move by AOL earlier this week. They have given their developers the authority to use freelancers using an innovative service called odesk. So AOL developers can take on up to 3 additional staff to make them more productive. As announced in their recent investor briefing this move will “Empower our engineers to be smarter, faster, more efficient”.

To me this demonstrates an inspired leadership decision. It gives their developers authority and autonomy and opens up access to a global resource pool. This in turn will enable AOL to identify their future leaders as those who embrace the initiative will increase their own efficiency and build a great career for themselves.

The move will lead to increased productivity as developers can use odesk contractors to bring in people with specific specialist skills and build a stronger better team. In addition they can take advantage of time zone differences, to streamline their work flows, for example using overnight testing with team members based in different time zones to achieve a true 24/7 operation.

This move demonstrates that AOL understands the advantages of working globally and accessing talent pools, wherever they may be based. As it says on the odesk site it’s Work 3.0, and it’s already here.

Go East young man

Earlier this week I was speaking at the Born Global event run by Entrepreneur Country. On the same day, the latest UK unemployment figures were released, with the shocking statistic that youth unemployment now exceeds over 1 million, with a staggering 21% of 16 – 24 year olds without a job.

While I was listening to some excellent speakers, urging entrepreneurs to look around the world to expand their businesses in fast growing economies, it struck me that perhaps there are opportunities for ambitious young people who are willing to travel.

In our offices in Vadoroda, India, there are currently 3 interns who have come to India to learn how business works there. They are from Mexico, Brazil and China. They have recognised that today’s economy is global and the more you can learn from other countries at the beginning of your career, the more marketable you will be. Employers in fast growing economies value the skills that British people can bring to the market; examples could be a trainer in a call centre, or a marketing graduate who can provide a view of the UK economy and customers.

Any young Brit that is willing to go and spend 6-12 months in one of these emerging countries will almost certainly walk into a job when they get back. I think if we had a generation of young people, who had experience of other fast growing markets it could only help the UK to become more competitive as an economy and perhaps even assist us in getting back on the path to growth.

Indian Dynamism

Today I attended a presentation in Vadodara, India where we celebrated team members who had been with Quickstart Global for 5 years. At the same time, due to our significant headcount growth across India, we asked new employees to introduce themselves to the rest of the team. What astounded me was the level of hunger, passion, professionalism, dynamism and energy that every single person displayed. Those that think that India is just a labour arbitrage play are sorely mistaken, India is a force to be reckoned with. India has also changed significantly since Quickstart Global set up our first centre here 6 years ago; unless your experience is very recent (weeks and months rather than years), I recommend that you do not judge based on past experience and that you revisit the country with an open mind.

Time for a global super regulator?

I’ve been reading today about the attempt by the UK’s Prudential to take over AIA, AIG’s Asian business.  It seems at the last minute, the UK financial services regulator, the FSA, has blocked the bid with worries about whether the combined business has enough liquidity to support itself in a severe economic crisis.  The worries are that some countries regulators such as Thailand’s might ring fence capital making it unavailable to the broader group.

The reality seems to me that business is going global and regulators need to find a way to understand and support that.  If not then businesses will be forced to remain exclusively in their own regions.  American financial services companies will be forced to remain American, European companies will be forced to remain European and so on.  That in turn will favour companies that are already global and place growing companies at a structural disadvantage.  The big will carry on getting bigger and too big to fail will take on a new meaning.

Maybe instead it’s time for a global super regulator that countries sign up to.  If you don’t sign up, you are at a disadvantage because your companies will not be able to expand internationally and innovation will be stifled.  Perhaps this is what some countries want, a pure, low innovation, low risk financial services industry.  I though, don’t subscribe to that view.  If companies are to succeed, they need a thriving financial services sector to support them

Quickstart Global featured on BBC Radio 4

I’m over the moon with coverage that we received on Sunday on BBC Radio 4’s In Business program, presented by respected journalist, Peter Day.

The 28 minute show featured interviews with 5 Quickstart Global clients as well as staff members that work with them.  If ever there was proof that what we do works, this is it!

Listen for yourself at http://bit.ly/8YCH2E

The wealthy in China

I just read a fascinating article in the UK Sunday Times today.  It describes the market opportunity for luxury brands in China (http://bit.ly/9iOMEZ).  More than just luxury brands, it tells me very clearly that nearly all products and services that are successful in the developed world can be potentially even more successful in the developing world, particularly the BRIC countries.  If you’re not already considering your company’s market opportunity, you really need to wake up and realise what’s going on.  If you don’t know how to, ready my book, Born Global.

Germans, French, Dutch and Spanish in Cape Town

I was in Cape Town last week and finally got the deal done on our new office down there.  Moving in on March 1st and looking forward to it.  While there, we got an enquiry from a company looking to set up a call centre German, French, Dutch and Spanish speakers but the staff had to be native of Germany, France, Holland and Spain.  We then looked into the feasibility and learnt that Cape Town is a destination for people from across Europe as a place to live.  Apparently Cape Town has between 40,000 and 60,000 Germans living there along with a healthy number other Europeans.  Along with excellent English and obvious cultural alignment, it’s no wonder that Cape Town is an attractive destination for European and US companies.

South Africa needs to blast open its telecoms industry

I’m working in our Cape Town, South Africa office this week.  Today we met one of the major telecoms suppliers to sort out our connectivity in the new building that we’re taking.  I remain blown away by the price of Internet connectivity in South Africa.  List price for a 1Mb is $3,000 per month!  These prices then trickle down into home broadband bundle coming in at $62 per month in a country where the average GDP per capita (in PPP terms) is $10,100 per year according to the CIA Handbook.  As a result, very few people have broadband access in their homes leaving them disconnected from the rest of the world.

I can’t understand why the South African government doesn’t completely de-regulate the market and open out the telecoms industry.  One sure fire way to kick the economy into gear is to create an environment where universal access to broadband becomes the norm.  Be in no doubt, low cost broadband and the resultant increased penetration almost certainly contributes positively to GDP growth.

The role of government in a globalized world

I read with fascination as government’s across the world attempt to convince their citizens that they are somehow in control of inflation.  Right now, a return to growth has seen an increase in the price of commodities with the price of a barrel of oil nearly doubling since the beginning of the year.  Other commodities are also increasing with the Commodities Price Index increasing nearly 35% over the last twelve months.  These are numbers that no national governments can control.

Then add in the effects of a fundamental increase in the demand for food as population grows and income levels increase around the world and you have a a perfect recipe for serious increases in the price of basic food products.

As far as I can tell, the price of raw materials, oil and food pretty much determine inflation levels – none of which are controllable by governments in a globalized and competitive economy.  That is obviously not to say that inflation is going to run out of control over the next year or two.  Prices dropped so significantly in 2008 that it will take time for inflation to become a problem.

But I really think government should come clean.  Their ability to control the key levers of their economies are reducing by the day.

UKTI TechnologyWorld 2009 conference

I presented at Technology World 2009 held in Coventry, UK on 23/24 November.  What was disappointing was how few UK companies supported the event with their presence.  UKTI seem to have worked hard to organize an event where delegates from 48 countries were encouraged to visit the UK and see some of the UK’s finest technology companies yet from what I saw today, I would say less than 200 UK companies bothered to attend either to exhibit or even just as a visitor.  I do sometimes wonder when UK businesses will open their eyes and realize there’s a big world out there with new customers and extremely capable talent pools just waiting to be discovered.  Growth in some countries exceeds 5% per annum yet the vast majority of UK companies seem content with slugging it out in a crowded market where growth is nonexistent. I really do wish for their own sakes that they would wake up and realize what’s going on.

On another note, the event was held at the newly built Ricoh stadium in Coventry but the hotel was about 20 miles away to the east of Birmingham.  Having spent last week in San Francisco right near the Moscone Center where Salesforce.com were holding their annual Dreamforce conference with numerous quality hotels within a block of the venue, it is an indication of the lack of ambition in the UK to see such poor quality venues and supporting infrastructure.  I would imagine you could count on one hand the number of high quality venues in the UK capable of holding and accommodating a 500 person event in the same place.  Now contrast that to venues in Asia and the US and you realise that the UK lost its way somewhere.