Community Intelligence - it's Time to Tune in

If lockdown has taught us anything – it’s been the strength and importance of community. In those heady Pre-Covid days in February, you’d have been forgiven for seeing a client or overseas work colleague more often than your neighbour.

Previously, when we thought of business networks, the focus was often on the technology. But the unfolding events in March taught us that in our hyper connected world, the divisions between local and global aren’t as wide as they seem. And as our children and partners came to properly understand what procurement meant (loo roll anyone?) so too did we come to value the robustness of our supply chains.

But what if we could harness all that data? What if local knowledge, technology and existing platforms could combine to create an interconnected map of intelligence? That possibility is something that Rob Bernshteyn, CEO Coupa and Larry Brilliant, world-Renowned epidemiologist and CEO Pandefense Advisory, will talk about in their upcoming session, Smarter Together on 11th September at 10am BST.

The theory that none of us is as smart as all of us is one on which Rob Bernshteyn has based his latest book, and that Larry Brilliant has spent his life devoted to in his pursuit of disease eradication. A member of the original Tune in, Drop out generation, on the urges of his Himalayan ashram guru, Brilliant swapped his kaftan for a suit and went to work at the World Health Organisation in an ambitious bid to eradicate smallpox.

From a disease that caused 500 million deaths in the 20th century, he was instrumental in its total eradication in 1980. By harnessing the data from over one billion house calls and the coming together of over 150,000 doctors from all over the world working side by side, together they achieved something remarkable.

One of the key elements to its success became something of a mantra, relevant then as now – early detection, early response. In other words, the faster you know about something, the swifter you can do something about it and limit the damage and maximise the chances of a successful outcome.

And as the power of technology increases, this sharing of information, collaboration and real time response is likely to be a game changer for businesses. Those that are agile enough to make the best use of it will be part of a new revolution for business, one that if you want to succeed in the future, you'd do well to tune in to.

Register here to join in the conversation on Friday