Aptus Consultants

Derren Brown, the TV illusionist, recently wowed the nation by correctly guessing six lottery numbers in a live TV show. In his follow up programme he showed how he did it, and while his explanation seemed more to do with showmanship that illumination, he did mention the idea of ‘The Wisdon of Crowds’ which is a key concept that underpins much of the collaborative activity that we now see online

The phrase 'The Wisdom Of Crowds' was first coined in the book of the same title by James Surowiecki, in which he recounts an anecdote about a competition at a country fair to guess the weight of an Ox. No individual managed to guess it correctly, despite the fact that the crowd included numerous farmers and animal experts. However, when all the guesses of the day were totalled it was discovered that the average guess gave the precise weight of the animal.

This demonstration of the power of collective thought is best exemplified on-line by wikis, collaborative sites that let users contribute their knowledge on a given subject. As more knowledge is contributed, the breadth of information grows, while at the same time, peer group reviews help to improve the accuracy of the data.

The best known Wiki is Wikipedia, the not for profit site which offers over 4 million English articles, attracts 12 million unique UK visitors per month and is in the top 10 most visited sites. In the past some doubt has been expressed as to the accuracy of some of its information, but a comparison of 42 of its articles with entries on the same subjects in Encyclopaedia Britannica suggested they have similar levels of accuracy.

But the potential applications of wikis for businesses are far wider than providing a site to look up Nelson’s birthday or the highest mountain in the Andes!!! They can be used internally for everything from organising and managing projects to creating a knowledge base through which all types of best practice can be shared amongst employees. There are also opportunities to create external wikis which enable organisations to share knowledge on those matters which do not necessarily provide them with a competitive advantage and where there is a genuine benefit to be derived from multiple perspectives. Within financial services, regulation and risk management are two areas which would readily lend themselves well to such a pan-industry approach.

So what is stopping more businesses and industries from gaining the benefits from wikis? Well it is certainly not the technology cost as there are any number of open source solutions available which mean the infrastructure for a wiki can be set up in a matter of days or even hours. Instead the barriers tend to be rather more cultural in nature, including issues such as companies being prepared to trust employees to develop bottom up ideas for process improvement rather than a traditional, top down approach, or to share information with organisations which would normally be seen as competitors.

If businesses can overcome such cultural inhibitions then they can start to unlock the collective knowledge held within their organisation or within their industry as a whole. Wikis can facilitate the sharing of this knowledge, but only if businesses are prepared to let them.