The Wiki Workplace

Thanks in part to younger workers, more companies are using social computing tools to aid collaboration and to foster innovation and growth

By Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams

When Robert Stephens graduated from the University of Minnesota with a degree in computer science in 1994, he wanted to start a business consultancy. But hiring a staff of good consultants takes a lot of money, and Stephens had little, so he founded Geek Squad, a cheekily branded computer repair company that helps consumers navigate the increasing complexity of electronic gadgetry.

From humble origins, Geek Squad grew and grew. In 2002, after nearly a decade of profitable operations, the company was acquired by consumer electronics giant Best Buy (BBY).

At the time, Stephens had 60 employees and was booking $3 million in annual revenue. Today, working out of 700 Best Buy locations across North America, Geek Squad's 12,000 service agents clock nearly $1 billion in services and return some $280 million to the retailer's bottom line.

For Stephens, Geek Squad's meteoric success was exhilarating and challenging. How, for example, would he recruit and train an ever-growing number of employees, let alone keep them in the loop and gather their input into the business?

One day, Stephens asked his deputy director for counterintelligence at headquarters how things were going in the field. "I worry about those agents in Anchorage, Alaska," he said. "There are about 20 of them there, and I worry about them staying connected to the mission."

"Oh, those Anchorage guys, I talk to them all the time," the deputy director replied.

Prodded for details, he sheepishly told Stevens that they all play Battlefield 2 online. "With each server, you can have 128 people simultaneously fighting each other in a virtual environment," said the director. "We wear headsets and use Ventrilo software so that we can talk over the Internet while we are running around fighting."

Stephens, who now joins in himself from time to time, says: "The agents taunt each other, saying, 'Hey, I see you behind the wall.' But then, while we're running along, rifles in our hands, one of the agents behind me will be like, 'Yeah, we just hit our revenue to budget,' and somebody else will be like, 'Hey, how do you reset the password on a Linksys router?'"

Welcome to the Wiki Workplace.

Rise of the Wiki Workplace

The information and communication technologies that are transforming media, culture, and the economy are also reshaping how companies and employees function. New social computing tools such as wikis and blogs put unprecedented communication power in the hands of employees.

Some companies worry about the risks of uncontrolled communications leaking out. But a growing number believe the new collaboration tools are good for innovation and growth—they help employees connect with more people, in more regions of the world, with less hassle and more enjoyment, than earlier generations of workplace technology.

Geek Squad is a case in point. Many thousands of Geeks are using a growing suite of collaboration technologies to brainstorm new products and services, manage projects, swap service tips, and socialize with their peers.

Best Buy CEO Brad Anderson says empowering employees to collaborate in unorthodox ways is all about "unleashing the power of human capital." As the retailer continues to crush its competition, it would seem that Anderson is onto something. Already North America's largest consumer electronics seller, the profitable company plans to open more than 100 new stores this year, while ailing competitors such as Circuit City (CC) are shuttering locations.

Much of this is due to a younger generation of workers who embrace Web-based tools in a way that often confounds older workers.