A New Era of Radical Collaboration

“If you look internally, a lot of companies resemble communist economies—centrally controlled and often with five-year plans,” says Matt Parker, an organization architect and author of “A Radical Enterprise: Pioneering the Future of High-Performing Organizations.”

Parker identifies an exciting business trend that is emerging in the quest to create a more sustainable future. “Radical collaboration,” where even competing businesses work together to seek innovative solutions, is reshaping sustainability strategies globally.

“[Traditional companies] get out-competed by radically collaborative organizations that take lessons learned from the macroeconomic environment and bring them inside to the microeconomic level,” he says.

“We can’t solve anything in the future unless we get out of our own basement and start working with everybody,” says Jane Rygaard, Head of Corporate Partnerships at Nokia. “If we want to tap into the exponential potential of digital technology, we need to make sure we leverage the good that is out there.”

This new level of collaboration is gathering momentum as the world faces daunting challenges to safeguard our future. For instance, a recent Bloomberg New Economy Forum report notes that Europe’s transition to a net-zero economy requires over $32 trillion of investments in energy and related technologies between now and 2050.

This goal and other global transition targets can only be achieved through an unprecedented degree of collaboration. To meet today’s sustainability and business targets, companies need to multiply the number of collaborative partnerships they are engaged in.

Creating radically collaborative organizations means departing from traditional hierarchical structures and fostering more fluid and dynamic environments. In his research, Parker has found that environments founded on trust foster positive risk-taking, which leads to innovation and positive economic performance.

Each business in a collaborative relationship receives benefits. Data and insights can be shared with key partners, enabling them to make informed business decisions, innovate and grow.

B2B technology innovation leader Nokia is putting radical collaboration into action as it partners with numerous companies, from SMEs in its manufacturing supply chain to professional services providers in its client base.

“We don’t just enter partnerships for the sake of it—we are trying to solve problems and build the right solutions,” says Rygaard, who is excited about the collaborations—even between competitors—now taking place. “We end up with a lot of partnerships where we are basically ‘frenemies’ in what we do,” she says. “That’s a mindset change.”

In one collaborative partnership, NGP Capital, a venture capital company, has worked with Nokia to build out a portfolio of small, nimble companies that offer something completely different from larger ones.

“We spend most of our time talking to entrepreneurs,” says Bo Ilsoe, Partner at NGP Capital. “They are creating the future. Financial returns are table stakes, but we’re really looking for companies led by exceptional people pushing innovation. That’s a more important role.”

One such company, Scandit, provides smart data capture that enables any camera-equipped device to understand its environment. Nokia has incorporated these products into AIMS, its incubated drone solution for warehouse customers, allowing for a faster time to market than if the functionality had been built in-house.

“There are a wide variety of use cases in the industrial world that all sit on top of the network,” says Ilsoe. “However, it takes an ecosystem of players to ensure solutions work as a whole.” He notes that “Some companies [that NGP Capital has invested in] fit together to form their own ecosystem,” highlighting ANYbotics’ robotic dog solution, SVT Robotics’ ability to connect multiple robotic systems together and Akeyless’s solution that provides a security layer for containerized computing running on the edge, on-premises or in the cloud.

“It’s easy to ignore startups, as they are small with limited resources,” says Ilsoe. “But they offer something completely unique, and execute with lighting speed.”

For Nokia’s Rygaard, trust is essential for collaboration to be radical. She agrees with Parker’s research finding that trusting environments are needed to underpin the positive risk-taking and innovation that boost economic performance.

“You need to become more open and build trust before you get to the level when you can say, ‘OK, but how do we share ideas between people that are also sometimes our competitors?’ We need to acknowledge that not all innovation is happening in-house—it’s happening outside, and we need to stimulate that rather than just choke it.”

When trust is established, the benefits are huge. Innovations such as open banking, and its use of APIs, and the metaverse in the social media realm have been facilitated by ideas being shared and developed in a collaborative environment.

Digitalization facilitates radical collaboration, such as Nokia’s partnerships with Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud and Microsoft Azure, among others, to develop Cloud RAN solutions and use cases. These offer a cloud architecture optimized for low latency, which creates monetization opportunities for 5G.

Rygaard emphasizes the importance of creating innovative technology not just for its own sake, “but making technology that actually creates the right solutions.” Fundamental to this approach, she says, is recognizing that today’s next-generation networks aren’t just connecting people, but are connecting machines, too. The magic lies in making the right connections.

“How can we get the insights to know if we’re doing the right things for the environment?” she asks. “How do we connect the right machines and devices to create a full picture in order to make the right decisions?”

Technology companies are taking the lead in transformative global initiatives, but they cannot achieve optimal outcomes on their own. Reorganizing business practices around radical collaborations is a powerful idea that is clearing a path to success for all.