The Internet still amazes me even though it’s an everyday tool I’ve used in my work and personal life for years. When you think about it, it’s incredible that there is so much information out there and anyone can find what they need just by typing a few words into a search engine. Imagine telling someone fifty years ago that you’d be able to do that in the future – they’d have laughed! Never before have people been able to tell ‘something’ to find ‘something’ they want and then get it – instantly. Whether its general knowledge, videos, photos, music or a picture of the street you live on – it’s there and you can get hold of it!!!
As they say, ‘information is power’ and there’s an awful lot of it being held by the companies who own the big search engines. Google is my search engine of choice and I’m sure a lot of you also use it. However, talking to the guys from my university spin-off company, Robertson Cooper, I hear that Google goes well beyond ‘search’ these days. They know (and will tell you if you know how to ask) about the wants and needs of their massive user base – they know because we tell them by typing in our search terms! By using a tool called ‘Google Analytics’ it’s possible to see what people want to know about things like well-being at work.
More broadly, companies can now see what ‘the World’ is searching for at the click of a mouse. Another way of putting it is they’re now able to see into the population’s minds!!! They can see the trends and patterns in people’s needs and then respond to these accordingly. For example, our analysis has shown that more and more people are now searching on ‘defining ‘employee engagement’ and this tells me that employee engagement is starting to occupy people’s thoughts and suggests that this is what they would like to hear more about.
This kind of intelligence is becoming increasingly important as it’s now possible to take a ‘dip sample’ of how we, as a nation and global community, think about well-being at work and where we think the secret to achieving it lies. Is it resilience? Is it physical fitness? Is onsite counselling the key or is having the right kind of leadership for well-being most important? The answers will be different depending on when and where the question is asked, but the technology means that these questions can now be answered without undertaking costly large-scale market research surveys. This has to be good news because if suppliers and experts are clear about what people want, it increases the chances of creating a world in which they can find it…. in the end that means happier customers and better businesses!
career counselling…
Loved the information here I’ll have this bookmarked and will be back to read more….