A few weeks ago I was at Sogeti at a presentation about crowdsourcing. I started off by finding the building where it took place. When we finally arrived, we were greeted and we left our coats at the entrance. Then we proceeded to the cellar, in which the event took place. We got our nametags and started the evening with a healthy glass of fresh orange juice. It didn’t take long before we started conversations with lots of different people. When it started to get interesting, we got interrupted. Dinner was served! Unfortunately I didn’t get the chance to compliment the chef, since the food tasted delicious.

After dinner we went to the presentation hall, in which two interesting presentations took place. I’ll summarize, mostly because it’s a bit blurry for me. A few of the more interesting questions that arrose where: “Is crowdsourcing viable for enterprises?” and “How do you crowdsource your products?”. It’s all about creating a win-win situation for both parties and working with the community (it’s not a dictatorship). Look at what Wikipedia did all those year ago, now that’s a great business case. But most businesses will need to make ‘sacrifices’, since they need to let go of their treasured “it’s mine and you can’t have (read) it” mindset.