Competitive Advantage of "Functional Fluidity"

Sam, you da man. If you are not reading Decker Marketing then you are truly missing out. Sam Decker works at Dell and has a great business and marketing mind.-------------------------------------------------- I realized something today, as I was listening to several senior executives from different divisions in Dell. I’ve managed large projects and operational initiatives across many functions and across divisions -- including online, sales, IT, finance, corporate, etc. I’ve seen failures and successes of large projects and operational execution across these groups. I’m convinced there is a strong competitive advantage in what I’ll call “Functional Fluidity”.

Every company has disparate functions, such as sales, accounting, marketing, etc. And in large companies there are similar functions in multiple divisions. It is the ability of these functions to work together, to communicate, to share best practices, or to move in the same direction that can result in exponential benefits to the company. Benefits such as cost savings, improved customer experience, and effective marketing, and employee satisfaction.

Unfortunately, many functions don’t communicate or play well together. There can be many reasons: Link