Technology has opened easy access to centers of expertise, both individual and institutional, and has made learning a collaborative exercise. The workspace has seen a transformation with movement from written memos, to emails, and more recently- to collaboration tools, like Whatsapp, taking the center scene. Technology is facilitating a cost effective flow of learning. In a thought invoking session on collaborative learning and the social enterprise, Abhijit Bhaduri, Chief Learning Officer, Wipro Group and Anand Pillai, Senior Executive Vice President & Chief Learning Officer, Reliance Industries Limited shared some remarkable observations with the audience.

Abhijit stressed that learning and work were inter-related and collaboration had to be across generations and geographies. He said that work was happening around the world and collaboration across social was the way to take organizational effectiveness to the next level. When looking at learning on the social side, he said that personalization of knowledge was the way forward. Making learning socially acceptable was another essential step in the chain. He stated, “HR has to be in the information business. Until HR manages the social aspect in the organization, it will never create an organization which learns.”

Anand Pillai presented a case study on Reliance Industries and shared his experience of turning a legacy company into a learning enterprise. Key points of promoting a collaborative working environment included networking & meeting like-minded people, breaking silos, business driven learning coupled with social gratification and recognition.