In the early 2000s, a fast-growing e-commerce company created a centralized compute and storage capability so its new business units would not have to build their own. It was designed for internal use, but the company realized that the extra capacity could be sold to outsiders. The result was a $10 billion business called Amazon Web Services (AWS).
This is an extreme example of how an endless flow of creative ideas from employees can have a major business impact, especially as the coronavirus pandemic has altered daily work rhythms across the world. Ideas arise at times when employees are not totally consumed by the need to finish their day-to-day tasks, whether working remotely or not, that include manual, repetitive processes. With intelligent automation, they can engage in more creative thinking.
