As the systems that run the way we work and live become smarter, the workplace as we know it is changing in dramatic ways.

Everywhere we look, new devices combined with social collaboration tools are transforming how we work today — how we share information, build relationships and make decisions.

Gone are the days when a person had to be tied to a desk and chair in the office to get his or her work done, or when innovation was a guarded secret, with all of the novel ideas created in isolation.

We’re in a new era now, in which any person, any object, any process or service and any organization — large or small — can become digitally aware, connected and smart.

Thanks to clever social software tools that make collaboration happen easily and naturally, new delivery models like cloud and mobile computing, and new ways of finding and sharing information, businesses are becoming social businesses — ones that are connected in a variety of ways, both inwardly and out.

For example, instead of simply pushing messages and offers out to the market, social businesses are creating back-and-forth dialogues with their customers through social tools, and are able to target the right content to the right customers using profile data from the Web and analytics.

Developers are using social software during the early stages of product design and development. User feedback from blogs, online forums, and other places saves them from costly design errors down the road.

Retailers are becoming more innovative; banks and other service firms more customer-oriented; and workplaces around the world are becoming places where virtual communities thrive, collaboration gets energized, and serendipitous connections are made.

As our planet becomes smarter — more interconnected, instrumented, and intelligent — organizations are transforming their workplaces not only by connecting and collaborating in new ways, but also by unleashing the genius and creativity of the workforce itself.

Because when people have the resources they need and the freedom to use them, new ideas get shared, virtual communities thrive, collaboration gets energized, innovation blooms . . .

. . .and the productivity of the entire organization begins to flourish.

Click on the image to open the picture story