People often misinterpret business to be a war to be won or lost. No it is not. Business is much more than absolute wins and losses. It is not about a decisive battle but a prolonged campaign. It is not about defeating the competition but to have relative advantage over it. The focus is not to elbow the competition out of the race but to have the competitive advantage through better engagement & long term relationships with the stakeholders.

1. Understanding Enterprise gamification
What is your business strategy like- A game of chess or a game of
Wei qi?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sanjay Abraham
Chess is a game, we in the business world could easily relate with. After all it’s a game about planning
and making the right moves to defeat the opponent and win the game. The phenomenon is closely like
what people do to win in the business world too. No wonder chess is the favorite game of the business
leaders. Mentors who coach managers on business strategy also use the analogy of chess in their
sermons and leadership programs. The game of Chess teaches the right tactics business leaders need to
succeed.
While Chess is about tactics to win, a relatively lesser known game Wei qi, having its origin in China
(often called as ‘Go’) is about strategy. In Wei qi, the two players alternately place “stones" on the
vacant intersections . The object of the game is to use one's stones to surround a larger total area of the
board than the opponent. The game ends when both players pass, and players pass when there are no
more profitable moves to be made.
The chess player aims for total victory. The wei qi
player seeks relative advantage. Chess is about
winning. Wei qi is about having the larger ‘territory’.
Chess is about short term win. Wei qi is about long
term engagement.
People often misinterpret business to be a war to be won or lost. No it is not. Business is much more
than absolute wins and losses. It is not about a decisive battle but a prolonged campaign. It is not
about defeating the competition but to have relative advantage over it. The focus is not to elbow the
competition out of the race but to have the competitive advantage through better engagement & long
term relationships with the stakeholders. Remember, just like Wei qi, business too doesn’t end when
either of the companies (players) is defeated but it is only when there are no more markets or
customers left to win. What do we want our employees be doing? Defeating each others to win

2. individually or collaborating to win collectively. Business is about collaborative learning, group efforts,
mutual support and collective success. This could be made possible through better engagement loyalty.
This could me made possible through initiatives like enterprise gamification.
Enterprise Gamification is about using game mechanics into non gaming contexts. It could be an
effective means to build a competitive platform for stakeholders to perform better. We know distracted
& disengaged stakeholders could translate into huge losses in terms of productivity & revenues.
Gamification is not just about winning more badges, ascending higher levels or be on top of the
leaderboards. It’s the secret sauce to engagement loyalty….a motivational ‘booster shot’ for people to
excel in what leads to business success. Enterprise gamification ensures engagement so that success
doesn’t slip through the cracks.
If engagement loyalty matters to your business. Enterprise gamification is the way to go.
Sanjay Abraham is an ‘Enterprise Solutions Consulting, Product Marketing & Business
Development’ professional. He staunchly believes, 'Digital Transformation' could
radically change the way business is done today and that presently Enterprises get just
45% value from incumbent software. His areas of expertise & interest include
Enterprise Collaboration & Mobility, Big Data Analytics, Enterprise Social- Social
Business, Social Intranet, Social Onboarding, Social Communities, Enterprise Innovation
Management, Social Project Management, enterprise gamification, EFSS & content
collaboration.
Sanjay holds a Bachelors in Engineering (Computer Science) and a PG Diploma in Business Management. He has
worked with top names in the IT sector like Avaya GCL & Mahindra Satyam. His client list includes top bracket
names across Banking, Insurance, Retail, Telecom, BPO/ITeS, Public Services and other verticals. His contact
coordinates are:
Linkedin:in.linkedin.com/in/sanjayabraham. Twitter: @asanjay100 email: abraham@ctprd.com
© 2014 CTPRD. All rights reserved.