BEECOSYSTEM
HOW MIGHT WE HELP EXTRAPOLATE A NEW ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE AT BEECOSYSTEM?
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Utilizing the methods of backcasting and forecasting to evolve an existing firm called "BEEcosystem" 10 years into the future. BEEcosystem is an observation hive product—working to build a community, a "hive mind" of beekeepers who can support one another through sharing industry best-practices and educational outreach strategies. BEEcosystem offers the ability to expand the interior bee hive spaces by attaching additional wall-mounted
HexHive bodies.
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In our projected future scenario, BEEcosystem has been developed into a three-dimensional entity.We have re-designed the philosophy, vision, mission, culture/work environment and the external face for the firm. We created a business opportunity that delivers to the WeWork future projected scenario.
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ROLE: Art Direction | Reframing Organization Structure | Foresight & Strategy
TEAM: Devanshi Sihare, Eva Foo, Maribel Gill, Vishali Bawa, Yoon Jong Choy
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DURATION: January 2018 - April 218
PRODUCT: BEEcosystem is an observation honeybee hive designed to make pollinator education more accessible to everyone, from hobbyists to agri/ecotourism and institutional educators. Indoor/outdoor wall-mountable and modular, this hive can grow along with your colony inside.
FORESIGHT: We used several Trend For-casting tools to understand urban bee-keeping and what are the possibilities for the future.
• Robot bees are being used to help with pollination
• There is a scarcity of pure honey products. The demand for pure honey has increased as people haver become
more aware about the adulterated products they get from retail stores.
• The number of individual beekeepers has increased. Government no longer provides subsidies for beekeeping
and more regulations are in place now, because of which Beecosystem training and certificate program has
become important.
• AI and machine learning has matured - Beetrackers are being utilized to develop insights for beekeepers
and beecosystem.
PROJECT FUTURE SCENARIO:
• Wework has become the google for spaces
• Wework office spaces, welive housing & weshuttle transportation makes relocation easy for people.
• Most HQ are renting from wework instead of having their own property.
• Wework as a company handles everything space related from furniture, interior, utilities, restaurant, healthcare, shuttle, etc.
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OUR ORGANIZATION REFRAMING:
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THE ECOSYSTEM OF BEECOSYSTEM: The company provides an infrastructure for people to make their own decisions and empowers them to create their own environment and community building.
KEY STAKEHOLDERS: The details of the key features of the organisational culture have been depicted via the stories of the ideal stakeholders: -
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CURRENT TITLE:
Sophia is a PT barista working at a cafe in Oak Brook, IL that sources honey products from Beecosystem’s individual beekeepers around the local community.
BACKGROUND:
Finishing up her Marketing degree at the University of Illinois in 6 months.
CONNECTION WITH BEECOSYSTEM:
She loves the beekeepers they work with - they are people who are truly passionate about what they do and are on a mission to bring more pure and real bee products to people’s hands.
As Sophia learns more and more about Beecosystem and their services, she joins the BeeNet community, which is a social network for Beecosystem to connect with their stakeholders. Her profile automatically captures her behavior and allows her to update her latest projects relating to the industry and commenting to other people’s activities.
A few months later, Sophia is searching for a full-time job in marketing after she graduates. She goes to the BeeNet job board and switch her profile to “seeking for job opportunity.”
After a few weeks, Beecosystem contacts her for an interview.
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This is how Beecosystem make sure everyone they hire are really interested in them, instead of posting on other generic job boards. Beecosystem leverages the Tinder for hiring technology to spot the right candidates!
CURRENT TITLE:
Devan is 25 years old freelance web-developer living in Kansas City. Since he mostly worked at home and had unstable income, he thought it would be best to learn how to cook in order to save few extra bucks.
BACKGROUND:
When Devan started to bake, he became aware of the practice of commercial beekeepers producing adulterated (fake) honey in the US market and how FDA regulation is so loosely monitored that it was nearly impossible to find a true honey in the over-the-counter grocery stores around where he lived. In his search to find true-sourced honey, he learned about BEECOSYSTEM and how he could start his own bee colony conveniently in his living room.
Devan thought it might be a nice decor to have a visible bee colony mounted in his living room, and it might be a good hobby to invest especially when he can gather honey as a by-product of his newfound honey.
CONNECTION WITH BEECOSYSTEM:
Devan was little hesitant to commit to beekeeping but it was easier than what he expected. When he purchased BEECOSYSTEM hive, the company sent an instructor to help him install in his home and taught him the basics of managing a beehive.
Devan was referred to a BEEDUCATION program that was available both online and offline check-in system to learn more about handling bee colonies. The most relieving feature was that BEECOSYSTEM hive had an AI bee tracking technology to monitor the conditions of the bees, that way he only needed to check in for a help when there was an alert in bees condition.
After several months, Devan realized his colony was producing more honey than he could ever ask for. Devan's BEEDUCATION instructor suggested that if Devan was willing to take a certification course to be certified as an unadulterated true-source honey producer in his neighboring area. BEECOSYSTEM's certification gave Devan two options:
1) Devan could just simply be certified as a true-sourced honey seller and make the sales on his own or
2) Devan can be certified and sell the honey to BEECOSYSTEM that way there was no need to worry about packaging and creating his own point of sales.
TITLE:
Emily Haile is the content strategist under the education department of Beecosystem, Manhattan. She is very ambitious/focused and motivated to start her own organization eventually.
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BACKGROUND:
She did her Masters in Language and Literacy. She works closely with the scientific research and design development teams to create content strategy to cater to the needs of the internal and external stakeholders such as preparing toolkits for beekeepers, training modules for educational institutions, campaigns for consumer awareness, etc.
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CONNECTION WITH BEECOSYSTEM:
She joined Beecosystem seven months back when she heard that the organisation culture would allow her to learn, grow and challenge herself to put in her best efforts. She usually works in the office everyday from 9 - 5. However, takes a few days to work from home when her husband visits her from Chicago.
During her quarterly volunteering under BEEIMPACT, a program to promote social impact at beecosystem at one of the BEECOLONIES, which are plantation gardens to to promote the balance in different types of Bees and not just Honey Bees. She gets a project idea and thinks that it has the ability to have a positive impact on multiple levels of Beecosystem.
However, she doesn’t have all the skills required to make the idea tangible. She decides to collaborate with Elena who works in Beecosystem, Boston. They’ve been friends for a few months on the internal page of “BENET”, which is the social media platform for employees across different WeWork offices. They decided to go ahead with the project together. They pitch their idea at the Bee-trepreneur innovation meeting, which is usually held every month to encourage their employees to work on projects that they are passionate about. They do a quick workshop to test the idea and once they get the go ahead for the project, Emily starts dedicating a few hours for her project during her work hours. Beecosystem encourages Emily to follow her passion and enables her progress by their supportive culture.
TITLE:
Vanessa is the second female CEO at Beecosystem since the company implemented a gender equality policy more women have access to high-level positions at the company.
Vanessa know what is going on at most levels of the organization as she spends at least 1 week per month visiting the different Beecosystem offices and facilities to visit her employees to be aware of their needs and challenges. Every month she chooses a beekeeper for a conversation about their progress, their needs, and new ideas.
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BACKGROUND:
Designer turned into a Business Strategist. Vanessa’s main roles is to make sure that the actions taken in the Company are aligned with its own principles. She is aware of whats happening and what is needed around the company by listening to others ideas.
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Vanessa is an Open Innovation Advocate, and this has been reflected in her activities as CEO at Beecosystem. The company has expanded her services all over the United States and knowing the adverse weather conditions and the particular needs of every bee in the company, Vanessa is always surrounded by experts and individuals at all levels that have a voice in the business discussions.
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CONNECTION WITH BEECOSYSTEM:
In the time of crisis or turning points, Queenbee will follow the protocol and organize the special committee to measure and control the situation.
Queenbee's role is crucial not as an overseer and to makes the decision for the team but to be a luminary to encourage each department to make a rational decision to sooth surrounding stakeholders.
Because Vanessa may be the best person to put CEO hat on, when it comes to miniscule-leveled knowledge-based decisions. She knows that she will not be the mega expert of all field.
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