As I have written in the past, my favorite television show is 24. Well, the new season has started and it is off to a pretty compelling start. What I like about this show -- and why it is relevant to this blog -- is its intelligent portrayal of intelligence in action.

More specifically, the show -- which stars Kiefer Sutherland as agent Jack Bauer -- gives us an absorbing look at the linkage between a "command center" (like the show's Counter Terrorist Unit) and "field agents" that is analogous to many activities that are becoming increasingly critical in the business world.

Just think of CTU as a very intelligent customer contact center or sales support operation. The field agents are like field sales people or professional consultants. Success, as I see it, will increasingly revolve around the interplay of such forces in the coming years.

What I found interesting in the first episode of the series was a scene where an an agent turns on his hidden camera-phone to enable situation analysis back at CTU. I am expecting such behavior to become ever more common in the years ahead as sales people turn on their (unhidden) cameras so that a sales operations expert can monitor and, in some cases, participate in sales meetings. (We already do this with audio conferencing.)

The electronic linkage -- and digital capture -- of the event makes it easier for us to learn from activities in the field -- even course correct in real-time. Imagine an inexperienced field sales person uttering something inappropriate that upsets the prospective client; the experienced sales ops manager back at the office can step in at that moment and turn the situation around. Later on, the sales person can play back the digital "tape" and learn. Learning is accelerated. Performance improves.

That's kind of what is going on in 24. If you watch the show, take the time to think about the interactions between the command center (which is peopled with super smart analysts as well as some out-of-touch bureaucrats) and the field (where agents must act in the moment -- hopefully with the support and analysis of CTU).

As our enterprises become more and more real-time in their demands and behavior, we too must act quickly -- and with great precision. Every client contact becomes a threat and an opportunity. This is what customer-focused analysis and action will look like in the future. Just ask Jack.