Most large companies only dream of having the agility of an innovative startup such as London-based online printing firm Moo.com. The successful web business produces customised mini business cards, greetings cards and stickers from users’ online pictures.

Few corporates, for example, have the luxury of using Skype for all their phone calls, running every customer communication past their chief executive, or approving major new product developments with a quick shout across the office.

But Moo founder and chief executive Richard Moross believes corporates have lessons to learn about agility from small, tech-savvy businesses such as his. “We monitor everything anyone ever says about us online, which is a simple, automated process that any firm could replicate,” he says. “It is incredibly insightful and helps us spot trends very quickly and continually improve our customer service.”

Moross also thinks open-plan workplaces and small teams are key to agility. “If someone wants to talk to someone they should just be able to shout across the room, not have to plan a meeting,” he says. “Another thing is never have a team of people you cannot feed with a large American pizza ­ that is, no more than 12 people. You are much more agile if you have small autonomous units based in the same big space.”

Finally, he says, it is vital to mix disciplines. “We mix front-end people, back-end people, product development people, marketing teams, technology teams and management. This gives us so much more agility than the traditional structure of individual departments. Having the right people next to each other enables them to build relationships and be more productive. When people work together and hang out together, they think together.”