In order to make a company more competitive and successful, workers should be allowed to think independently, so that they learn things and contribute to its success, said experts at the Excellence Confluence, a business conference held here on Saturday.

Experts at the conference discussed the importance of allowing employees to contribute newer ideas into the company rather than following the flock.

Speaking at the conference, Parthi Damodaran, CEO of the Institute of Lean Systems, claimed that such flexibility on the part of the company would also help create a healthy workforce.

However, Manikandan Thangarathan, director of engineering at Amazon, questioned whether the flexibility would make way for unwanted mistakes in sensitive programmes.

The panelists, including K Purushothaman, regional director of NASSCOM, also discussed the importance of Coimbatore as a technological hub.

“People have long been thinking of Coimbatore as only a textile city. But the scenario is changing and Coimbatore is fast growing as a tech park where bigger MNCs are set to invest,” Purushothaman said after the conference.

Students, educationists, entrepreneurs and experts from various places participated in the conference. Various new products were also displayed during the conference.