Tips
In doing analysis for web company that provides online solutions for managing commercial and residential contractor bids and work processes, we were looking for examples of great technology integration stories. We immediately raised up the seamless integration between the iPod and iTunes as a great customer experience. It is so easy that there is no user manual needed, but this is a rare exception.
In looking for other ideas, I was thinking about integration between Google Maps and GPS devices and searched Google for examples. (more…)
Most of us would rather not go to a hospital. When we do go, it often seems that most of the staff aren’t too happy to see us there either. Individual medical professionals and staff can sometimes be friendly one-on-one, but nobody greets you, nobody welcomes you, and you spned most of the time sitting around in uncomfortable chairs, reading dull magazines, and trying to not breathe the air in the cramped waiting rooms.
I don’t write this post as an endorsement of Kaiser, but I recently went to a Kaiser facility and was extremely surprised by the great service. It provides a great view into transforming of customer experiences. In the case of Kaiser, admittedly I was expecting the worst. The ‘Thrive’ branding seems so perfect, but how could a large company in such a tough industry transform such a typically negative experience into a positive one? Kaiser proved, at least in my case, that it could be done. Anyone who provides service to the general public could learn from the detailed and simple steps Kaiser has taken to make the customer experience far exceed the expectations. (more…)
As we enter the normal stategic and business planning season it is clear that things are different this cycle. We are all being forced to ask tough questions about how we’ll invest, carefully, for 2010. I’ve been in several strategic planning sessions with both clients and in our own company where a single question is disturbing the status quo. The question boils down to asking, “is our current business model and approach over-engineered and over-built…and if so, how do we get it right for the coming years?” There is a fantastic Wired Magazine article you can use to spark the right conversation within your team that will help you target investments in the right areas.
Someday, the picture on the right of a typical cubicle farm will look just as obsolete as the rows of desks with the boss watching from behind on the left. For some workers, someday is today. And the good news is that the solutions for today are actually less expensive, more flexible, better for effective work, sustainable and to most employees…really cool. It is rare to find this type of business solution.
This week we had an opportunity to meet an amazing group of people at Sun Microsystems. They have developed what is by far the best, most cost effective, most efficient, and cool workplaces that I’ve seen in years. In my work, I have the opportunity to see a lot of different work environments and use a lot of different collaboration platforms…some of which I’ve written about on the blog. However, this one was different…. (more…)
The Professional Services Journal invited Jeanne Urich, SPI Research, and I to co-lead a webinar on professional services transformations. We share background on the industry-leading PS Maturity Model Benchmark as well as our PS Transformation approach.
If you are responsible for improving performance of a professional services orgnaization or merging services organizations, you will find this webinar valuable in terms of specific benchmark performance metrics from the ”best-of-the-best” and a well proven process for transformation with some tools and case exmaples to apply to your business.
According to a recent IDC Global Retail Insights survey, 75% of retailers and 58% of consumer products manufacturers rank customer-centricity among top 3 keys to success. This finding aligns perfectly with our experience that the only way big ideas turn into big results is when those ideas are based in a deep understanding of customer needs and are executed by delivering a winning customer experience. There are some breakthroughs in approaches to listening to customers and tapping into their innovative ideas that the most innovative companies are applying today. Below are some simple descriptions and first implementation steps you can take to moving down this path.
1) Listen to customers, but listen closer to non-customers.
This is similar to to the idea of keeping your friends close and your enemies closer. Sometimes you learn more by listening to those who don’t see things your way than those who already agree. This tip is one very commonly overlooked when developing strategies for growth. Many companies listen to their sales force to understand strategic customer needs. This is one perspective, but the conversations tend to be short-term focused, are clouded by the vendor/customer relationship dynamic, and represent people who already see the world the way you do.
With the Wii, Nintendo converted non-customers of gaming systems by listening and creating a solution that moms would love to have in their homes. Southwest airlines converted non-customers of air travel by creating a price point and casual travel feel that matched bus travel, but was much faster. Netbooks are converting non-customers of expensive laptops into mobile computing users.
IMPLEMENTATION: To get started listening to non-customers, set up a specific research effort to call on customers who have left your business, sales leads which were lost, and targeting potential customers who have never been reached at all. Test if there is a lack of awareness of your company, a disagreement about the value proposition, or an unmet set of needs that you could begin to serve. This is where many breakthrough strategies originate.
2) Engage customers in open and direct innovation online
The most innovative companies are turning to a new set of online solutions to engage customers directly and openly into the innovation process. Cisco has been one of the most forward and successful, perhaps finding it’s next $1 billion product category through an online innovation campaign. They leveraged an online tool set from Bright Idea Software (Dissero’s strategic partner) to launch an open innovation contest that allowed anyone from around the world to suggest ideas, have them voted on by others, and collaborate and shape ideas together. The new solutions provide ways to open up and capture innovative ideas, engage with customers directly, and provide tools that filter the ideas so you can easily harvest only the best and most popular ideas for consideration internally. This allows you to truly tap the wisdom of the crowd, but not be overwhelmed with too many random and tactical ideas…like the old suggestion boxes that we’ve all come to detest. This is new technology, with new capabilities and a real breakthrough in business strategy.
Watch the video on this page to hear more about how Cisco did this and what the program accomplished. http://www.cisco.com/web/solutions/iprize/index.html
Lego toys launched a site to let users design and purchase their own kits, which other people can purchase as well. http://factory.lego.com/
Starbucks created the My Starbucks Idea site to gather direct customer input for new ideas of all types. These are voted on by others so the best ideas can rise to the surface. http://mystarbucksidea.force.com/
IMPLEMENTATION: If you are interested in creating your own customer innovation site there are many considerations on technology platform, scope of ideas to request, and internal innovation management process to harvest the benefits. Dissero has partnered with Bright Idea Software to provide a full solution to quickly and easily get you in touch with your customers and begin tapping their innovative ideas, creating new revenue streams and great loyalty. The good news is that almost immediately and for the cost of a typical “ideation” brainstorming workshop or offsite with your management team, you can put in place a pilot program to engage customers, employees, and partners in searching for innovations. This will become as pervasive as having customer panels or user groups and much more extensive and powerful.
If you had enough time to read 100 business books in depth, what do you think you might learn? Jack Covert and Todd Sattersten did that for all of us and this month published “The 100 Best Business Books of All Time” to share what they found. Jack and Todd run 800-CEO-Read and usually are selling books, not writing them. But they have seen a lot of business books over the years and took the time to summarize the best of what they have seen up through books published in 2007. They actually found that there are only five problems that all of these books truly addressed at the core. Todd tells us what those are in the interview that follows…
By Michael Kanazawa
This week I had the opportunity to meet with an amazing group of innovators at RKS Design, including Ravi Sawhny, the founder and CEO of RKS, Tom White and Deepa Prahalad. RKS designs products for companies in a very unique way. Rather than work from spec sheets, they go first to customer needs, wants and emotions. This philosophy meets closely with my perspective on customer-driven business strategy and managing to customer experiences, so I was interested in meeting them and learning more.
I didn’t keep it much of a secret that I also wanted to get my hands on one of their beautiful RKS guitars. In 2005 the RKS guitar graced the cover of BusinessWeek in an edition covering the most innovative products of the year! Holding the guitar it was clear why it won the awards and also won the hearts of people like Don Felder (The Eagles), one of my favorite guitarists of all time as well as Ricki Lee Jones, Ron Wood and many others. (more…)
By: Michael Kanazawa
People like to say, “failure is not an option,” in an attempt to motivate greatness and breakthrough results. However, like so many popular business phrases, this one doesn’t even make sense in real life. This phrase was made popular in the Hollywood version of Apollo 13, but business isn’t a movie and employees aren’t actors. We all lead in the real world where not everything gets resolved in a happy ending in a neat 90 minute story. Successful people and companies know that failure is always a potential and it is not something than can or should be ignored. (more…)
By: Michael Kanazawa (picture: Charles M. Jones, 1953, Flickr)
You’ve just been tasked with launching a major change effort, “hmm, what to use?”
A question was raised recently to me about the differences between Change Management, Process Reengineering and Corporate Transformation. Often these terms are interchanged, mixed together and used in confusing ways. I was asked to clarify the differences and discuss how and when each should be applied to solve business challenges. Here’s my shot at clarifying the intangible and helping to select the right tool for the right job.
All of these three terms relate to change, but to different levels and types of change. The problem with the fuzzy definitions is that it leads to people applying the wrong practice to their business challenge. It’s like someone saying, “We need to dig a tunnel from England to France; let me get my Black & Decker rechargeable drill.” Or equally bad, “We need to place a screw in the living room wall to hang a mirror; hold on while I get the dynamite.” (more…)
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Michael Kanazawa shares recent insights and tips about the no-nonsense, results-driven approach to driving business breakthroughs found in his new book Big Ideas to Big Results.