As the information economy continues to evolve, significant tension is growing between two opposing forces. On one hand, it is essential to keep increasing the empowerment of knowledge worker teams across the organization. For companies to run lean and mean, to ensure that they capitalize on any and all opportunities that may emerge in the market, and to rigorously drive down the risks associated with process or compliance failures, they must keep raising the bar when it comes to what users can do individually and collectively from their PCs, tablets and smartphones.
Posts Tagged ‘competitive advantage’
Navigating Corporate Data Silos: Unlocking The Data Differentiator
Monday, April 16th, 2012Organizations are always looking for ways to differentiate themselves in the marketplace. An often-overlooked source of differentiation is housed within an organization’s collective data. Products can be examined and copied but what really makes an organization unique and drives competitive advantage is the data, information and knowledge contained within its collective conscience and its many data silos. The key features of the next great product release or business-building marketing campaign may be right under your nose, if only you could find it. Collected data is a competitive advantage but only if you can access it and use it effectively. To unlock the value contained in this data, workers must be able to access it, relate it and derive meaning from it an efficient manner. Search is the most common means to unlock this store of knowledge however its effectiveness is often undermined by the specter of fragmentation.
Customer Experience as a Branding Strategy
Tuesday, March 27th, 2012With more emphasis on customer experience, many companies are asking how we leverage customer experience as the foundation for creating an effective brand strategy. Apple and Steve Jobs have proven that this is indeed possible and a viable tactic. To humanize our brands we must take a closer look at how we interact with customers and identify the necessary steps to truly connect with our customers.
Who Comes First in Shaping Customer Experience: Customers or Employees?
Tuesday, December 6th, 2011[Excerpt from Vineet Nayar, vice chairman and CEO of India-based HCL Technologies] “The conventional wisdom, of course, says that companies must always put the customer first. In any services business, however, the true value is created in the interface between the employee and the customer. So, by putting employees first, you can bring about fundamental change in the way a company creates and delivers unique value for its customers and differentiates itself from its competitors.”
Investment-shy? Should you go out of business?
Monday, September 12th, 2011Some business and technology decision-makers are rather hesitant about making significant new investments in technology right now. To their way of thinking, it isn’t prudent to spend on a new customer solution implementation right now because demand for their current products is so uncertain. In their minds, it’s better to wait until things pick up a bit. Then, they say, they’ll consider investing in some fancy-schmancy new technology.
This way of thinking is, however, exactly wrong—especially today.
There are three reasons in particular why the failure to invest in a competitively differentiated customer engagement now is completely wrong-headed:
The 12 Most Important Steps an Organization Can Make to Improve the Customer Experience
Monday, August 29th, 2011The customer experience an organization delivers is unique to that company, difficult to imitate, and results in a distinctive competitive advantage. According to Peppers and Rodgers, “81% of organizations with strong competencies for delivering customer experience excellence outperform competitors.” Here are Vivisimo’s 12 most important steps an organization can take to improve their customer experience:
Customers “Expect” us to Innovate
Thursday, July 14th, 2011Every business conversation always circles back to the customer. At a recent #innochat on innovation Graham Hill [@grahamhill] asked, “Do customers need us to innovate?” My immediate response was customers “expect” us to innovate—when we don’t we end up at memorial services. And sadly enough it would be our own service.
Tenuous competitive advantages coupled with increased global competition mandate that we continuously innovate or risk losing our customers to competitors. Added to this, customer expectations seemingly inch higher daily. Customers want us to anticipate their needs, to develop new products, to innovate, and deliver solutions that bring efficiency to their business processes, their homes, and their life as a whole.
Status Update: Cult
Monday, March 7th, 2011Sometimes as product managers, we put on blinders and focus solely on the feature sets of our product and service offerings. We are always looking to add the next “one & only” feature to give our offering more check boxes than the closest competitor. Often times we forge customer relationships not to understand the customer’s need, but to identify the next big feature to help us leap frog our competition. However, in an era where a competitive edge is as fleeting as a breath, you cannot rest on the laurels of product features. Just look at how quickly the “tablet wars” started.
