Tag Archives: complex world
I must admit, I’ve never been much of a pioneer when it comes to most new technologies. This I’m sure doesn’t shock my extremely talented staff. I was the last of my friends to get a cell phone. I held off on joining Twitter and Facebook until my kids told me I had to do it. And for years I refused to utilize a CRM solution, and rather opted to continue using my physical MoleSkin book to keep things organized (several of which I kept and it’s pretty interesting to look back a few years ago and see what incredible notes I had written on a daily basis).
And it wasn’t until last month that I downloaded the QR code reader app on my iPhone (and now I’m like a little kid scanning every QR code I see). But for some technologies or services, I have been more of a pioneer. I was one of the first users of Basecamp to collaborate projects with my staff online, across multiple business units. And I was an early adopter of Voice Over IP.
I tell you this since there’s a new type of product delivery that’s available to companies and their customers everywhere. And while I’ve only dabbled in using it to date, I am going to be making much more use of it in the near future. And I urge you to do the same.
This new type of delivery model is Mobile. And the statistics proving why you can’t ignore it any longer are staggering. Consider the following:
GROWTH
1.) According to Nielsen, the iPhone’s growth was 10 times faster than the growth of America Online.
MARKET SIZE
2.) According to the Mobile Marketing Association Asia, more people on planet Earth own a mobile phone (5.1 billion) than own a toothbrush (4.2 billion), “so gross but so true”.
3.) According to the CTIA Wireless Association, 250+ million Americans carry mobile phones; representing over 80% of the nation’s population.
4.) Of those carrying phones, 62% of mobile adults aged 25-34 report owning smartphones.
ACCESSIBILITY
5.) According to Morgan Stanley, 91% of all U.S. citizens have their cell phone or mobile device within reach 24/7.
6.) Nielsen Wire reports that 40% of all mobile phones in the U.S. are smart phones.
7.) According to Facebook, there are more than 350 million active users [44 percent] currently accessing Facebook through their mobile devices. And people who use Facebook on their mobile devices are twice as active on Facebook as non-mobile users.
SPEED & ACTION
8.) According to the CTIA Wireless Association, while it takes 90 minutes for the average person to respond to an email, it takes just 90 seconds for someone on average to respond to a text message.
9.) According to Mobile Marketer, 70% of all mobile searches result in action within 1 hour.
REVENUES & RESULTS
10.) According to Borrell Associates, mobile coupons get 10 times the redemption rate of traditional coupons.
11.) According to Yankee Group, global mobile payments (called m-payments) currently total approximately $240 billion and are expected to exceed $1 trillion by 2015.
12.) According to IDC, mobile app downloads will reach 76.9 billion in 2014 and will generate $35 billion in sales.
CUSTOMER LOYALTY
13.) According to Reuters, mobile customers display a ferocious loyalty to their current device. 80% of Apple users would purchase another device of the same brand.
So what does this mean to you?
Well to me, it means that mobile delivery solutions should be a key part to your new product development strategy of virtually any company. Mobile delivery solutions allow you to reach customers quickly. Customers will get more and more used to paying you and other companies via their mobile device. And mobile applications will continue to explode, and are not only a way for you to stay in front of customers, but they could be a huge revenue source for your company.
For example, mobile banking consumers carry a higher balance than the average banking consumer and has a greater net worth. While still only representing a small percentage of banking households, that number is increasing. Understanding the unique needs of this lucrative segment could mean winning and retaining valuable customers.
Companies will need to figure out innovative and personal ways to deliver value to their clients, improve the user experience which in-turn increases customer loyalty.
So, don’t ignore this key market trend. Rather, seize the opportunity to become the mobile delivery leader in your niche.
For more information on how Williams & Garcia can help your company be a pioneer in this market, let’s have a conversation.
Knowing What You Can Do Best
There is an old parable about a hedgehog and a fox. The fox knows many things, but the hedgehog knows just one big thing. The fox is a cunning creature, able to devise a myriad of complex strategies for the sneak attacks upon the hedgehog. Day after day, the fox circles around the hedgehog’s den, waiting for the perfect moment to pounce. Sleek, fast, beautiful, fleet of foot, and crafty – the fox looks like the sure winner. The hedgehog, on the other hand, is a dowdier creature, looking like a genetic mix-up between a porcupine and a small armadillo. He waddles along, going about his simple day, searching for lunch and taking care of his home.
The fox waits in cunning silence at the juncture in the trail. The hedgehog, minding his own business, wanders right into the path of the fox. “Ah ha, I’ve got you now!” thinks the fox. He leaps out, bounding across the ground, lightning fast. The little hedgehog, sensing danger, looks up and thinks, “Here we go again. Will he ever learn?” Rolling up into a perfect ball, the hedgehog becomes a sphere of sharp spikes, pointing outward in all directions. The fox, bounding toward his prey, sees the hedgehog’s defense and calls off the attack. Retreating back to the forest, the fox begins to calculate a new line of attack. Each day, some version of this battle between the hedgehog and the fox takes place, and despite the greater cunning of the fox, the hedgehog always wins. *
Hedgehogs in Corporate America
There are an abundance of foxes out there in the corporate world. Companies that pursue many directions at the same time. They are “scattered or diffused, moving on whims at many levels.”
Never integrating their thinking into one overall concept or unifying vision. Hedgehog companies, on the other hand, simplify a complex world into a single organizing idea, a basic principle or concept that unifies and guides everything. It doesn’t matter how complex the world, a hedgehog company reduces all challenges and dilemas to simple – indeed almost simplistic – hedgehog ideas. For the hedgehog company, anything that does not somehow relate to the hedgehog idea holds no relevance.
Isn’t it refreshing when you find a company that has taken a thoughtful and unified approach to the complex world of IT?
So many foxes are out there bouncing from productivity tool to security tool to automation tool, strategizing about that next idea that can provide the solution that will “magically” help them to finally catch their hedgehog. But, time and time again they produce the same poor results.
Key Focus For Hedgehog Companies
Organizations that are hugely successful are able to take a complex world and simplify it. Understanding what matters most to an IT organization has very little to do with the latest technology, but everything to do with the process and how they use that technology to support their one single hedgehog idea. Companies today make money so many different ways that the complexity of the choices can draw their focus away from that one idea that makes them unique.
Great organizations have found a way to simplify the complicated processes that weave the fabrics of business and IT together into one focused idea. However, the organizations that are continually frustrated by their repeated attempts to try anything to snare their elusive hedgehog, will remain instead scattered, diffused, and inconsistent.
For the moral of the story is that the fox is constantly focusing on the latest idea, concept or fad. No matter how hard he tries, the fox will always fall short. Understand what you do best and do only that. The hedgehog knows what it can do, but even more importantly, knows what he can’t do.
[Excerpts and idea for this blog came from the book "Good To Great", by Jim Collins]