Where are you going? What are you trying to achieve?
Two seemingly straightforward questions that many technology companies struggle to answer. We can help you and your executive team to find answers to them.
We can investigate new markets and give you the information you need in order to decide whether to invest in them. Alternatively we can develop strategic alliances that will help you achieve your objectives.
You can take a feature too far.
Regular readers will know that I tend to rant until blue in the face about differentiating technology products, targeting user needs and not going overboard with your one key differentiating feature.
I’m also really keen on clear names and clear concepts about what a product does. In the film industry they talk about “high-concept pitches” for films. Legend has it that the high-concept pitch for Aliens was “Jaws in space”.
So I was gratified when I heard a high-concept pitch for the Apple iPad as “like and iPhone but bigger” – I got it (or at least some of it) immediately. Then I came across this picture and became a little worried that Steve may have over done it a tad and that he was destined to go the same was as the captain of the Vasa.
Behind you Steve!
Will 3D TV take off like The Stewardesses?
I am a geek. Well, I was. But I’m starting to doubt it now. You see part of being a geek is adopting new technologies way ahead of the sensible majority of the population. Not only am I a geek, but I’m a geek who has spent 25 years in the film and television business creating and delivering the coolest new products to help put fantastic images on your screens, but now I feel like I’m losing my way. Why? 3D TV.
First out let’s just clear something up, because geekiness is also about pedantry. It’s not 3D. I’ve got to call it that because everyone else does and if I don’t you won’t know what I’m talking about. The point is that it is an optical illusion that gives us just two of the cues we use to perceive the 3D world in which we live to make us think that what we are looking at is (a bit) three dimensional.
Is Apple about to breach its psychological customer contract?
One of the concepts I learned about during my MBA that really resonated with me was that of the Psychological Contract. This is the unwritten, and largely unspoken, contract between an employee and their employer. The idea is that during the recruitment process discussions will give rise to a set of expectations about how each will behave and what they can expect of one another. This is further developed as the employee becomes part of the organisation and learns “how things are done around here”. If those expectations are not met, there is a breach of the psychological contract and the employee may feel a reduced level of loyalty, motivation and commitment.
A similar type of contract is built up between a customer and a supplier. The customer, reading the marketing information, absorbing the messages and negotiating the purchase, will build up a set of expectations about both the product and the company. That set of expectations is based on the values that the brand communicates. If those values are true to the organisation, the customer is likely to be satisfied, or even delighted, with the relationship – they get what they are expecting, and are likely to be an advocate of the brand. If, however, the values are unrealistic or untrue, the customer will become dissatisfied and may feel cheated or tricked. They’ll certainly not be promoting the brand to their friends and colleagues.
The problem of growing beyond your established market for SMEs
Why the most common motivator for strategic decisions is the wrong one
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