There are many emerging technology companies filled with talented people with a knack for designing and creating great 1-off products and services.
However, to stimulate growth companies also need the ability to quickly create and commercialize competitive, market-driven offers appealing to a broader range of clients.
See how one particular Web firm transformed a 1-off product into a growing opportunity with Merkado’s help. (more…)
In the current business environment, controlling the total cost of ownership or TCO of a new technology investment is high on the agenda of most business leaders.
This is especially true for companies that rely on hardware and/or software-based systems to deliver commercial products and services to their end-clients.
However, given the increasingly complex and disruptive nature of technology today, this is becoming a complicated and difficult task. Technology suppliers that can help their clients manage costs are well-placed to become indispensable to the success of their clients. (more…)
For each market there are tens to thousands of products and services, of which only a small part are truly successful.
While there are many reasons that can lead to the success of products and services, the outstanding ones have been designed and delivered in a way that provides a great customer experience.
Great products usually resolve common problems, they provide users with added benefits, they are convenient and easy to use, they satisfy other needs that customers didn’t know existed and they tend to be fun and engaging to use. But above the best products and services deliver a better user experience compared to others. (more…)
Within today’s economic context managing the cost base has become a priority for most consumer households and companies alike.
When it comes to commercializing technology-based product or services, especially those offering additional benefits seen mostly over the long term, technology companies (both as suppliers and buyers of goods and services) need shift the focus from the sale price to the total cost of ownership (TCO).
To understand why TCO is so important we first need to consider what it means.
In a recent post I looked at the most innovative companies, which include American Express in the finance category (it was 1 of 2 non-web finance companies featured).
AmEx recently announced a brilliant service for its cardholders, allowing them save money by effortlessly redeeming promotions using Twitter.
This is a beautiful example of how a 162-year old company can still be innovative and deliver measurable value to its clients and partners.
Mid-sized and Large enterprises have been traditionally well served by telecom and IT vendors such as Verizon, Orange, IBM, HP, Microsoft and Oracle.
However, when it comes to Small Businesses, the ICT market leaves much to desire. In particular: (more…)
Today’s market offers end-users of all types a plethora of Web-based services, delivered over the top-of any Internet access. As a results of the huge growth of mobile Internet services, along with evolving user behaviour and changing expectations, end-users no longer look to network services providers to fulfill their needs in areas such as communication, collaboration, entertainment, information and productivity. Just consider Skype, Facebook, Shoutcast or Google Docs.
This evolving context has pushed the value away from the networks used to deliver services, to the services themselves, allowing more companies to compete for end customers using a range of business models.
In a world where the growth of traditional services is unlikely for most service providers, and cost reduction is probably not enough to compete over the long term, focusing on developing better, customer-centric value propositions is a key value-creation strategy, offering top and bottom line impact if done right.
The questions then becomes, how do you systematically create market-drive offers that end-customer really want?
Many of our recent posts have dealt with different product and service sectors undergoing changes due to the rapid development of mobile and Web-based services.
While many Web-based companies are chasing new opportunities (ex. communication, collaboration, location-based information, music, print media, etc.) by delivering services over-the-top of any Internet connection, the actual telecom network service providers have been slow to follow for many reasons.
Telecom network services providers that wish to become more relevant to end-users’ broader needs must rethink their service strategy and refocus on developing customer-driven value propositions, satisfying particular problems and issues of specific customer groups, while leveraging their unique assets. (more…)
I’ve sometimes heard people claim that all the new technology and services now available, actually separate us from our family, friends and close contacts, more than before.
The thinking behind this idea is that prior to widespread use of phones and Internet, we would interact with our closest relations face-to-face. However, with all the ICT capabilities that now exist, we may prefer to communicate indirectly and/or at a distance, creating more separation.
I believe that the opposite is true.
As humans, we have an innate need for direct, social contact. This facilitates empathy, allowing us to see how others really feel so we can truly understand them and relate better, and vice versa. This basic human characteristic drives our need to maintain personal, face-to-face contact with our closest family, friends and confidants. This is partly why we have regular family dinners, visits with our grand parents or meet up regularly with our closest friends.
I also believe that modern communication capabilities – including e-mail, texting, IM, video-calls, conferencing, blogs, and social networking services - actually help us enhance relations with our inner circles, as well as with those further out. These tools give us more possibilities and choices for communicating with people in different ways, depending on the context. (more…)
There is currently a lot of discussion on cloud computing and cloud services in the media and in the industry. While some might believe that this is a new trend, many services are already available through ‘the cloud’. Furthermore, as broadband access continues expanding, the range of cloud offerings will grow larger day-by-day.
From and end-user standpoint, cloud services offer:
Following this definition, here are some examples of different ‘cloud services’: (more…)
