Mobile Apps: What are you waiting for?

Early marketers would be jealous. There is such an abundance of quick, immediate feedback on products and services at our disposal with technology. Information can be acquired, analyzed, and processed at amazing rates and in great abundance. It is true, the information must be understood correctly from a statistical standpoint (i.e., “Is the population correctly represented?”), but the possibilities are numerous.

The scenario

I’ll start with this example. A marketer is informed that a client wants to explore “digital/mobile” marketing and learn how to best approach this medium. The marketer, who is familiar with the medium, but not an expert in it, begins to consult various sources, present the information to the client, and strategize on the best approach. Sounds fair enough. Now, I don’t want to make it sound like “jumping in” to something without adequately strategizing is a good idea, but on the other hand, there is no better time than the present.

A digital proving ground

How so? Well, let’s be more specific and suppose that the client wants to create a “mobile app” and figure out which services to provide to its clients. In this scenario, we are presented with a “perfect” opportunity. There a few facts that we know.

First, we are considering a mobile app, so there are at least a few prevalent “platforms” (iPhone, Android, and Windows 7 Mobile) and there is also a mobile “browser” option that can catch any remaining devices that exists.

Secondly, we know our target audience on a broad scale: mobile app users, or those who use mobile devices. We do not need to get caught up with mundane questions like, “is the app going to be easy enough for Grandpa George (who does not use mobile devices) to use?” because he is not a prospective target.  The most important point here, and the compelling reason to just “git er done” and get the app developed and released quickly is the feedback that is obtained by making the app available.

Build it and they will come

I would argue that in today’s “lightning fast” technology cycles, it is most imperative to simply offer an app, then the feedback will flow. It is in the response to this feedback that an organization can shine. For instance, when the client learns that consumers are saying, “we don’t really need this feature, but we really want this other one”,  if they respond quickly to this feedback and continue responding in a timely and consumer-focused manner, consumers will take notice and a loyal following will be created. There are plenty of examples of companies who spend so much time in contemplating what to do that they miss their opportunity to make an impact with the technology.

What do you want to know?

In addition to the app-specific feedback that is collected to enhance the consumer’s experience, there is also the mountain of data that can be acquired concerning consumer habits and/or product usage, as the particular client’s industry applies. To make the point more clear, consider a restaurant. If the restaurant offers food ordering features via a mobile device (we’ll say this feature applies to in-store dining), along with food rating capabilities, storage of consumer food and beverage preferences, loyalty point accumulation, and customer service/feedback comment submission. The restaurant potentially has a gold mine of data that can be collected and analyzed to determine not only the best mobile app functionality, but also consumer habits and preferences that assist with strategic management of the organization in the future.  Yes, it is true, this only represents the thoughts and opinions of mobile application users who actually opt to use the associated functionality mentioned. However, it is important information that can give insight into issues that are potentially present with other consumers as well.

The tools are there. Why aren’t they being used?

One amusing phenomenon exists that has intrigued me for many years. Despite low-tech or hi-tech options that exist to gather information from consumers about their tastes or preferences, the practice of determining consumer opinion before making strategic moves appears to be less than one think.

Here’s an example. A restaurant is considering , or feels compelled, to drop an item from its menu, switch it for a new offering, or simply remove an ingredient from an existing item. Let’s say they are going to start using black olives in a salad that has traditionally made with imported Italian olives. As a marketer, and from a business standpoint, there may be very valid reasons for doing this. The cost may not justify the low profit margin on the item, whereas black olives are a cheaper substitute. Maybe the supplier is not offering this
item any longer. So what does the restaurant appear to do (in the cases I’ve observed)? They simply drop the ingredient or item. Maybe there was some centralized focus group testing, but it would appear that most of the time the item simply disappears.

Now, as a consumer, and yes, you’ve guessed it, I am referring to a personal situation here, that is extremely frustrating. Could the restaurant not ask its servers, when the item is ordered by a restaurant patron, to ask the customer for their thoughts on the proposed change? Could an item not print with the receipt that informs the customer of the proposed change and solicits feedback? Could the restaurant not ask the consumer if they are willing to pay a higher price for the item to receive it the way it was originally offered? Getting back to the original point, mobile applications allow for this type of notification and information gathering, which results in a more informed organization and more satisfied consumer. Again, for the non-technologically inclined, there are low tech ways to query consumers who visit and reach the exact target audience –those who are buying the product—to inform them of proposed changes.

Technology and Marketing, You are now married.

To summarize these points, mobile app development is best approached quickly and thought of as not only a “product or service” in and of itself, but as an information gathering tool that evolves based upon its consumers tastes, preferences, and expectations. The most critical element is response. If immediate and satisfactory response to consumer feedback is not perceived, then the information will be spread throughout “cyberspace” faster than ever before. Proper research and technological education is important, but it is an ongoing, cyclical process, not a simple milestone.

More marketers are learning that technology staff and leaders are becoming a critical asset within their organizations in order to become and stay competitive and formulate business strategies. By simply “getting into the game”, companies greatly enhance their ability to formulate their strategies in other marketing pursuits (i.e., which products to offer, how to market them, how audiences will perceive them, what marketing channels to employ, etc). So, get out there and listen to your consumers via mobile app technology. Are you ready for what you’ll hear?

Tags: advertising, Android, Business, Client services, Clients, iPhone, marketing, Mobile application development, Mobile device, Technology, Windows 7 Mobile

3 Tips on Digital Books and Book Readers

You either know by now, or you will hear about it tirelessly in the months to come. Google has debuted its new Google eBookstore. Much like the offerings from Amazon, Borders, Barnes & Noble, and others, the service gives you options for reading the books on various mobile devices as well as via a browser on any computing platform. The power of Google is behind this new offering, of course, so it will be interesting to see how it fares next to its competition.

When I first learned of the availability of early digital book platforms like Amazon’s Kindle, I thought it was a “cool” device, but I didn’t ever picture myself having a reason to use one. I mean, I worked on a computer all day and the last thing I wanted to do was to read something online when a good, old-fashioned book would do just fine. Then, several years later, I bought a Kindle when it was on sale. I must say, I’m a convert. So, I’ve already revealed that I have a Kindle, thus possibly hinting at some bias. I will assure you, however, that I try to remain fairly technology and brand “agnostic” when considering the merits of the myriad of new product offerings that come to market at a steady pace. I think that the digital “e-book” revolution has some great advantages, possibly some disadvantages, but much to offer the average consumer. Before I begin highlighting some points to consider when choosing an e-book device and/or platform, I want to recognize the fact that there are other options available beyond those which I will mention here. All have merits, and for the most part, each may be an acceptable “substitution” or even supplement to others. For those that aren’t very acquainted with this whole topic, though, here are some basic things to think about and consider.

1. Will your books be available to you from anywhere you want to read them? Several of the big providers like Google, Amazon Kindle, Barnes and Noble’s Nook, and Apple’s “iBooks” offer devices that allow a reader to read books on various platforms. This means, if you download a book to the device (Nook, Kindle, iPhone/iPad), the providers also make software available to read the book on your PC or Mac. In addition, you can “sync” your books across all devices (a book that is available on your computer is also available on your provider’s device, etc). Most of the providers also allow a reader to download free books from various sources, or even PDF files on a computer, to the device to read it on the electronic reader – such as Kindle, Nook, iPhone/iPad, etc. Wow. All this sounds confusing, right? Not really. Everything in this point simply means that the “big guys” in this field have provided the means for their customers to have access to their books when and where they want them.

2. What display technology do you prefer in a “dedicated reading device”? Focusing on the big 3 (Kindle, Nook, and iPad) and display technology, the major decision is between “passive” and “active” reading technology and web browsing features. Amazon became known for its “digital ink” technology on the Kindle. This technology basically makes the print on the device’s screen appear like a standard, “Paper” book. It is easy on the eyes and the size of the text is adjustable. The nook and the iPad offer color “active”screens (the Nook has a model that is only black and white as well). The active screen models have screens that resemble the experience of reading a book on a laptop or desktop computer. Which, then, should you choose? This depends on your personal preferences. I suggest going to a big electronics store, which will usually display each of these devices, and try them out for yourself. After trying the different options, you will have a better idea of which screen format works best over the long term. Some view the Kindle’s lack of an “active”, color screen as a disadvantage. Therefore, they also think that the limited web browsing features on the device are vote against it. I can only speak of my preferences here. I like the passive display that reads like a real book. I actually do not want an active display. Again, I have my computer for that. If I do want to read on an active display, I can use the Kindle software on my pc or iPhone and get the same effect. As for web browsing, this is also not something that is important to me. I use my Kindle for reading and only reading. I like it this way. You simply have to decide what is best for you with regard to these options.

3. Will the technology be here to stay? Maybe I’m just a skeptic. So be it. When I consider a standalone device of any type, I want to know, as best I can, that the device will be around for awhile. Yes, if the device uses formats that are “universal”, that’s a plus. If one of the vendors was ever to “phase out a product”, or worse, go out of business, hopefully they would make the customer’s products available to them in a format they could download and use elsewhere. That said, I enjoy Amazon’s service because Amazon is an entity that appears to have longevity. I’m not saying the competitors don’t have longevity, just that Amazon seems to be a “safe bet” to me. Secondly, I can store my “library” on their servers and download them whenever I want. This is a plus for me, as the iTunes model of “backup your files so you don’t lose them” is simply an inconvenience to me.

4. Is the Price right for you? Maybe this is not as much of an issue for you, but for me, it is the tie breaker. At the time of this writing, the newest model of Amazon’s Kindle is available with 3G Wireless (no subscriptions needed) and Wireless internet connectivity for about $189. The other devices I’ve seen so far, such as Barnes & Noble’s Nook and the iPad, while they certainly have far more features and “flashiness”, start out around $300 or more. If you are looking for a device that will almost replace your need for a laptop, maybe the iPad is the correct choice. If you don’t need quite that many features, but you want color and better web browsing capability, Barnes and Noble’s Nook is worth a look. If the experience of reading a real book is all you need, and price is an issue, definitely consider the Kindle. As far as the other devices that exist, like devices from electronics brands that are not tied to an online retailer, this is an area of research that you’ll have to do on your own. My personal opinion is that part of the “economical benefit” of the three devices mentioned here is that each is tied to a content provider (Apple, B&N, and Amazon), and therefore they add value to their product and a certain “peace of mind” about their product and its continued success.

Hopefully this information has been helpful. The new world of digital books seems confusing at times, or maybe some do not see any reason why one would want this medium. It is certainly a matter of choice and there is no “perfect answer”. The good news is that the devices and product offerings are far greater than ever and the prices for the devices and the books are even lower than ever before. Oh yes, forgot to mention that. Digital books often are significantly cheaper than their paper counterparts. How much cheaper? A typical new release hardcover book in a store could cost from $20 to $30, depending on how popular it is. It’s digital equivalent is usually no more than $10 to $15 at the time of release. After time, as with hardcovers and paperbacks, the price will fall. Several of the vendors, such as Amazon, even offer many titles for free, either for a limited time (promotions) or permanently.

UPDATE  10/08/2010:

Immediately after I posted this entry, Amazon announced “Kindle for the Web”. With the addition of this service, readers will now be able to read any Kindle ebooks in any web browser. This means that, beyond simply the ability to read your Kindle books on your computer, this “service” will allow you to read your Kindle books even on other devices, such as the Nook, the iPad, or any other device with a web browser. This opens up more possibilities for consumers. This development underscores the purchase criteria that I mentioned as part of my personal opinion: price and display type (active or passive). This is good news for those considering the Kindle platform. Look for other providers to offer similar capabilities in the near future as the competition intensifies.

Tags: Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble, Digital Books, Digital Bookstore, E-book, eReader, Google, Google eBookstore, IPad, iPhone, iTunes, Nook

5 Fundamentals for Keeping Loyal Customers

Photographer : Joche Van Eden

I’ll use the terms “loyal customer” and “regular customer” interchangeably, since I’ll focus primarily on service-oriented businesses, like restaurants, small cafes, and coffee shops for this post. The points I list here, however, could apply to most vendors, products, or businesses.

The concept seems sort of “obvious” and “corny”, actually. I mean, who would say that loyal customers are bad for business? Well, here’s my scenario: It never fails. I try Chinese take-out one night from a new restaurant, get exposed to a great desert at a small café after a big meeting, or wake up for a morning visit to the coffee shop and it happens. I’m hooked. In fact, I might find myself going to the source of my new infatuation at the same times each week, repeatedly, for a long period of time. Maybe I’ll follow the same ritual for most of a year or longer. Sure, I may develop some specific “quirks” and make some special requests each time I order, but for the most part, I try to “blend into the background” and be respectful of the staff and not too demanding. In fact, as a regular customer, I become friendly with the staff, they know how I like my order and cater to it, and so our “work relationship” goes for the time that I continue to indulge my senses with the product of choice. I realize this scenario applies to a lot of people, even if only for a small item like their morning cup of coffee or sandwich from the downstairs deli in their workplace. It was this type of customer-vendor relationship, built on the customer’s appreciation for the product and the vendor’s appreciation for the customer that inspired TV shows like Cheers. You know, “where everybody knows your name”. This is also the type of customer loyalty that the biggest name brands and product manufacturers continually seek and are “dying” to achieve. Great, so everybody continues in this routine “happily ever after”, right? Not so much.

Okay, well, it’s not that it can’t potentially be that way. We all remember the old shows like The Andy Griffith Show, and many others of course, that depict scenes with certain men in the town visiting a certain barbershop, café, or any other type of business and remaining loyal to it for their “lifetime”. Yes, there are many more choices available now, far too many sources vying for our “share of wallet” (that’s a piece of our cash, for the uninitiated), and far more diversified tastes and preferences than may have been apparent in the “golden age” of television. The goal, of course, is to attract customers, keep them over the long term, and turn them into our store or brand “evangelists”. We all understand this, so why does this relationship often break down and take other potential customers with it? After observing behavior at various coffee shops that I’ve frequented over the last couple of years, I came up with a list of points that coffee shops, cafes, and restaurants should remember to both attract customers and continue to satisfy their “regular” patrons. This list could apply to other types of businesses in most cases, but we’ll focus on those.

1. Loyal customers are still your customers. Treat them like that. Sounds silly, right? It is amazing how often this is overlooked. It is overlooked most often when a server or owner is friends with the customer. It is in my nature to be nice, to defer to others and allow them to be served ahead of me when I have extra time, and generally to be helpful and humble. However, in every situation where I’ve been considered a “regular” it seems that a server, manager, or other customer-facing employee begins, over time, to view a regular as a “nuisance” and as “undeserving” of the same level of service as other patrons. Again, I certainly don’t demand much, but I am a customer. That is the point here. Regardless of how well you know your customer, or how you infer that they “can wait”, make sure you are giving them the best level of service possible, just as you would to any customer that walks through the door. This does not have to be service that interferes with other customers, simply the type of service you would provide to any of your customers.

2. Loyal customers are your best referral source. In business, we all say we know this one. It is how we “implement” this principle that proves that we know it. Once again, I can use myself as an example of this point. If I really like a restaurant, café, or particular coffee shop franchise or location, I will not only tell all of my friends and family, but I will bring them with me, give them gift cards, or do anything else I can do to encourage people to visit the establishment. Never forget that most regulars engage in the same behaviors.

3. Losing a customer is bad. Losing a loyal customer is even worse. There are lots of books written about the necessity of good customer service. It just makes sense. In the book, Fifty Powerful Ideas You Can Use to Keep Your Customers, by Paul R. Timm, he states that an upset customer will tell, on average, 11 or 12 other people about their experience. The book was written in 2002, so you can imagine that in the world of social networking, which matured long after that date, the numbers are far higher than they once were. We’ve heard the news stories of a celebrity tweeting about something that upset them at about a brand or product and all of the damage control that ensued on the part of the brand’s PR representatives to try to fix the problem. Your daily customers may not be celebrities, but they have a similar reach in social networking and other platforms with technology. To compound the issue, regular customers feel they have a part of their life “invested” in your product or service. While they are content, they share that joy with you in the form of repeat business, referrals, and treating their friends and family to your products. If you upset or neglect them, they will take on your demise as their new purpose in life. I want to emphasize this, not to be cynical or pessimistic, only to point out just how critical this fact is to your business’ survival and prosperity.

4. Reward loyalty, don’t punish it. Yet again, it seems as though this point would be understood without even mentioning it. It is difficult for any business to control what all of their front-line customer representatives do at all times, whether management is present or not. All of the customer service personnel, however, are ambassadors of your product or service. One bad seed can spoil the whole thing. I will leave implementation ideas to the experts, but the point must be made. If any service person makes a regular customer, or any customer for that matter, feel less than welcome, the consequences mentioned above could apply. I believe that most “regular customers” at restaurants and cafes are like myself; they don’t expect special treatment and simply like the environment, products, and some good conversation now and then. We understand when you are really busy, not feeling well, or have other pressing obligations that demand your time. We can survive with the same level of service you provide to others. However, from time to time, it is good to recognize loyal customers for what they are and offer some additional “perks” or “incentives” for continuing their visit and to bring others with them as well. After all, they could spend that daily or weekly cash at another place. An occasional discount or freebie may seem like an imposition at the moment, but it can result in renewed enthusiasm on the customer’s part which could lead to instant payback on your part.

5. If you have an issue with a loyal customer, communicate with them. It would be nice to think that all customers are model patrons all of the time and that there is nothing but positive benefits experienced by all as a result of their visits. Unfortunately, this isn’t the real world. Here’s an example. Maybe a regular customer, who is usually well-behaved and unobtrusive, decides to listen to some loud music that can be heard through their headphones every morning while they eat. After a period of time, other customers start moving away from them and one may even complain to management. Rather than letting the situation get worse without intervening, the best approach is always communication. If service personnel or management can communicate with regular customers in times of concern, in a pleasant and appropriate manner, the situation will most often resolve itself. A customer cannot read the manager or personnel’s minds any more than they can read the customer’s mind.

Given an opportunity to rectify a situation, it is my assertion that the customer will be more than happy to comply and very apologetic about an issue they probably were not aware of in the first place. If a problem persists, even after communication, then management naturally must handle the situation as they would with any adverse situation. Most situations should, however, resolve themselves gracefully if given appropriate opportunity.

The points above are basic customer service reminders, and it is true that most of us are very well aware of them. Rather than trying to overstate the obvious, such reminders are beneficial for all of us sometimes. As we become inundated with our work efforts and technology becomes overwhelming, it simultaneously becomes easy to look past these critical principles. The key point to remember is that restaurants, cafes, and coffee shops have “built-in marketers” in their midst. When recognized for the gem that they can be, they will produce long term results that money and the best advertising agencies in the world just can’t buy.

Tags: Business, CRM, Customer, customer loyalty, Customer Management, Customer service, Customer Support

Doing Our Own Research – Some Fundamentals

“We all need to do our own research.” It seems to me that we hear this phrase often these days. Regardless of the forum – be it marketing, politics, health and wellness, financial matters – the edict is always the same. This statement is actually a correct one no matter how it applies. The real question, though, is, “what does this really mean?” If we are in the pursuit of “doing our own research”, do we have a set of “standards” by which we determine, either individually or corporately, that our “research” and the results we uncover are as correct and useful as possible?

This blog entry does not delve into statistical analysis, although a perusal of the subject would be helpful to many, as important elements are analyzed. The decision of whether certain research goals require a “population” or simply a “sample” and whether the results that are derived actually mean what one believes are questions every good researcher must face. I will present 5 fundamental principles that marketing researchers must remember when faced with either explicit tasks to conduct research, or with situations where research is needed even if they are not aware of it. Certainly, there are more I could present here, but we’ll keep it fairly brief.

Quite bluntly, my observation, no matter in which context the phrase is used, is that the phrase “we must do our own research” is about the same as a high school girl saying “let’s just be friends”. In the latter statement, 1) there is no intention of ever being friends, 2) the other party is not allowed the opportunity to present a reasoned debate on this outcome (the decision was made by the girl), 3) there is no accounting for whether the “source” of the decision was valid or appropriate (maybe her friends all agreed)…and so it goes. In the context of someone stating “we must do our own research”, they are usually implying at least one or more of the following: 1) “I am correct, this is what I think, and I don’t want outside opinions”, 2) “Go away and leave me alone, it is not open for discussion”, 3) “I consulted my ‘usual sources’ without any regard as to their validity”, 4) “This issue is not important enough for me to really exert any energy on it”. Of course, I could go on, but you get the idea.

Yes, the list above seems a little cynical, but if we are being truly honest, we know that this appears to be the general indications given (a possible research opportunity? – more on this in a moment). To be fair, there is an overload of information in today’s society, and consuming it all is impossible. We also must prioritize the most important issues and focus on what matters to us most. With this, I begin my list of important fundamentals when approaching research and the need for it:

1) Try not to assume. If you make an assertion, make sure you can back it up factually. I’ll be up front on this one. I’m guilty of this too – I believe we all are at times. We make an assertion about a client’s service or product and say “people want this”, or “studies show that” when, in fact, we don’t know for a fact that they do. We may be basing our knowledge on previous efforts in which we’ve been involved. This might be effective, but we must verify that the information is timely and that empirical evidence backs up our assertions. This of course, assumes that the issue is “important enough” to warrant such verification.

2) “What have you done for me lately?” Okay, well, maybe it doesn’t matter what someone has done, but this is part of the last point above. Make sure that all information gathered is timely and reflects the information as it is most recently, whenever possible. A good example of this is looking at today’s “mobile shopping” habits of consumers. This is an obvious point for most, but if you were to look at data only one year old, you would find completely different numbers than if you analyzed data today. The target is moving that quickly. Many issues will thankfully not move quite as fast, but timeliness should be assessed.

3) Always verify, as closely as possible, that you are pulling data as “close to the source” as possible. I spent some time working at various radio news organizations in the past. While those organizations were very studious about doing the best work they could do, I noticed a trend in the industry as a whole, especially as technology had taken over and the bad economy started to replace experienced workers with lower paid “stand-ins”. The newswires would print a story (that was probably derived from another source originally) and all news affiliates of a particular news network would simply “rehash” the story – many times in almost identical words of the newswire. Yes, time and expense limited other approaches to disseminating the news. The whole point of this example, though, is that no one could say with accuracy whether any of the news passed “down the chain” was completely accurate or just a “re-telling” of someone’s version of an incident. In a way, this is what we must guard against in doing our research. If you were investigating the habitat of a rare bird in South America, for instance, then get as close to the actual source of those who live around the subject, witness it first hand, etc. Therefore, data that is collected should be not only collected near the source initially, but then verified, checked again, documented, etc. One must have the highest possible confidence that the data is accurate and timely.

4) Don’t let opposing points of view cloud your efforts. This is one of the toughest points to adhere to for most, but it is the only way to feel truly confident about your efforts. Whether you have a strongly-engrained loyalty to a client’s product and its image, or a deeply held personal belief, try to consistently check yourself as you conduct your research to make sure you are not influencing it with your own bias. If you are, for instance, researching public sentiment on “fast food” campaigns, and you are an ardent fast food connoisseur, it might be wise to have a third party involved in the research, or at least other sources to “audit” your efforts to guarantee that, as much as is possible, bias is removed from the equation.

5) Do not embark on your research efforts in order to find a pre-determined result. This point is similar to the one above, but I want to emphasize one important aspect: “premeditation”. Actually, this element can creep into research at any stage, but it most often happens before one starts. For example, let’s say I ask this question: “What percentage of people understand the fact that fast food is bad for them and will kill them by age 45?”. This question essentially implies, by using the word “fact” that indeed, fast food is bad and will kill someone by 45. If this type of question is asked of a survey respondent, they will give an inappropriate answer, believing that this is indeed a fact, when it may not be. There are many other ways that survey responses can be “manipulated”, thereby skewing the results of surveys greatly. It should be a high priority for researchers to research a point in order to find out what the data says, not what they want it to say. Prepare to learn, possibly be personally disappointed, but factually correct according to the data uncovered.

Hopefully the points presented here will assist anyone embarking on research projects, regardless of their application. When armed with facts, one can be confident they will possess data that is more useful, and if need be, more defendable.

Tags: Marketing Research, news, politics, Research

Top 5 Signs “You Might Need to Improve Your Agency’s Information Systems”

As a former CRM implementer and developer for over 10 years, in company after company (regardless of industry), I saw many examples of organizations who acquired the latest technology, but had not applied as much effort toward verifying that it was used to its fullest capacity. In today’s marketing organizations, repeatedly, I see a handful of different client-oriented teams or departments, various disciplines (print, digital, social-networking/PR) that operate mostly as “silos” that share some information as needed, but otherwise relegate a majority of their hard-fought former projects to the “information wasteland”. In addition, since most agencies revolve around a collection of largely “creative-focused” disciplines, there is a profound lack of process structure. These arrangements may effectively deliver “the goods” for clients as deadlines come and go, but on a historical and collaborative level, there is too much talent, good ideas, and “information efficiency” that is never realized.

I have compiled five quick, simple considerations that every agency, regardless of their structure should ponder to see if their own organization could benefit from improvements. For grins, we will say, “You might need an “information infrastructure remodel” if…(my apologies in advance to Jeff Foxworthy):

1. If key executives do not have immediate visibility, via an “executive dashboard” or other business intelligence system, into new business statistics, you may need an I.I.R.

Quite simply, what this means is that I should be able to spontaneously ask a top agency executive, “Do you know the dollar amount of new business in your pipeline set to close next quarter?” or “What division sold the most business last quarter?” Or, basically, I could ask any question along those lines, and the executive should have a place to go to in under 5 minutes to get the answer and “drill down” into details that comprise that number.  If it isn’t that easy, your system is not working for you. The system, of course, won’t get the business for you, but if your organization is getting the business, you should be able to answer high-level questions such as this without any considerable effort.

2. If you (or everyone in your organization) receives emails from random departments about tasks that are due for a specific system you have nothing to do with….you may need an I.I.R.

Sometimes, when companies where I’ve consulted here me bring this to their attention, their first reaction is to be a little defensive, possibly “embarrassed” to realize that this is happening in their organization. The good news is, if this is your company, you’re not alone. This is actually one of the most common things I see in today’s agencies. Accounting will send an email about some sort of financial information that is needed by some “manager level” in the organization. Shipping and receiving will send emails about “sign offs” that are required before the end of the day by a certain small group of individuals. You name it, I’ve seen it. The point is that the communication strategy of “send it to everyone and no one will miss it” is not only a security concern, but believe me, they’ll probably miss it. Your interdepartmental systems should be designed to trigger “workflow” that targets only the individuals required for a task, but no one else. These systems can be designed to work “the way you do” and if something is missing, it should be immediately noticeable by the person or people monitoring the process.

3. If the way to request something from another department or vendor is to “just call or go find them and tell them what we need”, then you might need an I.R.R.”

Okay, so this one might not be as obvious to all companies in all situations, but the basic scenario goes like this. An account manager tells an account coordinator, “we need this artwork for this project at this time. Go find Bill and tell him and if he has any questions or problems, we’ll meet about it and clear it up.” Now, I’m not suggesting that meetings for clarification are a bad idea. Instead, I am simply trying to point out that there should be a “defined process”, for the protection of both sides of the request, for making a request and the steps it must take. It most certainly might evolve over time, but today’s systems can be flexible in details. I’m also not suggesting that an agency must implement “loads of bureaucracy”.  At a minimum, information on what,why,where, who, and when must be gathered. Obviously, the more detailed the information is, the more it might help when researching projectshistorically, but fighting the urge to create something overly complex is also critical.

4. If vendor or partner participation and progress on a project is a “black box”, then you might need an I.R.R.

This can be a very “political” issue for any agency, but the more expectations can be set up front for how the project or tasks will conduct business, the better it will be for everyone. Working in teams is unavoidable these days. These teams are most often in remote locations. Do your team members share everything by email? Do they spend a good portion of conference calls asking who has the latest document, where to find it, etc? These scenarios have so many negative repercussions that I don’t have enough time to go into them all here. To get to the bottom of it quickly, if these scenarios exist, your agency must, without hesitation, investigate the use of collaboration technologies and help clients and partners to understand that these technologies will be used and why they will be used.

5. If you can’t quickly determine the relationship of projects, customers, campaigns, social networking strategies,  etc, you might need an I.R.R.

This final point is loaded with a ton of detail, but the premise is the same no matter what specific “items” we discuss. I should be able (given my “need to know” in an agency) to quickly determine how certain items relate, the documents, graphics, or other tangible “assets” created for that project (and when and by whom). In addition, all email, phone, or other important notes about a campaign, any item produced as a result of that campaign, etc, should be stored in such a way that the agency can retrieve it for use or analysis later. What if a client comes to an account manager 5 years in the future, concerning an item considered “insignificant” at the time and says, “I want to do something exactly like THAT item we produced at that time”. To take it further, what if all the people who worked on the campaign at the time have moved on and are unavailable for comment? There might be some documents “floating around” on the file server, but unless your system supports such information retrieval and gathering, it is not serving you to its fullest capacity.

Every organization is, of course, different and therefore the ideal solution to any challenge will be unique to that company. However, the good news is that technology has evolved to a point where most solutions are integrated, cross-compatible, and much more cost-effective than they once were. In a future blog entry, I will cover some very basic criteria to consider when “upgrading your information infrastructure” as an agency. Fortunately, today’s vendors make these considerations  fairly easy to address, and that is great for you.  Do you have information/communication challenges in your agency that are not covered here? Please feel free to comment and let me know your thoughts.

Tags: advertising agency, Business, Business intelligence, Company, Customer relationship management, marketing, Organization, Technology

Customer Loyalty Programs – A Learning Opportunity

Customer loyalty programs have been a part of the retailing scene for a long time now, and some are certainly more effective than others. Recently, I visited the website for a large grocery retailer to register my shopper card, with the intent to manage it online and to get “additional online coupons”. Grocery retailers have long leveraged partnerships to offer points or discounts (or both) on their own grocery items as well as gasoline and other services.  My experience during this “adventure” prompted me, as a marketer and technologist, to make some points about loyalty programs, whether they be for grocery retailers or any other type of product or service. Before I begin, I want to emphasize that, while they will remain nameless, I still frequent this retailer’s store and I do respect them for their efforts. I view this experience as an opportunity to communicate “improvement opportunities”, not to call out a single retailer for an unfortunate experience.

Fundamental Point: Whatever “features” you offer as part of your loyalty program, make sure they are fully supported and understood by your employees and your customers.

The adventure begins as I went to the “big grocery retailer” website to  manage my shopper card account and  “load coupons” onto its shopper card. I thought “This is cool, I won’t have to have paper coupons with me. I can print out one list for my own guidance and then simply get the discount taken off at the register without wasting time with scanning paper coupons.” After all, I rationalized from my own technical experience, the coupon offers are presented on the retailer’s website (you can’t import offers from third parties, although that would be a great enhancement) and therefore fraud is less of a concern since the retailer knows exactly what items are offered, the discount available, and when the coupons expire. Sounds easy enough for me and “common-sense” enough for the retailer, right? Well, when I attempted to use this feature and then print a list of “coupons” on my card, I immediately saw “opportunities” for improvement. First, I wasn’t able to print pictures (color would be nice for those who have that capability) to appear in my list. How would I remember what the package for a new item looks like at the store? What if there are three “similar” items and the one that actually counts for the discount isn’t in stock at my store?

Next, I shopped at the store to pick up my items. After a situation that caused some “confusion” at the register, the bottom line was that I did not get my discount. When confronting customer service, they told me that “if I had the paper coupon, they could give me the discount, but since the coupon was just on the card (i.e. electronic, and not a tangible, paper coupon), they could not do anything”.

The average consumer’s response? “Forget it. I’m never going to use that service again. In fact, I’m so mad, maybe I’ll never return to that retailer again.” One might ask, why did the retailer even bother to create an online site and offer services if the most basic aspect of the service is effectively useless and not supported at its stores? No joke, folks. I am much of a “technophile” and, as a marketer, I can relate to the retailer and their efforts to provide extra features in their loyalty programs via new technology. I’m rooting for you. The average customer, however, will increasingly, not be this tolerant. If you can’t offer a feature on your website, in your mobile app, or whatever the medium, that you fully support at the point of sale and with customer service, then don’t even do it in the first place. Seriously. It will make you look bad, initiate a wave of bad publicity (instantaneous these days) and some customers will never use your loyalty “perks” again. They may even turn away from your products or services in the future.

Lesson to learn: How could we have improved this situation? First, if your organization is going to offer online coupons, they need “first class treatment” across all of your retail establishments. After all, this is a channel that YOU control. Even if you work with third-party vendors, YOU can set the requirements of the relationship, data transfer, and security from the point of offering to point-of-sale.  Coupons, discounts, or other offers acquired from a retailer’s own channel (web site, mobile app, or whatever platorm or venue) should have validity and availability equal to or surpassing printed coupons. Retailers know the potential for fraud with printed coupons — even the ones that look totally authentic. With technology and your own venues, however, you can establish controls that provide immediate, consistent results and satisfaction for the consumer. Maybe, when printing the list of “coupons” that appear on the loyalty card, the list could print with barcodes that identify the product, the discount, and any other information the retailer needs in order to verify the authenticity of the item when scanned.

A “data tie-in” to the shopper card’s online account at the point of sale could be implemented. That way, any question about the  authenticity of coupons, or other account details, could be resolved at the point of sale or customer service desk without incident. A full discussion of technical possibilities is beyond the scope of this post, but I know for a fact that there are no “technological limitation” excuses here.  As marketers and retailers, we should be “above” those arguments. I cannot stress this enough: from the consumer’s perspective, they went to YOUR site to print YOUR coupons and shopped at YOUR store. Please, never tell consumers that “this is difficult because”, or “if you would have done this, then”. They were using a service YOU created and offered them. By doing anything other than making them feel like a “first class customer”, you are dooming not only your customer loyalty program, but maybe their patronage as well. Remember: customer feedback is immediate, and sadly, it is usually the negative kind. With the new crop of mobile, technology-saavy shoppers, however, positive reviews are out there. They simply have to be earned.

Do you represent a retailer with a shopper loyalty program? What are your thoughts?

Are you a consumer and have concerns about a loyalty program that you would like to see addressed? As a consumer, do you have praise for a loyalty program and/or a feature you wish retailers would offer?

As always, I’m curious about your perspective. Please leave your comments and let’s all watch as loyalty programs and the technologies they employ continue to improve and make the shopping experience better for everyone.

Tags: Coupon, Customer, Customer service, Discounts and allowances, Grocery store, Loyalty program, marketing, Point of sale, Retail, shopper marketing

6 Things To Remember When Producing Academic Digital Products

With so many articles coming out affirming that consumers are increasingly using and demanding mobile applications and services to aid with their shopping experiences and other daily pursuits, I felt motivated to address an area that is of particular interest to me. As a student and a marketer, this area increasingly affects me and my circles of involvement more every day.

For the scope of this discussion, “academic products” refers to the current staple of offerings available to students, instructors, and academic institutions covering the range of reading textbooks in a digital format, classroom/course management systems, and publisher-created textbook supplement sites. I should also note that I will focus primarily on “college-targeted”’ products, as I have no visibility to the K-12 selection of products. The publisher created sites can and often do function not only as supplements, but many times will offer class-management functionality from presenting lessons, assessing and grading quizzes and tests, and other activities usually undertaken by a teacher for a classroom.

There is so much that could be said about this area of products, and perhaps I will delve into this more in depth in future installments to this blog. Since the college academic market is somewhat of a “captive” market – if the professor or college mandates a product be used, the students must use it – there is only so much motivation that providers of these products might have to improve them significantly. Nevertheless, what follows are my top 6 suggestions for software developers, academic publishers, and institutions to remember when targeting the academic sector.

1. We want to use your product. Please make it a pleasant experience using any type of device. I know that the almost blindingly fast increase of mobile device users has left many software producers targeting any industry a little “in a haze” with how to effectively, and cost-efficiently target their audience and satisfy as many people as possible. Even just two years ago, most product planning focused mostly on the computer desktop environment, albeit with browser integration or fully-online browser-based products. People, and in this case that especially means students, are increasingly mobile. Yes, the traditional platforms are still used, and in some cases even preferred. The key to this point, however, is to think like your students will think. Since I’m focusing primarily on college students, it should be apparent that today’s students want to be able to access their course work, textbooks, lessons, and any other materials necessary to their lives, anytime, anywhere. Some vendors have answered this by simply providing a way to access information in a mobile internet browser, or an app that is designed to function more like their “big brother PC site”, rather than to develop apps that focus on the strengths of the mobile device in order to offering compelling solutions. Other vendors have skipped this type of functionality altogether. It is my belief that students are willing to pay a small price for excellent functionality, and that addresses the objections that many might raise about “cost effectiveness”. We’ve all heard the phrase, “Build it…and they will come”. This holds true for the college academic market.
2. When it comes to textbooks, there is competition. The easier and more accessible your solution, the more likely we are to use it and stick with it.This point builds on the previous one. When a textbook vendor provides a “mobile reader” for its library of texts that is not well-suited to that devices strengths and limitations, you might as well be telling students, “Here’s your little mobile app. Go play with it. We really don’t care about this platform anyway.” Try to focus instead on how you can target at least the most prevalent digital platforms in order to give each the best, most functional experience.  For instance, if I am reading your digital content in my laptop or desktop browser, I will have sufficient screen real-estate to read pages that are formatted to look like the print-version of the text. If I’m on my mobile device, however, and the book just feels like it was “ported” to the mobile version of the product, I will most likely not have a good experience. I used a product that did essentially that very thing. I was required to zoom in on the text, had to move the view back and forth to read the entire page, couldn’t add notes that were easily accessible, etc. The bottom line…I won’t use that product in the future, unless they show that they can produce a version that treats a mobile user like a first-rate customer. Finally, take advantage of other formats. Amazon.com has “The Kindle”, Barnes and Noble has “The Nook”. If the current versions of your texts are available and easily accessible for these devices, whose content is formatted specifically for their strengths, I would assert that students would more likely buy them in that format. I know it is difficult for me to keep from pressing “purchase now” on my Kindle. It is almost addictive. Most importantly, though, is that the device allows me to read the texts in a format that is best for me.
3. We understand that price and “piracy” are a concern. Like the music industry, find ways to address those concerns that benefit the consumer.This area is a sticky one, as I understand the concerns of the publisher and, in some cases, professors and academic institutions. In the current environment, most publicly available digital textbooks cost either exactly as much, or almost as much, as their printed counterparts. Then, to add further insult, the digital product usually expires. Most of the texts do not allow a student to highlight items online . Some downloadable versions give more features, but they will often require their own “digital reading software” in order to read the text, rather than allowing a student to use what they have or whatever works best for them. As for the content side of the issue, the text is all that you get with most offerings. One might expect to have hyperlinks to related content, social networking for feedback on certain items, etc, but this is not quite the standard for most of the products at this time. Now, this, again is an emotionally charged issue for publishers, I get that. There are concerns about piracy, for starters. The publishers want to know that they can actually sell their product and not have students simply share the text with each other and therefore avoid paying for it. The publishers also know, and I’m sorry we both know it’s true, that they’ve got a fairly captive market. If a professor says, “you must use this text”, then simply, they must use it…at whatever cost it is available to them. This is one of those areas I’ll need to delve into in greater detail later. Simply put, though, the paradigms are changing. There are more ways for students to go around that line of thinking.One can either continue their current practices and lament the loss of profit, or grow with the times and be innovative and discover ways to cater to new usage and preferences. I think back to the music industry’s initial reluctance to embrace digital music. While there is too much in that point to discuss, quite simply, the consumer message was clear: evolve or die. As a marketer, there are value-added ways that can be employed to offer the student more incentives to purchase your text, or “content offering” and also negate the need to pirate texts. One very obvious way, as Steve Jobs pointed out with digital music, is to give consumers a reasonably priced option so they feel they have “nothing to lose” by buying their own copy of your product. Secondly, as some publishers, to their credit, have been doing, is to offer online content that Is integrated with the text in ways that benefit the student. I know, this subject area is an extensive one, but I believe it is also critical to digital text adoption.

 

4. Don’t expect professors and school administrators to understand your product enough to extend all the benefits to their students. This is a short one, but a phenomena I have experienced repeatedly. Professors and school administrators are usually good at what they do. Occasionally, some of them are technically inclined. Most of them, however, are not. I do not mean any disrespect to anyone in academia…as you are certainly better at academia than I (I am not in academia, after all). My point is this, even though online and in-person training is usually available for the most popular “classroom management” and “topic area” systems (like Pearson’s MyMathLab, or the suite of sites from “Aplia”), most instructors usually only make a small subset of features available to their students because, quite frankly, they don’t know much about the product, don’t have the technical skills to figure it out, or simply are too busy to care. This approach may work fine for the professors, but it is a disservice to the students. As a former web developer, I know a little bit about the features that are available in many of these products (and more about the features that should be). If students had access to more of these features in most of their classes, their success with using the product, and therefore improving their grades, could be astronomical. This would also create more affinity, and thus positive feedback to academic institutions, about your products.
5. Actually do user experience testing to see if your assumptions are correct. Don’t worry. We’re all guilty of this across every industry. We assume something will be “easy to use” or “the way people do something”, when actually our information is based on our own perceptions and nothing more. Whether we are talking about administrative functionality from the perspective of a professor or academic administrator, or student functionality, please do extensive user testing to see how students do work and learn and do your best to incorporate your findings into your products. Again, there are some products currently available that do a fairly good job at offering good functionality. It simply is worth tirelessly restating that the end customer, the student, is the one that will either be your biggest supporter, or your most vocal detractor.
6. Professors and academic institutions: To the fullest extent possible, give us digital options and the power to use them to their full capacity. With this final point, I address the professors specifically. I am not only a student, but I come from a family of professors and teachers, so I know the viewpoints on this side of the spectrum as well. If I might make a simple point, however, it is this. I know that professors will often remain loyal to a text title due to its reputation for being accurate and appropriate for the subject area. This is definitely an appropriate thing to do. However, if the contents are allowed by the author(s) and/or publisher to become dated, this will hurt the credibility of the text in the students’ eyes, and let’s face it professors, in today’s social media world, this will hurt your credibility too. You can just imagine the students tweeting messages like, “don’t take him for that class, his text is ancient and he is out of touch.” Secondly, if the text you choose does not have digital text and/or classroom management options available, you are cheating yourself and your students. With the digital options available, it provides you as a professor the ability to do things with your class that you would not otherwise be able to do as efficiently on your own. For students, it should provide a means of accessing learning material from anywhere, and more ways of doing “self-tutoring”, and then, most likely, greater involvement in the class. Let’s face it, students are online everywhere and communicating about it. They are involved in something, the only question is, will it be your class?.

I’m sure this post has sparked some emotions on both sides of these issues (professors and students). At least, I hope it has. I think this area is one that needs to be discussed more so that necessary evolution can continue. I do want to reiterate, before I close, that I have high respect for publishers and professors alike with respect to their daily challenges and their efforts to meet them. Keep up the good work. Hopefully, if the strengths and opportunities presented here, and others involved in the academic consumer market, are addressed, everyone will benefit in tremendous ways.

Do you use online textbooks or “class management” systems? If so, what do you think of the things presented here? Do you have other praises, complaints, or feedback on academic products? Please share your thoughts.

Tags: Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble, Books-A-Million, E-book, IPod Touch, Nook, Steve Jobs, Textbook

10 Mobile Shopping Tools I’ve Come to Appreciate

Okay, okay I can hear it right now. You might be saying, “Shopping? With what money?” I can certainly empathize with that perspective. The good news is that some of the tools that I am highlighting act not only as a means of purchasing a product, but also connect us, as consumers, to good deals (translated – “cheaper stuff”) and more efficient ways of finding exactly what we’re looking for. The items listed here are only a short list of the plethora of apps and tools available across platforms and devices, but they might be a place to start your journey in into the world of “consumer-enabling” apps to help you guide your future shopping experiences.

Many of us already know that we can connect with our friends on social networking sites, email them, call them, or even send a telegraph (okay, just sayin…) and find out about something good to buy or a great place to save money. There are some among us who enjoy using the “newest technology” to aid us in our shopping experience in order to make the whole thing a little more effortless. In fact, according to an article published by eMarketer, which spends much of its time analyzing traits just like this, many of us are researching items online as we are considering the purchase to read reviews, verify we’ve found the lowest price, and possibly even suggest the purchase to our friends.

However, I digress. Now for some good stuff. Here are some shopping applications and useful tools I’ve found myself using frequently, and they might be helpful to you. My personal tool of chose is an iPhone, so the apps I recommend will be found on that platform. However, most, if not all, of the tools can also be found on other platforms such as Android, Windows 7 Phone, or others. The apps are not listed in any order of importance, nor do they imply a recent release., but hopefully at least a few will be somewhat intriguing.

1. Starbucks (myStarbucks and Mobile Card)
   This one is fairly self-explanatory, and if you are a Starbucks customer, I find these apps to be helpful. It would be nice if the functionality of each (which is redundant to some degree) was rolled into one app instead of two, but it is useful nonetheless. With the “portal” for Starbuck’s “Digital Network” now available through the “myStarbucks” app, purchasing and media exploration options are bountiful.

 

2. Grocery Gadget
   This is one of many iPhone apps that are available to create grocery lists, match them to the place you wish to shop and help “guide” you through the store to what you are seeking. There are many apps like this, and many are effective in their approach. While I might find it too tedious to use all of the features of most of them, this sort of information can help me to organize and discriminate the items I purchase. 

 

3. Groupon
   The idea behind this app is to offer a special deal and if enough people respond to it, you get the deal. Groupon’s website describes their function as providing “the best stuff to do, see, eat, and buy in your city”. Just note that, in order to get the deal, if there is enough response by their Groupon users, you must specify that you will purchase it in advance, and your card will be charged automatically if the deal does indeed go through.

 

4. Amazon / Kindle Apps
   Most, if not all, of the traditional retailers have either traditional “e-commerce” sites on the web, and many if not most now have mobile applications to allow purchasing. As mentioned above, statistics are increasingly showing that we’re buying things online and from our mobile devices. I wanted to mention Amazon’s apps because they now provide a way to purchase all types of consumer products with ease. If I have any complaint about their “Kindle” app, it is that it is maybe “too easy” to tempt me to buy new books for the device or my computer. That’s a personal issue, though.

 

5. Barnes and Noble
   Barnes and Noble’s app deserves a special mention because they have a “brik-and-mortar” location, rather than just an online presence, like their competitor, Amazon. Since they wish to integrate both channels and offer more convenience to us as customers, they’ve added features to their app like the ability to “sample” books and other digital products while in the store. I will often search for something while in the store, see if the app says it is “in stock” at the location I’m visiting, then only seek customer service if I can’t help myself with the app. Maybe it’s not the most earth-shattering set of features, but I find them helpful nonetheless.

 

6. CReports
   The “old faithful” of product reviews. This is Consumer Reports’ app. It is fairly self-explanatory, and it can provide some value when seeking empirical information about product reviews and actual testing of those products.

 

7. Web: Grocery Store Sites (such as Kroger)
   It is worth noting that some “traditional web sites” are good shopping aids as well as their mobile counterparts. Most of the grocery store chains now offer features for members of their shopper loyalty programs. On  Kroger’s site, for example, I can search for coupons, add those coupons to my shopper card (so I don’t need to have the coupon with me at the checkout), and check my point balance for gas and groceries, among other things.

 

8. RedLaser
   Again, there are many apps that now provide this functionality, but this is the one that I currently use. It allows a shopper to scan a product in the store and then find comparison pricing for the item. I find it to be fairly accurate in the results that it produces. I use it sometimes to simply remind myself of an item that I want to research later, or add to my “wish list” of things to buy later. Personally, I also find that this capability helps me to reduce “impulse buys”…not something retailers would be happy to hear, but hey, these are hard times.

 

9. TheFind – “Shop Nearby”and “Beat This Price”
   These are two apps that allow a shopper to find good deals nearby or to attempt to find competitive pricing for an item. There functionality is self explanatory, and in my humble opinion, worth checking out.

 

10. AllRecipes
    The final app in this list is not a traditional “shopping app”, as most are above. This app is useful to me, however, because one can start by determining what you want to prepare, the necessary ingredients, and then output the items to a shopping list. If it doesn’t exist already, it would be nice to have some “integration” between this and other apps in the shopping process so the experience would be more seamless.

 

Well, there they are…some helpful tools for shopping. Again, I understand that not everyone has an iPhone, much less a smartphone to aid in the shopping process. The good news is that many of these tools are available in a standard web browser to those with a computer.  The list presented here is obviously based on my opinions and experiences. I’m curious, though. What do you use to organize your shopping experience and find the best deals? Please leave your comments about tools that you think are valuable, trends you’d like to see retailers and manufacturers do to make things easier and more attractive, or any other thoughts you wish to share. Technologically, these are definitely interesting times for the consumer. The new, exciting tools could definitely spark new interest in how we approach our shopping. Or maybe they’ll end up making us want to go back to plain ol’ pencil and paper and our neighborhood market. Time will tell.

Tags: App Store, consumerreports, eMarketer, Grocery store, iPhone, Online shopping, RedLaser, Smartphone

Tools for Greater Efficiency, Collaboration, and Productivity

The marketing world is not alone in its need to find new ways to be productive and efficient and, hopefully, profit in the current environment. Increasingly, certain technological tools are either becoming to expensive to maintain or out of the realm of consideration. In my experience, many marketing agencies – and many other industries – have a variety of tools available in the workplace, but they seldom know how to use them together in order to provide the most efficiency and best value for the dollar. While “technological nirvana” may always be elusive, there are a few, practical steps that one can take today, with low cost and implementation time, to improve their day to day operations and provide better customer/client service in the process.

1. Implement a workplace collaboration tool. This probably has many people rolling their eyes in a familiar refrain of, “Of course, everybody knows that.” Apparently not everybody does. Even then, the actual usage of these tools once implemented in the workplace falls far short of expectations. First things first. If your organization does not have a workplace collaboration tool, obtaining one will be extremely important. I’ll briefly mention just a few here.

There are paid options, such as Microsoft’s Sharepoint or Business Productivity Suite (an online hosted version of Sharepoint), Google’s Google Apps for Business , and Basecamp. However, with budgets for technology dwindling, the good news is that each of these offerings has a free, albeit limited, version available to the public. Additional good news – your organization can reap tremendous benefits by using the free versions – especially if there is no collaboration tool currently in place. Each organization will have to consider whether security requirements are met by the tool chosen, but these products are a great “first step” in to the world of workplace collaboration.

The general functionality presented across all the free offerings allows a user to create, edit, share, organize, and present documents completely online. If you are on an unfamiliar computer, or you are working with clients in another geographic location and you need to collaborate on or view a document on a conference call, for instance, the document can be made available to only the intended recipients simultaneously and quickly. This elimates the need to play the game of “Did you receive the latest version of this file? No? Here let me send this to you. Wait…that was the wrong one”. The products mentioned above are by no means a comprehensive list, but they are a good place to start when researching your organization’s needs.

2. Make the technology work like your company and your company work for your clients or customers. This is a critical step that is often overlooked. There are obviously preferences when it comes to workplace technology, and management and technical professionals will cling to them tightly in most cases. Is this really doing your organization any favors? Here’s the point. Individuals now have many choices and styles of working when considering technology. Bob in Accounting might prefer to use his iPhone and sync up to his Hotmail account and add his work tasks to his phone’s calendar via a technology called “Exchange ActiveSync”. Jane in Public Relations may use her Android phone with a completely different set of applications and perform separate tasks. Each worker in the organization, regardless of how they connect to the “master” technologies used by the company, must be able to effortlessly connect and interact with these systems in order to be productive and to give the system more integrity by making the data more accurate and timely. So, what does this mean, exactly? It means, when choosing your workplace collaboration tool, consider how your employees work now. Do you use Microsoft Office at work? It is possible that with Microsoft’s SkyDrive tool (a scaled down free version of Sharepoint), users will feel more “at home” with the tools they use online. In addition, some tools, such as SkyDrive, integration options allow the user to open, edit, and save directly to the shared document location without even navigating to the location in their internet browser. Microsoft’s SkyDrive is also a good stepping-stone to Sharepoint functionality for organizations that either have or are considering that product. Google’s “Google Docs” offers similar functionality, that is likewise, a good stepping stone to its “Google Apps for Business” offering.

3. Consider a Customer Relationship Management system (CRM). This item is most often overlooked either because organizations don’t understand what it is, or they don’t think they need one. Today’s technologists generally refer to this category of tools as “XRM”, denoting that the tool can be used in ways far beyond what its original design. Large organizations usually have a large, enterprise scale solution already in place. For smaller organizations, there are once again some “free” or low cost options available. Before mentioning those tools, however, I’ll talk very generally about why a CRM is valuable to an organization. Workplace collaboration tools are great at doing the things they are designed for: storing and organizing documents, facilitating user interaction with those documents and related materials, and in the paid versions of these tools, often providing workflow and “social networking presence” as well. CRM is like the glue for these tools, and then some. For instance, when you organize a document in your Sharepoint system, do you know what project it was a part of? Okay, maybe you do. Do you know the various key points that were brought up about each document/objective that came up about that project and the other projects and contacts that were related to it? As you can see, I can start asking more and more questions that a simple document collaboration system can’t answer. Yes, you can search for documents and folders, pages, etc (depending on how you organize them), but once your questions start becoming more complex, you will find yourself inundated with questions that may not be easy to answer. A CRM system can provide solutions for these dilemmas. Just how much the CRM system your organization chooses can do depends on which one you choose and how expandable it is. I could write endless blog entries on that one thought alone. However, to get started selecting a CRM, I will mention just a couple of options that exist and are more easily implemented for small to medium-sized organizations. One of the first online options that everyone thinks about when they think of CRM software is Salesforce.com. There are tiered subscription levels available that can meet needs ranging from a one-person operation to larger sales and work teams. The final option I’ll mention here is Dynamics CRM. Unlike Salesforce.com, which only offers online, or “cloud”-based solutions, Dynamics CRM gives organizations the option of either installing a system “on-premise” (on the oranization’s own servers), hosted by another hosting company, or online through its Dynamics CRM Online product. Again, an advantage of Dynamics CRM is that the interface is familiar to Microsoft Office users and the product integrates very well across Microsoft’s Office and Sharepoint products. If your organization already has software developers developing for Microsoft’s “.Net” platform, they will be able to work on the CRM product in an almost “natural” transition, without having to learn something totally different.

There is obviously so much to say about the topics of workplace collaboration and CRM. However, taking the steps above will allow organizations to get a quick start on providing value to their customers or clients, increasing employee productivity, and more easily quantifying potential profit opportunities. The best part of it all is that the many of the tools mentioned above are either free or affordable.

Tags: ActiveSync, Customer relationship management, Google, iPhone, Microsoft, Microsoft Office, Microsoft SharePoint, Windows Live SkyDrive

Online Security and Information Sharing

We’ve all been warned many times before and heard the familiar refrain to “be careful to protect our privacy online”. While it may seem redundant, it is nonetheless an important message to repeat. Today’s Wall Street Journal contains the article Facebook in Online Privacy Breach; Applications Transmitting Information The article’s content is obvious, based on its title, and it is an important read.

We have all seen, and maybe often contribute to, the abundance of “Farmville” requests, genealogy information, etc, that fills our “news feed” on Facebook when we log in to the site. I should point out right from the start that no one is suggesting that anyone should give up interacting with these and other applications. If they entertain you, by all means, continue to use them…only with a caveat. Indeed, any application could pose an informational security risk, even if the current one noted in this article is declared to be resolved.

The most important, but often forgotten point is that the ALL information is stored and retained. I was a web developer for many years. I know from experience, and regardless of what press may be given to various security issues that arise, I can assure you that all the information you input can, and probably will be, stored on a server and/or backup media by at least the company that collected it. Here’s what I mean. If you upload a photo and some assorted posts, do a private chat with a friend (that no one else can see), send an email…all of these activities and their details are stored on the server by Facebook or whatever service you are using. Even if – and this is important – you delete that picture, post, close the chat, etc, the information will be saved. I guarantee it. Yes, the storage capacity may get astronomical to keep all old data live, but it is being backed up somewhere. I’m not trying to say we shouldn’t do any of these things, only that we should know this going in to social networking, email, or any other activity online.

As marketers, many of us come to depend on the information we can gather about consumers in order to market to them more effectively. There is also nothing wrong with this activity. However, it is all in the matter of the approach. Maybe there can be a new level of collaboration and transparency on the part of app developers and their partners. It is true that there are many “layers” in the process of information sharing and purchasing. For instance, the app developer creates the app and gives it the ability to collect initial information.

The app developer may expand information gathering capability as the app matures and new markets for the information are discovered. Information “buyers”, like any consumer, make additional requests and demands that initiate new capabilities. That information then may be sent across many channels and purchased again, etc. Again, many sectors of the economy use this information in mostly positive ways, the consumer must simply know that information must be protected. Here are some guidelines for consumers to consider when participating in social networking sites online:

1. Don’t share information anywhere unless you want the information shared with the world.
This sounds like an overstatement, but the reality is that, regardless of security implemented on various social networking platforms, it is possible for someone to access it somewhere, sometime.

2. Remember that ALL platforms, sites , and devices are vulnerable.
We love our smart phones, mobile devices, computers, or whatever information appliance allows us instant access to whatever we want to connect with. Again, this is fine, just remember that it is capable of, and most likely does, transmit more information than you usually think about. With geo-location tracking on most devices these days, this can also pinpoint where you are, even if you have turned this setting “off” for various applications (the phone company can locate you even if your phone is off in most cases, so then, could someone with bad intentions, theoretically).

3. If you wouldn’t share it with your mother, you probably shouldn’t share it online.
Ok, I know, it is may be tempting to share a headline about the wild party they attended last night. Or, maybe at 2a.m, you want the world to know just how drunk you are. We’ve all seen the celebrity “tweet slip-ups”. Just remember that your audience is always larger than you may realize (they can see historical tweets and posts too), and this information might come back to haunt you.

4. Facebook and social networking are not the only outlets for your information.
This, too, seems too obvious to state. However, remember that emails (corporate or private), posts on consumer-driven boards (such as a medical question board), or any medium in which you provide information is susceptible to information sharing, even if the creators of the medium attempt to guard against it. Some companies troll for your information and sell it to other sources simply by searching and locating freely available information on the web. This article from the Wall Street Journal is an important one on this topic: Escaping the ‘Scrapers’.
In summary, if we are mindful of the information we provide, our internet surfing, social networking, and other information sharing activities should be much more secure and provide a more positive experience. As services and developers provide new ways to give consumers more control over their personal information and inform them of how it can and could potentially be used, the more consumers can make appropriate decisions on how to share that information.