Posted by: Bruce Nussbaum on August 05
Flying to business meetings and conferences is not only hugely expensive these days, it is hugely polluting. Yes, I know that TED, the World Economic Forum and the Oscars are all "carbon neutral," meaning that they pay people in poor countries not to cut down trees (right, I'm cynical about the rich paying the poor to save the planet as they jet around talking about saving the planet).
We need a way to communicate without actually going anywhere. And we have it. Both HP's Halo and Cisco's Telepresence video conferencing system are amazing high-tech systems that enable you to communicate with people around the world in a deep, emotional way. You can read faces, get the tonal nuance of voice--all the things that physical meetings give you.
The problem is that they are very expensive. The business model is for Cisco and HP to set up a dedicated video conferencing room for a company and charge them lots of dough every month for the service.
What is needed is mass production of the technology so that anyone who has, say $50,000, can install video conferencing in the family room or den--or around the office. Or hospital. Or university. Or store.
We focus these days on battery innovation or automobile innovation. But video conferencing could elminate a lot of transporation entirely.
So how about it Cisco and HP? Can we move your great video conferencing technology from the elite exotic to the mass produced--and save the planet too?
Posted by: Bruce Nussbaum on August 05
Procter & Gamble is one of the 25 companies that make up the S&P/Business Week Global Innovation Index and it's strong fiscal fourth quarter showing in sales and profits reflect it's dedication to innovation.
When I last talked to CEO A.G. Lafley, he said P&G needed to raise prices for most of its products because of the soaring cost of oil and other commodities. P&G, in effect, is a chemical company that makes consumer products. Lafley said innovation, both incremental and major, helped P&G to raise prices. Consumers resist price hikes but are more willing to pay a bit more if they receive more. Innovation is part of that strategy.
Here's what Lafley said on announcing great fourth quarter results:
"We're leading innovations across the brand portfolio, building value for consumers and customers which is critical to delivering good results in a difficult economic environment. The strength of the portfolio and our focus on innovation and productivity give us confidence that we will continue to deliver sustained growth in the coming year and beyond."
Posted by: Bruce Nussbaum on July 31
An economic crisis can be a crucible that forges new innovations in business operations or they can lead companies to make dumb mistakes that destroy them as they rush blindly to survive. We're beginning to see corporations move into one camp or the other as the economic downturn gets worse and worse.
Take Best Buy. I haven't been in a big box electronics store in years. The experience used to be just horrendous. But a Best Buy just opened up in my West Side neighborhood in Manhattan and I went in to buy a Flip videocam. I'm going to be doing a lot more video (don't forget to send in some serious questions so the "Innovation Guru" can talk about them--seriously), and I want a simple machine, so I went out to buy the Flip (designed by Smart Design and Pure Digital Technologies).
And my consumer experience was wonderful! It was almost Japanese-level service. People greet you with both information about products and a smile. Knowledgeable employees give you advice. There are wide open spaces with lots of products to play with. In a deep economic downturn, with so many companies firing people and cutting back on service, Best Buy is going the other direction--and getting
Continue reading "Business Model Innovation: Best Buy, P&G and Apple Get it. Starbucks Doesn't Get It."
Posted by: Bruce Nussbaum on July 25
In the deluge of new applications for the iPhone in recent days, a number of apps for education are worth considering. There are lots of folks who think the cell phone, not the laptop computer, is the platform for transforming education in both wealthy and less wealthy countries. The iPhone platform--and Nokia's--may be the platform that can deliver the kind of experiences to kids that make this happen.
There are apps to learn physics, French, anatomy, math--tons. You can download software that allows you to read eBooks. It's just a beginning. Now, what do kinds in poor Indian and African villages need? How about kids on the Hopi reservation?
