How to increase productivity in the digital workplace
When an employee is on a salary, managers don’t care about their time. They think it is elastic. This is why intranets perform so poorly.
It was a hot summer evening in Houston. I was walking to the car park with John, a member of an intranet team for a large organization. “Management doesn’t care how […]
Ease of use is a competitive advantage
Senior managers need to develop a much better understanding of the competitive advantage ease of use delivers.
Search, content and usability are poorly understood by most senior managers. Why? Because they were not areas of strategic importance when these managers were younger and developing their skills. (They say that most doctors prescribe based on what they […]
Why they won’t tell you the price
Organizations have historically believed that the less information they give customers the more power they have over them. The Web changes that.
Right now I’m researching a heat pump solution for my house. It is almost impossible to get a price on the websites of heat pump manufacturers or installers. You have to ask for a […]
Old Survey Methods are Broken 1
Why traditional web surveys are broken
Did you ever get a question on a website that asked you to rate, on a scale of 1 to 5, the “interactivity” of the website? And did that sort of question puzzle you? You wouldn’t be alone. This sort of question has two fundamental flaws that make any results […]
Dell: from customer-centric to organization-centric
Dell began as a flexible and customer-centric organization. But as it grew it suffered big organization disease and focused on itself more than the customer.
If you go to the Dell website today the first thing it asks you is whether you are a Home User, Small Business, etc. I don’t want to answer that question, […]
People are not always the problem
Managers in large organizations are too concerned with downsizing and cost cutting and not concerned enough with efficiency, productivity and customer satisfaction.
“Much of the conventional wisdom about downsizing—like the fact that it automatically drives a company’s stock price higher, or increases profitability—turns out to be wrong, Jeffrey Pfeffer writes for Newsweek in February 2010. […]
Eliminating bad complexity
Good complexity leads to greater convenience, choice and options. Bad complexity leads to frustration, wasted time and wasted money.
Dimitris is a small business owner in Greece. According to a TIME article, he estimates he has paid “about a fifth of his revenue in bribes — to tax collectors, health inspectors, police and other officials”. Small […]
Is annoying people a good strategy?
Traditional marketers and communicators are obsessed with achieving their objectives. Web marketers and communicators are obsessed with helping customers achieve their objectives.
“Brand advertising, the kind you’re used to seeing on TV and in print, isn’t nearly as big on the Internet as the search ads dominated by Google,” writes Peter Kafka for the Wall Street […]
The Ugliest Website in the World
Craigslist is a very ugly website. In 2009, it is estimated that it will have a turnover of $100 million. It has 30 fulltime employees.
Craigslist breaks all marketing and branding rules. In fact, it doesn’t market or brand or sell itself at all. There are no marketers on staff. “Only programmers, customer service reps and […]
Is the organization the enemy of the customer?
What is good for the organization and what is good for the customer are not always the same thing.
Organizations are used to saying to customers: “Here’s what we have. If you like it, you’re going to have to adapt to how we do business.” But on the Web, the customer has much more control. The […]
