« April 2007 | Main | June 2007 »
May 15, 2007
On Demand is On Demand
On Demand platform is getting hot.
Few days ago I read a blog - http://www.beyeblogs.com/ondemand/ - by Diaz Nesamoney (Cognos On Demand - BI Insights) that stresses the popularity of On Demand.
In addition, my employer (IBM GBS) also is following this trend and showing strong commitment. Samuel J. Palmisano, Chairman and CEO of IBM says, "For the last several years, IBM has been engaged in a full-cale transformation. We have committed ourselves to leadership in on demand business ..."
Got bored from my work today and was thinking what drives On Demand ..
1) People want sense of control - we all want to be in the driver's seat and drive. We feel insecure if someone else drive. We are impatient and we want what we want as quickly as possible. We are living in a world of impatience and people will be loyal to you if you give them a sense of control. Everyone wants to be in control of her destiny, and On Demand lets her.
2) Low cost - on demand platform is cheap yet powerful in getting to key information. Simply use your browser to browse useful information posted. Also, it is easy to maintain information on this platform.
3) Promote Transparency - On Demand promotes transparency because it is a strong driving force behind information democratization. Organization strategies can be easily posted and shared throughout the organization, and people can monitor important KPIs of their company at anytime anywhere. Jack Welch's secret behind GE's success was to promote candor, and believes that a company with free sharing of information is like a human body with healthy blood flow; a blockage of information is like having a heart attack and it will readily kill any organization. On Demand platform has the ability to promote this kind of transparency throughout the organization and let it live.
BI also must get on this trend because On Demand is truly On Demand.
Share:
Posted by William Cho at 2:45 PM | Comments (0)
May 1, 2007
Competitive Advantage
When I was an MBA student two years ago, someone shared his conversation with Warren Buffet, "so ... after 40 something plus years experience, what do you think is the most important corporate asset?" The legend cited two words: Competitive Advantage.
True to that and this applies to all BI firms. In this overly competitive and fast changing world, competitive advantage is the one that will make companies grow and sustain.
I then thought of something, 'so what competitive advantage should a BI firm develop?' There can be three possibilities: 1) low cost 2) technical prowess 3) excellence in service.
In my opinion, low cost focuses on market share and it can be easily copied by others. David Packard once said, "I hope that is straightened out. Anyone can build market share; if you set your price low enough you can have the whole damn market. But I will tell you it won't get you anywhere around here." In addition, low cost means trading off with excellence in service, and as you all know BI firms can never sacrifice on service. Giving up service in this market is like giving up beef in hamgurger market.
Second, technical prowess can also be easily copied and hard to sustain in that way. In the old days, no one knew the secret of Coke but now everyone knows the Coke formula. Also I find it is hard to differentiate with technical prowess in BI field (though I might be naive about this). Every BI product has basic features such as scorecarding, dashboard, OLAP, reporting, etc. and so far among BI products I have experienced with, I find it not too difficult to copy someone else's BI technology.
Third is the excellence in service and it is the money in my humble opinion. A BI firm can truly differentiate itself by excellence in service and this can be the most sustaining competitive advantage among the three possibilities. One can copy my OLAP feature within a month, but one cannot copy my many years of trusted service within a month. Service means being close to the customers, listening to their needs, and delivering distinguished services day-in & day-out. Service, an intangible factor, can be the most difficult but rewarding competitive advantage to develop that all BI firms should embrace as their core competitive advantage.
"The real barriers to entry are the 75-year investment in getting hundreds of thousands to live service, quality, and customer problem solving at IBM, or the 150-year investment in quality at P&G. These are the truly insuperable "barriers to entry,", said Thomas J. Peters.
One with excellent service with good technial prowess will consistently outperform one with good service with excellent technical prowess.
Excellence in service is the competitive advantage that will make you last, and I am sure Warrent Buffet will agree on this.
Share:
Posted by William Cho at 7:45 AM | Comments (0)
