The stories behind Kodak and Uber are a well worn path and so often we go down a route of innovation. Kodak developed the first digital camera, Uber copied functionality that was already in WeChat, that Facebook didn't seem to want to pick up on.
Digital transformation seems to be too hard, but if you look at Uber, this company has come about through the power we have been given of the mobile phone, the same power that a number of "things" didn't exist or at least it accelerated them through mobile.
Shazam, for example, probably my favorite app, is something "new" that mobile has enabled us to stand in a bar and go "what's that song?" and then stand on a chair and hold our mobile close to the bars speaker and find out what it is.
That's the amazing thing about mobile, we pretty much all have one in the internet enabled world and we all use them. 80% of the internet enabled world is also on social media. Social Media is so simple, because as humans we are all social.
There was a time when a world event would happen and then "that bloke" (it was always the same one) would have a joke about it. Now that happens on social, there is always "that bloke" (it's always the same one) that has the latest meme about it. This way we talk on social is what people call "frictionless". We can just pick up our mobiles, log into social and talk with people. This weekend I was talking to somebody 12,000 miles away commenting on her new profile photo. How amazing it was.
It's actually easier than "just picking up the phone".
With that in mind, social seems to have seeped into all aspects of the enterprise, we now use social in marketing, sales, procurement, Finance, customer service, you name it and we use it. The issue is that it's done tactically. So here's a thing?
How about we take this tactical use of social and make it strategic?
Let's start at the top. Not training the CSuite / Directors how to use Twitter, but explain to them the non-friction way that social enables us to work and how it can be used to get incremental revenue and competitive advantage. Then get the C-Suite / Directors to roll this out across the business. Take the current tactical use of social and turn into a strategic program.
Now that would be powerful.
A "quick win" maybe in the digital transformation road?
Food for thought?
The headline above about Uber and Kodak has been attributed to many sources, but regardless of who said it first, it’s sound advice for any company, B2B or B2C, and regardless of size or industry. What happened to Kodak? It underestimated the power of digital cameras – even though it actually invented the first digital camera in 1975. Its core business of film was disrupted as the digital camera pushed traditional film off to the side. The demise of Kodak didn’t happen “overnight” as some claim, but it happened fast enough that it took Kodak by surprise.
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