5 Tips For Creating A Sticky Strategic Vision

Yesterday at work, I had a discussion on vision statements. And today in my inbox is a FastCompany post on the same subject. Coincidence or what!

One of the articles referred to by the author is a good resource for anyone working on framing vision statements. The five practical tips shared by the author are:

ShubhadeepB_VisionStatement

#1  Articulate your organization’s “core idea” — help make decisions

  • Southwest’s “THE low-fare airline”

#2  Don’t zoom out, choose — makes hard choices to create focus

#3  Make the vision concrete — concrete goals helps everyone share common picture of the destination

  • JFK’s “We will put a man on the moon and return him
    safely within the decade.”

#4  Show why employees should care about it — make your employees feel proud & want to support it

  • Sony in the 1950’s wanting to become the company most known for changing the worldwide image of Japanese products as being of poor quality

#5  Consider the virtues of single focus – change can happen quickly when leaders orient the company toward a single, bright-line goal.

Squandering The Benefits Of Telecommuting

Recently I was faced with a situation that warranted me to telecommute (work from home) for a day. The very next day I came across a mate’s blog post about the economics of working from home. This made me wonder if its all’s rosy on the telecommuting front.

Whenever I have worked from home, I have been surprised by the productivity gain from the missing distractions of a typical office environment. But what has surprised me even more, is how easily the gains can be squandered(1) if one is not organized(2) & disciplined. Squandering away the gains results in one feeling more miserable than a normal dip in productivity.

(1) Some ways of squandering any gains …

  • By being more productive I might make myself some time for the gym …but I also raid the cookie jar once too often
  • I squander time on getting unnecessary updates & applications for the laptop / iPhone
  • I might finish lunch quicker since I am alone   …but I end up spending more time on useless newspapers or websites

(2) Organized could mean having a prioritized ToDo list & being disciplined would mean sticking to the prioritization

Enterprise IT – Just A Utility?

This is an interesting take on the concept of cloud computing & how it might evolve into an utilitarian service in the future.

PS: I first heard this presentation as a podcast & then saw it on YouTube with the slides – I suggest you pay more attention to the talk rather than the slides.

Being in the industry, its not very difficult to imagine the enterprise IT landscape to be scattered with XXAS offerings (SAAS, PAAS, etc.). In such a future, pretty much any IT requirement that is not a source of competitive advantage would be consumed as a service. 

The recent acquisitions of service providers by product companies (HP / EDS, Dell / Perot, etc.) are movements in the market that lend credibility to this trend (innovation –> product –> services).

Just like a manufacturing organization consumes electricity from the grid, a green car manufacturer might soon be consuming CRM services from utility behemoth Accenture (or Infosys or IBM or TCS). Internally, Accenture could be using products from Oracle (or IBM or SAP) to build its grid (infrastructure) – but the green car manufacturer need not be aware of what products are used in services he consumes.

Interesting crystal balling.

The views expressed on this blog are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Oracle.

Customer Service Champs

I finally got up to reading the BusinessWeek 2010 listing of customer service champs. LLBean (retailer), USAA (financial services & insurance), Apple (cool gadgets), Four Seasons (hotels) & Publix (retailer) share the spoils at the top of the table. 

Some snippets that caught my fancy amongst the leading customer service champs are :

  • Four Seasons Hotel – to beat the recession blues, Four Seasons got human resource managers to take on additional responsibility of manning spa desk. Both roles are about keeping customers happy – one is internal while the other is external.
  • Lexus – not only allows its customers to book service schedule online, but also allows them to pick the service representative they trust. 
  • Jaguar – is at #16 position. Apparently the exemplary customer service (especially during the sales cycle) remains the same even after the Tata take over.
  • American Express – New training programs rolled out in 2009 switched from 70% technical know-how to 70% soft-skills teaching to help agents better relate to customers.
  • Dell – is braving its way through social media (has had its share of customer ranting on Dell customer blogs)  & making the best of getting closer to customers. From a social media perspective, this is working as per plan – Dell is creating & sponsoring a platform for its customers to vent.
  • Southwest – has a “senior manager of proactive customer service”!