JohnR's Blog

A Business Model out of Nothing!

jreinertsblog — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 18:59:56 +0000

“In a battered economy, free goods and services online are more attractive than ever. So how can the suppliers make a business model out of nothing?” If you want to read the entire “commentary, the link is below.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123335678420235003.html

A business model out of nothing?….As the times become more of a challenge to many, “free online” becomes a very attractive alternative. As we’ve seen often in the course of class discussions, technology, people, and products, like other other economic drivers, respond to the times.

For those inclined (and the number increases everyday as the layoffs are announced) the link above is another example of connectivity to the web. ..free games, free songs, etc…another window to “open source technology”.

Check a few of these out: shopittome.com (discounts from Prada and Nordstroms!) kayak.com (multiple vendors with a fare search engine); and pogo.com (free games —another one?)

Have fun and enjoy the world of “FREE”

John

Connect to the “OBAMAMETER”

jreinertsblog — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 12:52:42 +0000

“The Obamameter” is now live (check link below). As so eloquently detailed by the dynamic duo (Blake & Dennis) or (Dennis & Blake)…no offense intended here…the new administration used multiple elements of connectivity to the n-th degree during the most recent campaign. It appears the St. Petersburg Times intends to turn this element on its ear a bit. The “Obamameter” has been born!

According to the site, the President made 510 promises during the course of the campaign, from his announcement to seek the Presidency to election eve…and they intend to track fulfillment of every one via the “Obamameter” website. I’m sure the “red state” folks are likely to enjoy this more than the opposition party, since we all know how these promises tend to get lost or watered down, when the “ins” find out it’s much more difficult to deliver than to promise.

I wonder if this connectivity element will be on the new “First Blackberry”??

John

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/promises/

Exciting Possibilities with SKYPE

jreinertsblog — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 13:41:22 +0000

With the continuing expansion of WiFi, it is becoming increasingly possible to attend (via the web) events and performances of your children, relatives, close friends etc. This is an even more exciting possibility when your children reach college age and give recitals and performances on campus or as part of a university travelling event….as parents we miss far too many of these due to time and distance.

Our daughter is currently working in the Graduate School at the University of Iowa (1000 miles away). The orchestra and symphomy give regular performaces which logisitics prevent us from attending…Skype is becoming an exciting solution to seeing her perform. I’m sure other parents and relatives are continuing to see the value in this technology!

Imaging attending a soccer game while another child is performing in a dance competiton across town or across the country!

John

Crowdsourcing & Stats!!

jreinertsblog — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 19:05:29 +0000

Using the concept of crowdsourcing and NOW…multiple regression from statistics, we”ve now found a nice combination to develop queries for topics. Since we could have asked everthing under the sun…multiple regression will help us choose those questions and follow-up which will generate the best return …most meaniful response over time to service and product enhancements.

We knew all along there was a logical reason why these two courses were in the schedule “back to back”…wait until we share this idea with those marketing types…they’ll probably run straight to the Op’s guys for assistance with the math!

John

Crowdsourcing Study – Results & Success

jreinertsblog — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 18:11:32 +0000

Crowdsourcing, which I have discussed here briefly continues to grow as a viable resource and research tool for orgainzations. Today, a leading organization of senior level marketing professionals released a report on the subject. Here were just a couple of their conclusions, which included the statement that enable by Web 2.0 this is indeed something of value.

The overall familiarity with the term crowdsourcing has more than doubled since the initial survey was conducted in December, 2007, increasing to 72% of survey takers from just 30% a year ago.
Over one-half of respondents felt crowdsourcing approaches for developing new products and services could produce cost savings, ranging between 10% to 30% over more traditional approaches. Based on the prospect of greater efficiencies and lower costs for innovation, over 9 in 10 respondents viewed crowdsourcing as attractive.
Nearly 60% of respondents felt open-sourced knowledge in general is highly valuable or valuable, and this value increases when the characteristics of the contributors are either known or can be qualified.

One of the most striking results was that crowdsourcing was rated slightly higher than internal Research and Development (R&D) efforts as a viable approach for the creation of new products and services. In fact, 75% of survey respondents (compared to 62% in last year’s survey) rated crowdsourcing as highly effective or effective in developing new products and services.

Value creation is always a welcome result!

John

Blake & Dennis – Thanks for the Idea!

jreinertsblog — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 15:35:11 +0000

A firm I am doing some project work for was seeking a “cost effective” (re: low budget here) to gather input from its customers on service experiences and “wants” their customers might have for new service offerings. A couple of ideas surfaced for discussion when I asked if anyone was familar with “crowdsourcing”. One of the Gen-Y’ers in the meeting immediately jumped in and suggested this would be an ideal, low cost option to get the input. The marketing group is now looking at questions to ask, even thinking about this as a method to gather consumer response and interest in new products, product extensions, like and dislikes. Thanks for the “schooling” here…another terrific example how this learning has wonderful applications in the workplace and the potential of technology to deliver more timely and cost effectrive solutions.

NOTE: No royalties on this one unless I can buy you a beer at some point!

Are You Ready for Digital TV ? NOT

jreinertsblog — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 02:46:09 +0000

Apparently without much to do as the new administration prepares to take the reins of leadership, the president-elect and his team are attempting to de-rail the February implementation of the conversion from analog to digital TV signals. A few hundred thousand people waited until the last minute (who didn’t think this would happen) to order their coupons, and purchase converter boxes (both of which are in short supply)…must be asleep at the wheel in the “supply chain department” as well.

http://www.wibc.com/News/Story.aspx?ID=104056

Andy Rooney might have fun with this but with all of the other problems to deal with, do the remaining 300 Million citizens really have to wait for the last 100,000+ (that’s .0003 for the stat folks among us)!!! I guess 99.997 was just too far short of objective to move ahead.

We found $700 Billion for the banks in a week…can we print a 100,000 coupons (please) and move into the 21st century on time? I’d be willing to place a sizeable wager on the chance there’s a few printing companies with less than the usual volume of business who could accomplish this task quickly with the usual govt’t mark-up…they might make enough profit to last through the current downturn.

jreinertsblog — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 22:29:03 +0000

Over the past couple of weeks I connected with a former business associate who has spent more than 25 years in the MIS / IT world. Our discussion got around to ERP projects he has been involved with and he mentioned he had developed his own “10 Commandments of an ERP Project” which was included in an interview with Consumer Goods Technology Magazine. I thought this might be good information to share with all, so I have included a link to the article and this publication below. Some terrific learning and insights here from an experienced professional.

http://www.consumergoods.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?sid=234FFCB1E8DF4FACBAFF60DFFD8AD37C&nm=Sample+Navigation&type=MultiPublishing&mod=PublishingTitles&mid=A533BDC6582947448BBFA37BFF6394FF&tier=4&id=F3EB3580595543359E3D62CB425F0478

John

Legal Blogs

jreinertsblog — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 14:40:56 +0000

It seems every profession is using blogs to some extent. My spouse who is an attorney shared with me this week a recent professional journal piece on the subject. It seems the growth of this medium has been an aid to research, surfacing obscure cases and decisions and allowing much quicker access to timely material that might have taken hours or days in the past to research.

The pace at which uselful and timely information can be accessed, analyzed and put to use has certainly grown consisitent with the hardware software and processes to use it by multiple professions.

News from the front 12/16

jreinertsblog — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 01:42:08 +0000

Enjoyed very much the “blake and dennis show”…some are wondering where we can get the music..is it soon to be available from iTunes or some simliar legitimate or NOT medium??? very valued added to the learning. I actually had a occasion this week to suggest we consider using “crowd sourcing” as a tool to seek ideas and feedback from customers and consumers…marketing research dollars look to be limited this year. Thanks for the education on the subject and the thought leadership!

I thought I share the info below…not claiming originality here…but for those seeking a deeper understanding of Web 2.0, here’s a local opportunity…which I’m quite sure Blake and Dennis are already tuned it to! It’s at that learned center nearlby!

Announcing the 10 Most Promising I.T. and Web 2.0 Companies
Congratulations to the companies recognized at the 6^th Annual Rice Alliance I.T. and Web 2.0 Venture Forum

Last Thursday, over 400 investors, entrepreneurs and business leaders attended the 6^th Annual Rice Alliance I.T. and Web 2.0 Venture Forum at the Jones Graduate School of Management. Five companies were chosen from more than 75 promising companies to present their full business plans, and 50 companies presented elevator pitches.

Later in the day, Rice Alliance Advisory Board members ranked the 50 elevator pitch presenting companies on management team, service offering, unique differentiators, market opportunity and target customers, current development stage, capital needs and overall assessment.

alliance-l-bounces@mailman.rice.edu; on behalf of; Rice Alliance [alliance@rice.edu]

Merry Xmas to All!

John