We are all Users - John Hagel
by Bill Ives
First, there was a band and rock music and heavy choreography. John Hagel led off the featured speakers and said there is a shift in power, like all revolutions. He added that we are all users and this is the good news. The bad news is that many of us work for companies who are under siege by the users and are facing increasing pressures that has shorten the life span of many. Now shelf space for products is unlimited but the scare commodity is the attention of users. Even if we are individuals, like myself, many of our clients are companies faced by the challenges and opportunities of the user revolution. How do you ride the wave and not go under?
Talent is more powerful because it is needed to attract the users. Talent has more barginning power and has greater opportunity to go out on its own. He made an excellent suggestion. The winning companies are those that are know for developing talent. Talent will be attracted. This principal is seen clearly in professional sports. These are the winners more that the ones who pay the highest salaries.
He discussed about customized supply chains to match individual needs using the term “pull platforms.” There is a Chinese firm that creates clothes at all levels through multiple partners. The is different from a push model like Toyota’s car model where you can forecast and need to determine how to allocate resources. Now Facebook lets its users both use and create stuff the users need. Push programs treat people as passive participants. Pull platforms treat people as networked creators.
John describes this as a massive transformation than needs new measures such as return on attention (ROA). I should get out my copy of Tom Davenport’s Attention Economy. There is also return on information that is embedded in the profiles of participants. I am reminded of Unisfair’s virtual conferences. There you register. As you approach the virtual trade show booth, those in the booth can “read your mind” as they have your profile and can ask you targeted questions.
John said we need to shorten the time between the user completes a profile and they see some return on their time and attention. John then added return on skill (ROS). How to get the most from all participants, whether they are employees or customers. Customers will want to be more involved in creating the products and services and become more skilled in doing this. He invited us to go to his blog for more details.
