(Time to read this Blog is about 2.5 minutes)
Before we get to the main topic, here are a few things to get you thinking:
- My Biz Quote of the week:
“Business is a lot like dating. If you’re not too mean or too ugly, you can probably get a 1st date with almost anyone. It’s the 2nd date that tells you something. The 1st date is about marketing and 1st impressions. The 2nd date is about value delivered, trust built and a relationship started.”
In both our business and our personal lives, if we’re not getting any 2nd dates, the universe is speaking to us.
…Donald Cooper.
- How war in Ukraine could cause riots in Egypt. The world is, indeed, connected. Egypt is the world’s largest buyer of wheat, most of which they buy from Ukraine. That wheat is made into government subsidized bread that sells for $0.003 a loaf to 60 million poor Egyptians. This subsidy costs the Egyptian government billions of dollars a year.
If war breaks out in Ukraine and wheat is in short supply and increases drastically in price, the Egyptian government will have to increase the price of bread, which will cause riots and could result in a government overthrow. The world is indeed connected.
- Oreo Cookies turn 110 this month. Created by Nabisco in 1912, Oreos have become the world’s largest selling cookie. The Brand is now owned by Mondelez International, which is snack company spun off from Kraft Foods in 2012.
Now, to this week’s important topic:
The 8 types of technology that can transform your business:
As we look to technology to give us the customer experiences and operating efficiency we need, it will be useful not to lump ‘technology’ into one big confusing mess, but rather to examine how technology can help us in each specific area and function of our business.
Commit 90 minutes of your time to sit down with some of the best minds in your business or department, plus a few technology experts and, using the checklist below, explore the possibilities.
Note: Every business should have at least two trusted technology ‘heroes’ to keep them ahead of the pack. One for operational and systems technology and one for proactive marketing, website and social media technology. If you’re a manufacturer or a grower, you’ll probably want a 3rd global expert on the technology of making whatever you produce.
Below is a checklist of 8 separate areas of your business where technology can help you. Put an X in the box beside each one that has possibilities for you. Then, investigate, make commitments and take action.
Note: Some of these ‘possibilities’ listed below may not apply to your business…but many of them will.
1. Technologies that will help us design and create new and better products or services…more quickly.
2. Technologies that will help us produce or operate more efficiently and with higher and more consistent ‘quality’.
3. The equipment, systems and process technologies that allow us to operate, control and manage every aspect of our business more effectively.
4. Technologies that will help us improve the speed, quality, depth, breadth, individuality and consistency of the customer service, value and experiences that we commit to deliver.
5. Technologies that will help us more efficiently communicate our compelling value message and ongoing help and information to customers and prospects as a group, and as individuals.
6. Technologies that allow us to listen to, understand, engage with and respond to our customers as a group, and as individuals.
7. Technologies that help us operate in a more environmentally responsible, less wasteful and more sustainable way.
8. The technology of researching industry ‘best practices’ and emerging new business models. One of these ‘technologies’ is easy…it’s called Google Annalyitics through which we can study competitive websites and articles, discover who in our industry, worldwide, is doing innovative new things…and what disruptive new business models could become our new worst enemy.
So, what are the most important new technologies that you need to bring into your business in the next 12 months? Who will lead the project to investigate, make decisions and implement? What will the time-line look like?
Remember, for every decision you make, you must be clear about what will be done, by whom, by when, at what expense, with what committed outcomes, measured how and rewarded how?
That’s it for this week…
Stay safe…live brilliantly!
Donald Cooper
Donald Cooper speaks and coaches internationally on management, marketing, and profitability. He can be reached by email at donald@donaldcooper.com in Toronto, Canada.
