What the Heck is a PC?

What’s a PC? That was the question recently asked by my oldest daughter, who is 10 years old. She knows how to use our iPad, Mac, my blackberry and laptop. But when I used the term PC – she gave me a blank stare. I explained that it was an abbreviation for Personal Computer; and then I explained how ‘in the old days’ computers were in special air conditioned rooms with raised floors. In a few years she will be a consumer who has very high expectations from the companies with whom she does business.

It make me consider technology changes. I know I’m getting old when I start talking about how quickly technology is changing. But the reality is that in today’s world, as soon as a new technology product is released, it is quickly followed by an announcement about the next generation. The pace is frantic to continually meet expectations of customers.

One of the keys to successfully introducing new technologies to your customers is timing. How often are we do we see technology released at a time when it’s not likely to succeed?

In 1997, I bought a gadget called the CrossPad. It was co-marketed by the A.T. Cross Company and IBM.

The promise was that it would create digital images of what was written on a piece of paper. I bought into the vision. It worked pretty well. My vision was email to colleagues my notes from client meetings. The challenge was that the files created were 5+ megabytes – and when I tried to email these it would bring our email system to a crawl. This was a time when many were using dial up connectivity to access email. Great idea – but probably 5 years too early to be truly practical.

When it comes to mobility, even when an idea may appears that it would only appeal to very early adopters, things change in the blink of an eye.

Look at mobile banking. I remember hearing of the first few mobile banking apps, and heard those who felt it was a novelty because banking customers would not trust them to be secure. Those first mobile banking apps were introduced at time when many customers were still questioning the security of standard online banking. But in very short order, the adoption of these apps was commonplace.

NOW, those financial institutions that have yet to deploy mobile banking find themselves way behind the curve. The institutions with strong mobile offerings are attracting high value customers, especially in the younger and more technically savvy demographic. With the right level of service, attracting these new customers now could bring customers who may be with that institution for decades.

So my challenge to you is to contemplate how mobility can improve your business. Think of the people to people interactions which take place that drive your operations – among employees, with customers and other stakeholders. Anyone that has an impact on the success of your operations.

Learn a lesson from the banking industry. If you envision an idea now, even if you think your constituents are not ready for it – start it now. You do not want to limit your thinking to what you believe would be acceptable now – but think about what can provide long term benefits. Even what may seem a far fetched idea now – could in short order be something implemented by one of your competitors and change the landscape of your industry. You want to be the leader, not the laggard with appropriate timing. Those organizations that understand their customers and employees intimately, will be ultimately successful.

As for the CrossPad – here is the last line from the entry in Wikipedia regarding the product. “The CrossPad and CrossPad XP never achieved the market success that the Cross Company and IBM hoped for, and the product was ultimately discontinued in April, 2001. A class action suit resulted from the failure of the product in the marketplace.”

It wasn’t that the CrossPad was a bad idea – but it was not properly implemented or timed. Lesson learned.

- Matt T

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Tags: Business Mobility, Increase Customer Satisfaction, Innovative Technology, Matt Torgersen, Pragmatic Mobility, Tablets