Meet me technology: Hello Neighbor!
Imagine your in a huge mall and your task is to find the best sale on a common product such as black socks. If your price conscious, you wander around to all the stores that sell socks, see your options and do some price checking. It takes time and really, I think the stores bet we won't go to that much trouble. I have seen some huge price differences in my limited shopping adadventuresnbsp; Suppose you could be at every store.. at the same time. Well not you, but a proxy... In the near future, it is possible... your in a major department store and your looking at socks. Using a small electronic communitication device, you do a search on the network for anyone in your area of the city who is current doing the same thing as you are (shopping for socks).. within seconds, you have a list of 10 individuals at various stores in the 10 mile radius who you can talk to and share information. This is the future. and if your running a business, this sort of open communication is going to change our world. Currently it is being called "meet me" technology, but the concept has been around ever since someone started playing around with palm pilots and GPS systems. When it becomes mainstream, most likely with gameboys.. or some other inentertainmentevice, it will have huge impact.
My expectation is that all businesses are going to have to add-value and price carefully. In the next few years, we are going to see an even more powerful consumer. Knowledge will become shared and it will be critical to have very good customer service. Customers will be able to bond with others and get input on the fly. It will be a dynamic world. Knowledge will be shared not in a broad sense, but in a time sensitive way. One other example will make this point. Have you ever bought a car and then talked to someone else who bought the same car.. and found you didn't get as good a deal.. If you only knew when you were shopping, but now.. you really don't want to know that you paid too much. Lots of information is like this.. it is only good for a short time, then you could care less whether you have access to it. Meet Me technology should impact this in a huge way! Next time I have to buy a car, I think it would be cool to be able to talk with everyone else looking to buy the same kind of car I am buying.. You could even end up with five individuals buying their cars together for extra savings.. the possibilities are huge! Oh .. I used the word already.. Enormus!
What is the implications for Leaders:
(a) First, a caution. There will be less and less secrets.. and knowledge will become even more readily available. Significant news will spread like a wild fire in a strong breeze.. everyone will have increased acaccessibility
(b) Meet me technology will have many potential benefits for organizations. Think of how powerful a tool meet me technology can be to a new employee who us unfamiliar with a task. In seconds, they could find another employee who could advise them.
(c) The freedom to do business where and when you want will continue to grow. Service providers may find ways to us the technology to be available where and when people need them. New distribution channels and data on behavior will continue to grow.
There are most like others, but these are ones that come to mind now.. what are your thoughts..
Posted at 02:56PM Aug 03, 2006 by mowen in General |