Avoiding Bad Experiences
Tuesday: May 29, 2007 1:07 PM
If I were to ask you what tool would you use within the enterprise to communicate or collaborate on a project, the obvious answer would be the one that offers the greatest value. Value is defined as the constant push and pull between the amount of pain and the embedded functionality. Without the constraints of time, money or resources, we would implement the product or service that provides the greatest value. This would indicate that the mass adoption of social software within the enterprise should be fairly easy to obtain. Yet, time and time again, we don’t see this adoption happen.
Suppose you and your family are taking a family vacation to Columbus, GA. Your driving all day and the family is getting hungry. Based on your prior thought process then you would look for the restaurant with the best food, most selections, best value, best service, and best location. Sounds like you might be stopping at Chicken Comers BBQ or Country’s BBQ. To get that great value, the all-you-can-eat buffet at Mama’s on Main. So where do you stop on your value based decision matrix; McDonalds. Why? The truth is we fear the unknown. The risk of a really bad experience, regardless of how remote, outweighs the option of a below average experience, regardless of how certain. So even though, we know that there is a 90% chance we would have a great meal, we still choose fast-food due to the 100% chance of a below average experience.
Translation for Enterprise 2.0; features and functionality are great but your most important job is to reduce the chances of a bad experience for the end user. How do businesses in the outside world do this? In many cases, the offer money back programs, guarantees, and warranties. They promote that they have sold 100 million hamburgers or let you see the meal preparation as does many candy stores. We can use other customers and promote their comments in the online environment. We can advertise our expertise or credibility with awards and recognitions. We can describe the operational environment and ensure the customer this isn’t a proof of concept. We have plenty of options but adding more features isn’t one of them.
If I were to ask you what tool would you use within the enterprise to communicate or collaborate on a project, the obvious answer would be the one that offers the greatest value. Value is defined as the constant push and pull between the amount of pain and the embedded functionality. Without the constraints of time, money or resources, we would implement the product or service that provides the greatest value. This would indicate that the mass adoption of social software within the enterprise should be fairly easy to obtain. Yet, time and time again, we don’t see this adoption happen.
Suppose you and your family are taking a family vacation to Columbus, GA. Your driving all day and the family is getting hungry. Based on your prior thought process then you would look for the restaurant with the best food, most selections, best value, best service, and best location. Sounds like you might be stopping at Chicken Comers BBQ or Country’s BBQ. To get that great value, the all-you-can-eat buffet at Mama’s on Main. So where do you stop on your value based decision matrix; McDonalds. Why? The truth is we fear the unknown. The risk of a really bad experience, regardless of how remote, outweighs the option of a below average experience, regardless of how certain. So even though, we know that there is a 90% chance we would have a great meal, we still choose fast-food due to the 100% chance of a below average experience.
Translation for Enterprise 2.0; features and functionality are great but your most important job is to reduce the chances of a bad experience for the end user. How do businesses in the outside world do this? In many cases, the offer money back programs, guarantees, and warranties. They promote that they have sold 100 million hamburgers or let you see the meal preparation as does many candy stores. We can use other customers and promote their comments in the online environment. We can advertise our expertise or credibility with awards and recognitions. We can describe the operational environment and ensure the customer this isn’t a proof of concept. We have plenty of options but adding more features isn’t one of them.
