January 7, 2009

Better Than Free

Kevin Kelly has authored a wonderful Web Book Download over on Changethis.com that discusses how you can create value in a world where everything is free. The basic idea is that with the Internet, the distribution cost of information and many other products have fallen to zero. So how can you stand out and create value? Mr. Kelly points out eight simple ideas.

1. Immediacy: Your ability to deliver products and services faster
2. Personalization: Provide customizations to your base product
3. Interpretation: Adding special services on top of free products
4. Authenticity: People will buy from those that are authentic (See Pine and Gilmore)
5. Accessibility: Clean, Easy to Use, and Simple wins every time (See iPhone)
6. Embodiment: Usability
7. Patronage: Loyalty to the brand, the creator, and product
8. Findability: Only the brightest stars get found

Excellent list and wonderful reference that I can use inside the world of Enterprise 2.0. If I assume that Collaboration and Social Software is almost free then I had better leverage some of these concepts in order rise above the fold. We actually do just that in providing value-add products and services to the enterprise. With the exception of #1 and #7, we excel at the other six and that sets us apart from many of the groups within the organization. I can't count the number of times I have heard that other products or service providers don't do what we do (services) even when they have a better product. How cool is that?

Are you adding products, services, or some of those eight components Mr. Kelly talks about to your Enterprise 2.0 offering?

Posted by Todd at January 7, 2009 8:06 AM

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