Crowd-Source Video by You

Crowd sourcing is where a platform gathers from a crowd or crowds of people, enabled virtually most of the time.  The product is the result of the crowd.

Kickstarter is one example.  Crowds of people have the ability to "support" a project that can then go to production and release an actual product.

Streaming video is being crowd-sourced in a suddenly pervasive way without the knowledge or explicit permission of those capturing the video.

If you install a "Ring" door camera and system you may be providing your video stream to local law enforcement without being aware of it.

Read more here:

https://xconomy.com/seattle/2019/08/28/ring-confirms-report-revealing-firm-works-with-400-police-agencies/

Should this alarm you?

I don't care for anything I pay for being used without my permission.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

Disney is the New Netflix

Serious competition has finally arrived for Netflix.

Disney

That is ...

Marvel

Star Wars

Disney Animation

all of that jazz all combined in one big offering.  Disney TV has tons of original content and it is all coming up for streaming.

Here is a story that describes the service:

https://www.cnet.com/news/disney-plus-streaming-service-preorders-release-dates-prices-shows-and-movies-to-expect-d23-discount/

Think this won't be big?

Disney offered a big discount to sign up early, if you sign for 3 years at the start.  Their service crashed upon open because demand was too big.

:-)

Here is a story on the impact to Netflix:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/stephenmcbride1/2019/07/08/netflixs-worst-nightmare-has-come-true/#6393a921396d

Happy ... streaming.  Let the streaming wars begin!

J.W. Gant

BRotD - Entry 0262 Digital Dashboards

Best Reading of the Day

Data driven is the way.

Right?

Yes.  Of course.

How we do it is very important though.  Data can tell you anything you want if you try.

Take a look at this read:

https://econsultancy.com/what-are-digital-dashboards-challenges-best-practice/

Here is a snippet from the piece:

There are two factors that have driven the recent meteoric rise of digital dashboards.

Firstly, the concept of data democratisation; wherein all data is available to everyone within an organisation. In a data democracy, there are no gatekeepers, and everyone has the tools to understand and act on what the data is telling them. This idea and its potential benefits are now well established. And the technology to power it is evolving fast – complex machine analysis and processing of big data is giving users the power to draw insights automatically, in ways that were never possible before.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

B2B Startup Growth Strategy

Great read over on TechCrunch.

The startup world has been very heavy with B2C or Business to the Customer companies such as UBER.  The B2B world is heating up as I've written about.

Similarities are easy to find but are there differences?

This article addresses the question of growth.  Well worth the read:

https://techcrunch.com/2019/08/16/how-should-b2b-startups-think-about-growth-not-like-b2c/

Here is a snippet from the piece:

The best growth strategy for your company ultimately depends on whether you’re in an incubation, iteration, or scale stage. One of the most common mistakes we see is a company acting like they’re in the scale phase when they’re actually in the iteration phase. As a result, many of them end up developing inefficient growth strategies that lead to exorbitant monthly ad spends, extraneous acquisition channels, hiring (and later firing) ineffective team members, and de-emphasizing critical customer feedback. There is often an intense pressure to grow, but believing your own hype before it’s real can kill early-stage ventures.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

Can Only Top-Tier Retailers Compete?

Figuring out the space for retailers that are not a part of the "super tier" as I have dubbed them, those retailers very good at physical retail and ecommerce and mobile and the digital experience, has been a question I've been interested in for some time.

The bankruptcy announcement by Barneys in New York is interesting to me for this analysis speaking to the competitors Barneys was dealing with:

Scale allows these competitors to invest significantly in long term growth initiatives around customer-facing elements like websites and store remodels, and infrastructure like robust supply chains.

Barneys was at about $800 Million while those competitors were at the Billions level.

I think there is a lot of space for B2B companies providing these services the Barneys of the world cannot afford on their own.

Read the whole story here:

https://www.retaildive.com/news/how-barneys-new-york-lost-its-cool/560356/

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

Tech to Help Loyalty

I had a number of discussions this last year, sometimes pushing a boulder up hill, trying to help business side digital interests understand what technology could and could not do for them.

The real key to these discussions is value.

If something can move the needle on revenue it will get attention, and some dollars behind it to enable action.

Here is a snippet from a piece that might interest you:

Research published in the Nielsen Global Consumer Loyalty Survey has found that 33% of European consumers (36% in the US) say they love to try new brands, while a further 56% – although more loyal – also admit that they can ‘be moved to experiment.’

This trend for brand-hopping among consumers is a relatively modern phenomenon. 40% say they are more likely to try something new than they were five years ago. Brand loyalists are a shrinking minority and companies are having to double down on enticing exploratory consumers and – crucially – retaining them.

Here is the full article:

https://www.clickz.com/martech-stack-customer-loyalty/252627/

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant

eCommerce Engines

I've been pretty heavy in eCommerce for a while and have some knowledge of a variety of the systems sold to support those efforts.  This little write-up on the Forrester Wave analysis of those eCommerce engines caught my eye as useful.

Not surprising that Salesforce is at the top (the Demandware platform) along with SAP.

Here is the full article:

https://www.clickz.com/forrester-b2c-commerce-suites-what-made-the-winners-stand-out/247573/

You will have to become a client of Forrester to get their full research.

Happy Reading,

J.W. Gant