Xavier Olivella's Blog

Key notes from HIT, World Innovation Summit

2009-06-18T01:04:00.000-07:00

From Rosabeth Moth: "Strategy on innovation"

5 F lessons applies to innovation: focus, flexibility , fast, friendly on collaboration, fun. Think beyond your company to extend your partners like IBM does. Also innovation means hard work, find solutions to save the world, doing something instead of complaining, and is implied in the culture (willing to win, adapt, transform...)

From Ray Kurzweil: "Future's innovation"

Technology doubles power every year, potential growth is predictable. In 2010 no computers, everything will be virtual. More info at http://www.kurzweilai.net/

From Gary Hamel: "Innovation on management" (this was my favourite one)

Innovate the management model, radical management model. Challenging the status quo.
Today top challenges are continous changes, high competition (barries falling down to enter into big markets) and knowledge is becoming a comodity.

Mgrs job changes from job description mgmt (where mgrs tell what others should do) to create and estimulate the enviroment helping employees to do things. Ideally mgr's span of control should be 60 employees by mgr. All commitment should be voluntair, everyone is able to say no to any request. How to become mgmt innovator leader? Transparency, small teams becoming profit centers, look what new comers are doing (don't look at top fortune companies).

Most of people see web is changing operational model, some people see web is changing business model and just a few people see web as an enabler of mgmnt model changes. Until now, beaucracy and markets (where markets promoted the use of creativity). Humans always has been adapted to circunstances. Now it's time that humans are able to work differently.

More info at www.wsj.com/hamel

Vijay Govindarajan (VG): "Execution on innovation"

Strategy is about selectively forget the past and create the future while most of companies are spending their time and efforts in managing the present.

VG paradigm: we should ask ourselves "how India can transform or help Ford?" instead "what Ford can do for India"

Do an analysis about competition for the future -> oportunity gap -> renewal

Best practices + benchmarking: is not strategy. Next practices instead of best practices.

Growth Playbook: put your 2009 projects into 3 areas: (1) core biz (2) adjacent space (3) enterely new space. And then think about which is your right balance?

His book is "10 rules for strategic innovators"and his blog at http://www.vijaygovindarajan.com/

2.0 Trends

2009-04-24T07:13:00.001-07:00

During Web 2.0 Expo held this month in San Francisco two topics were most commented: the influence of the crisis and social nets in the web. From my point of view, the key learnings from the Expo were
• The new concept of “Lean startup”. Lean management strategy applied in the past to the production now applies to the new start-ups. Times for big investments withour clear ROI are over. Now new entrepeneurs requires to prove ROI to their investors from the beginning. Resources to the minimum just for maximize the investment in a short period of time is the key message for new comers.
• “Ad-versity”. Reduction of marketing funds is pushing to marketers to segment more and more than before.
• Social nets are changing the way of sales, marketing and product development teams are working.
• Moving from product to service based economy is pretty clear.
• Measure of ROI arrives to the web 2.0. Lots of new initiatives and products around tools and measurement algorithms to track the return on advertising and searching over Internet.

Who gets money from VC in Silicon Valley?

2009-03-03T13:32:00.000-08:00

Interesting to observe which top SW companies receive money from Venture Capital in Silicon Valley from latest Quarterly report:

75 M$ goes to Silver Spring Networks in later stage of Smart Network for utilities
22 M$ to Fijan Software in later stage as well of their online security tools
21M$ to Goodmail Systems to expand their email certification platform
20M$ to Kosmix to expand their web search engine
16M$ to Zvents to expand their events web search technology
15M$ to Zuora to expand their online subscription services platform
10M$ to Sharpcast to expand their sync+store+share web platform
and other 58 companies received 215M$ in total, that means 3.7M$ each in the last Q4'08.

I'm glad to see VC still believe in potential SW companies in the Bay Area. Maybe this time early stages and seed phase of start-ups received less large amounts of money than previous quarters, but still a large number of companies received money for their new adventures specially for security, mobility, multimedia, video, networking, web based services and social nets.

Barack Obama, new CEO of America

2009-01-23T11:17:00.000-08:00

If Obama was named as CEO of an American company, this should be an extract of his first speech:

"Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and begin again the work of remaking our company....

Our challenges may be new. The instruments with which we meet them may be new. But those values upon which our success depends - hard work and honesty, courage and fair play, tolerance and curiosity, loyalty and companionship - these things are old. These things are true. They have been the quite force of progress throughout our company history....

What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility - a recognition, on the part of every employee, that we have duties to ourselves, our company and our world, duties that we do not grudgingly accept but rather seize gladly, firm in the knowledge that there is nothing so satisfying to the spirit, so defining of our character, than giving our all to a difficult task...

This is the source of our confidence - the knowledge that our Council calls on us to shape an uncertain results. This is the meaning of our empowerment and our teamwork...

..during rising tides of benefits and the still waters of profit ...amidst gathering clouds and raging storms".

JUST CHANGING SOME WORDS, DO YOU THINK REALLY THAT OBAMA IS A POLITIC OR A BUSINESS MAN?

My first feedback about Creapolis

2008-12-12T14:32:00.000-08:00

On Feb 1st Creapolis will be opened, the new Innovation Center of ESADE Business School located in Sant Cugat, Barcelona, Spain. We were some of the first people to trust 100% in this project, we present them our innovation project last Spring, they accepted us and then we signed our compromise to be there next year.

Two days ago I attend first conference in Borja Center, attached to the new building still under construction, and my first feedback was very positive and engaged with it.

In addition to the already known innovation principles from Esade, 3 entrepreneurs explained us their reasons and projects, and I think we can certainly cooperate with all of them: one potential customer, a second company can provide us their e-learning technology for our project, and the third one could do some joint brainstorming about new sales programs.

About the site and environment conditions, I would say that's very clear that design, ideas brainstorming and open spaces to promote internal cooperation are completely linked. We are really expecting to be there in several weeks to start our next third month of this new adventure of innovation: Arkinet Media (more info at www.arkinet.com)

10 Tips & Tricks to sell better in tough times

2008-11-06T13:06:00.000-08:00

10 ingredients to sell better during these tough times:
1. Identify your most valuable customers (20% of your clients are making your 80% margin)
2. Don't loose any important client
3. Concentrate your effort in selling high margin products & services
4. Sell additional low-cost services/products to your customers to increase your revenue
5. Don't accept bad excuses from your sales people
6. Redefine your sales team. Are you sure all your sales team has right skills for tough times?
7. Constantly communicate to your most valuable customers
8. Improve your sales tool. Use your time free to do it
9. Create new products/services for price sensitive/lower budgetted customers
10. Be positive. Crisis is temporary. Send these 10 tips&tricks to your clients to help them

You will cook a good dish with these 10 ingredients and ensure your organization knows it, agrees and uses it every day.. I'm sure you will become a great chef!

Our First Anniversary

2008-10-17T07:18:00.001-07:00

Yesterday we've been celebrated our First Anniversary of Pigmalio team.

We are really excited, satisfied and enthusiastic about making our First Anniversary. Our key learnings in this first year are: keep yourself motivated even if an important customer delays 3 times your meeting, own your own agenda otherwise you're lost, encourage others to make joint business, put yourself under pressure to accomplish your own daily objectives, avoid non profitable efforts, and keep efficiency rules to create, develop and deliver services... and continously listening and experiencing to learn everyday and everynight to keep your competition away.

We are proud to help growing our partners and customers business this first year!
Our Second Anniversary will come soon... in only 364 days!!

Just a small comment about current environment: under current economic circunstances, we are proving sales opportunities are still in the market. Maximizing profits by maximizing most value customers of our customers, proactively selling and focusing on keep profitable products and services are key drivers to survive and to grow at least in profit for our customers. We believe hard moments make stronger companies and more efficients.

New Olympics, New Multimedia Era

2008-08-09T15:12:00.000-07:00

Today in all newspaper headlines were "fantastic", "the best ever ceremony", "beatiful ceremony", "explosive", "impressive" but none of those really titled as what was really impressive: the confirmation of entering into a a new era. The olympics are multimedia and the world is becoming multimedia quicker and quicker.
Latest cutting edge flat and non-flat TV technologies are brilliant, never sawn before. Big screens are moving ahead and will see it in all Stadiums soon around the world. Small and medium screens will be located eveywhere in our lives, at home, in the street, in all shops and mall, parking lots and tolls and so on.
But not the only TV technology will not be the winning factor but this will come with the latest software technologies to combine video, publicity, music, shows, etc
All together to promote the new E3 (Engage + Entertainment + Education) TV trend for consumers. As OWOOM coming soon, E3 will become true earlier than expected.

More info about the ceremony at http://en.beijing2008.cn/ceremonies/

Crisis? Customer crisis?

2008-06-16T09:26:00.000-07:00

Within global and competitive market where customers are more and more experts and more demanding, it's not enough to sell selling good, you must to satisfy them. This is true until crisis arrived.
Now it's not enough to get customers, even more difficult.
It's more valuable to promote loyalty programs to keep them.
That's the only way to sell more and better.
How? It's not relevant what is your customer management system (CRM)
What is really relevant is having a clear and defined sales strategy, customer and solution oriented supported by a good methodology: processes, data, people and tools.
If your company uses and is ready to re-act, best wishes!
If don't, please use the "crisis excuse" to define your CRM strategy, to implement it across your organization and sooner you will be able to personalize your communication customer by customer. As consequence you will be ablet to sell either what they don't have or, what they know what needed or, even what you forgot to sell them.
Not only the strongers are ready to survive during a crisis but those who have and use well their CRM, they will do it for sure.
Good luck!

3 Key trends for business efficiency

2008-05-21T06:38:00.000-07:00

After some brainstormings with some colleagues within different meetings and places, we agreed on a long list of actions you can do for business efficiency. But all of them can be categorized within 3 thrends or ways of improving your business efficiency:

- Reduction of spent time. Time is most important value you have and you don't care too much about it. So, if you plan actions or activities to reduce waisting time, you will increase by far your efficiency. Think about it you probably could find dozens of examples in your business.

- 'Your customer' orientation, not only customer orientation. Your customer is the most valuable asset in your company. Keep it and squeeze it like a lemon, and you will improve your business. People spent a lot of money and efforts to find new customers, recruit new partners, do market research, etc but how many of you took your current customers and try it to get more and more from them ?

- Listen & Experience. Experience on what your customer need. Most of customers are ready to give their experiences about not only your services and products but also about their own problems. How many of you have spent enough time to experience together with your customers? Experiencing together with them will help you to understand different ways to sell, to support, to do marketing, etc thinking problems together with your customers.

I'm not sure about what are the righ priorities around all of those 3 trends, but probably it will depend on your own case.

Even you can combine all of the three trends together within one single view for specific problem. As an example, changing your support call center from a reactive support organization to become a self funded business unit? Easy things like asking "do you need to buy something else?" at the end of the support calls will increase your revenue and your profit if you ask the right question. So you will save time, you will take care of your customer, and you will experience with them and, as a consequence, you will improve your business efficiency.

POWERchannel: New Channel Program Launch

2008-05-13T07:50:00.000-07:00

Have you heard about Pigmalio Effect?

2008-05-09T15:34:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time King Pigmalio, within Greek mythology, build a sculpture based on his ideal woman figure. Pigmalio loved so much his work of art and he wanted to become real, and try to do his best to get it. He asked Venus Aphrodite, the Goddess of love, and she help his dream becoming true. Then Galatea was born, his ideal woman.
So, Psychology named “Pigmalio Effect” when the prophecy serves itself. This phenomenon is based on someone bringing a fact forward while believing on it, so most probably this fact will comes real.
This occurs when dependency relationship exists between people as parents and children, teachers and students, and why not between consultants and customers.
Three aspects are required to enable “The Pigmalio Effect” as follows:
1/ Believe strongly within an objective,
2/ Have the expectation to accomplish it, and
3/ Develop actions for influencing it.

I believe on it! I'm sure you too.