
Even if most of what you deliver to customers is intangible products such as a service like security or information or insight then your process can still be a differentiator. Google certainly has a unique product but how they continue to build new value into their business has a lot to do with their differentiated work process. Their on campus cafe’s make networking and collaboration much more automatic, on campus exercise and sports facilitate better employee health and more focused and creative brain function and of course fun actually increases blood flow to the brain and that is when we perform at our best. Atlassian Software has “Ship It days”(click for link), where you have 24 hours to gather a team and collaborate to solve a big hairy problem or create a new product that will be ready to ship…..in 24 hours. Every quarter this contest happens and it generates incredible ideas, energy and collaboration. Even though there is one winner, everyone feels like they win and the company certainly does. The number of company products and projects that come from these events is astounding!
Things to ask when evaluating the effectiveness of your internal processes as a differentiator:
- Do our work process include events that ignite creativity and collaboration?
- Is there a spirit of enthusiastic team problem solving and ideation?
- Are people trained and empowered to take initiative or do they wait on centralized command?
- Are your processes gaining new flexibilities and capabilities to adapt to changing customer demand?
If you are not able to answer yes to at least three of these questions you are probably using an undifferentiated commodity process.
All of these companies mentioned entered commodity markets with a twist on commodity products and services that commanded a premium profit. What these companies have in common is that they made “Process Innovation” their key differentiating strategy. In other words HOW they created and delivered was more important than WHAT they created and delivered.
What’s your twist?
By: Kevin Minne
InnovationGrowthSystems.com
720-354-0291