Category Archives: Technology

Revolutionary VR and AI Technology Enables MLB Opening Day at Home for All Teams Simultaneously*

Posted on April 1, 2023 by davetuchler

On March 30, 2023, Major League Baseball did something unprecedented: they held all the opening day games as virtual reality events. Yes, that’s right, every single team got to play their home opener in their own stadium, without having to leave the comfort of their own homes. How did they do it, you ask? Well, it was all thanks to the magic of VR technology.

You see, each team’s stadium was recreated in stunning detail in the virtual world. Fans could log on to their team’s VR channel and be transported to their favorite team’s home field. They could even choose their own seat, just like they would in real life, and feel like they were really there. But the best part? No more expensive tickets, long lines for concessions, or having to deal with rowdy fans. It was like the ultimate baseball experience without any of the hassle.

Virtual rendering of Orioles Park at Camden Yards (source: Virtual Backgrounds)

Of course, there were a few hiccups along the way. Some fans accidentally logged into the wrong channel and ended up watching the wrong game. Others struggled to adjust to the VR controls and found themselves accidentally teleporting onto the field. And then there were the players themselves, who had to adjust to playing in front of empty stands, with no crowd noise to feed off of. Some players even admitted to feeling a bit lonely without their usual home crowd cheering them on.

Superstar Bryce Harper helps a fan adjust to the new reality (Source: USA Today)

But overall, the virtual opening day was a huge success. Fans from all over the world were able to come together and experience the thrill of baseball without any of the usual drawbacks. And who knows, maybe in a few years’ time, all sports events will be held in virtual reality. After all, why bother leaving the house when you can have the ultimate fan experience from your own living room?

*EDITOR’S NOTE: with the exception of the photos, ALL headline and body copy above was generated by chat.openai.com.

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Posted in Marketing and Media, Marketing Strategy, Social Media, Technology and tagged AI, Artificial Intelligence, Baseball, Bryce Harper, Camden Yards, chat.openai.com, Home Opener, Metaverse, MLB Opening Day, Opening Day, Opening Day 2023, Virtual Reality, VR. Bookmark the permalink.

I BEGGED to be cancelled, and failed. Where did I go wrong?

Posted on August 23, 2020 by davetuchler

Lots of people are getting cancelled these days. For most of them, it wasn’t something they wanted.

I, on the other hand, wanted desperately to be cancelled, and my best efforts yielded exactly no results. It left me somewhere in between ticked off and sad; call it pissappointed. My story is below, in blue.

We are referring, of course, to subscription auto-renewals (aka ‘evergreen clause’ or ‘negative option clause’, or in the words of one congressman, ‘zombie contracts’).

Auto-renewal practices are a critical way of sustaining revenue, but if done too aggressively, there are potential huge costs in losing customer goodwill and provoking litigation.

https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/blogs/stateline/2017/02/27/didnt-see-that-renewal-notice-some-states-are-trying-to-help

One survey found that 59% of consumers had been auto-renewed in one way or another without their informed consent, at an average cost of $186. https://www.nclnet.org/ftc_autorenew

This is often related to free trials with a commitment buried in the fine print, but it’s not always the case, as I experienced.

Auto-renew allows companies to lock in revenue, often without the consumer even noticing. And they rely heavily on this practice; you will have to pry a company’s cold, dead hands off your money (usually with a lawyer’s help) before you get anything back.

Turns out I’m not the only one who’s been disappointed.

As a result, a lot of states are working on legislation to control abuse of the auto-renew, led by California’s Auto-Renewal Law (ARL), which took effect July 1, 2018 and prohibits automatic renewal of subscription or service fees without first presenting consumers with certain terms, and obtaining their affirmative consent.

The questions here:

What is the moral obligation to inform customers before they are going to be charged?
Is the retention of some proportion of ticked-off customers worth the blowback when they tell their friends/colleagues about it?
What actions can you take as a marketer or as a consumer, to avoid the need for litigation?

My story:

April 2018 – signed up for one year of online survey company’s premium package to support consulting work. Not aware of any auto-renew commitment.
April 2019 – found out my credit card was automatically charged for another year. Still used the service so no big deal; still, irritating to get neither a heads-up nor a confirmation that a charge was made.
March 2020 – didn’t need service anymore. Through my account portal, cancelled and switched off auto-renew a month before renewal (on advice of the company).
May 2020 – surprised to find that I’d been auto-billed again, despite cancelling. No email notice.
- Emailed company: ‘must have been a mistake; don’t need it anymore, please reverse charges, thank you’.
- Company responds that a) their records show that auto-renew was reinstated on my account (which it definitely wasn’t!) b) you are ineligible for an exception because it renewed over a month ago c) we cannot give full or partial refund. d) you should know this; it was in our T&C when you signed up (you noob).
- Increasingly animated emails from me met with consistently anodyne ‘geez, we’re real sorry, you messed up, we can’t do anything about it’ responses.
- Stopped payment on credit card; company now has cover and responds with: “Although our system showed that you re-instated your subscription, from your words, I know this was a mistake and clearly a human error. Even if I could make an exception for you, because a dispute has been filed with the card issuer or bank, we can’t take any action on the account.”
- Thankfully, the charge was ultimately reversed.

But it was LOTS of effort, and let’s just say it won’t help their Net Promoter Score if I am asked for my opinion.

————————————————————————————

This is a big, popular, generally well-regarded company and they’re clearly taking all steps possible to maximize revenue retention. How many other companies are using the same tactics?

Well, in the last few years, over 100 companies have been sued for deceptive auto-renewals, including those shown below (spawning a cottage industry of how to disable auto-renew):

Sirius XM

Noom

Angie’s List

Dropbox

Spotify

Hulu

SeaWorld

Birchbox

LifeLock

AAA

Blizzard Entertainment (World of Warcraft)

Gunthy-Renker (Proactiv skin products)

Apple

eHarmony.com

Tinder

Blue Apron

McAfee

Ancestry.com

New York Times

Consumer Reports

WalMart’s Beauty Box

It is no secret that a renewal is way more profitable than acquiring a new customer, and the fight for customers is fierce, so the focus on retention is understandable.

But at some point the negative impact of heavy-handed tactics, in terms of brand goodwill and image (not to mention litigation costs), could overwhelm the benefit.

My advice:

IF YOU’RE A MARKETER OF SUBSCRIPTION PRODUCTS OR SERVICES:

Become familiar with, and follow, California’s ARL; it looks to be the standard going forward
Offer in-between solutions that give the customer relief, but keeps them in the fold and positive. (Example: when I tried to cancel my Audible subscription when my commute was drastically shortened, they offered a deal of $10/year to retain the books I already had, rather than losing everything. That was a good solution for me.)

IF YOU’RE A CONSUMER:

Read the fine print on everything you sign up for, and keep careful records
If you want to downgrade your level, challenge the company to provide a better option. Frequently they’ll do anything possible to keep you.
Certain apps like TRIM https://www.asktrim.com/ automatically detect recurring charges on your credit cards; they can help identify needless renewals and help with cancellations

IF YOU’VE READ THIS FAR:

Thanks for your patience and loyalty. You have automatically been renewed to follow The Armchair MBA for another 5 years. You have no opt-out before that time.

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Posted in customer loyalty, Customer satisfaction, Marketing and Media, Marketing Strategy, Retailing, Social Media, Technology and tagged auto-renew, Auto-renewal, California ARL, cancel culture, Cancelled, customer loyalty, Customer retention, evergreen clause, free trial, negative option clause, subscription, Subscription renewal, Vampire contract, zombie contract. Bookmark the permalink.

A playdate video app for dogs? Well, why the hell not?

Posted on April 1, 2020 by davetuchler

Well, desperate times call for desperate measures. The oppression of everyone being confined at home all day, every day is testing the limits of patience. And this extends to Fido.

The good folks who brought you Match.com have decided that enough is enough – – there is now a video doggy hookup, er, playdate app that is intended to keep your four-legged friends distracted and occupied for hours at a time while you’re trying to work.

On the surface, it seems silly, but when you consider that your dog is missing out on daily dog-to-dog interaction, this sort of stimulation might come in handy over what is certain to be several more months of isolation.

Just look at that little buddy, bored and looking up at you. Here’s a way to let technology assuage your guilt! (it’s actually pretty cool)

Full text of the press release is below:

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DoggoVision offers a videoconferencing alternative to Doggy Daycare

Dallas, TX – April 1, 2020

Dallas-based Match Group, Inc. today announced DoggoVision, a videoconferencing play date solution for dogs, in partnership with Zoom Video Communications and virtual reality developer Spaces.

DoggoVision uses AI to match dogs

This innovative networked service is a response to sweeping stay-at-home rules, requiring entire families to work and/or study under the same roof, which for many families had never been experienced before. Compounding the situation is the closure of pet sitting facilities and services, which in many cases had provided an outlet for pets and a break for their owners.

While working from home has generally increased the number of walks dogs are getting, human social distancing during these walks has severely curtailed dog-to-dog interaction.

DoggoVision provides dogs (and their owners) access to a video community in which dogs can interact in real time, in both audio and video, with other dogs selected for particular affinities. Selection criteria include dog size, breed, temperament, etc. Enabled by the virtual reality of the Spaces app, dogs can see, bark, investigate, engage in play behavior, and even virtually ‘sniff’ other dogs.

A variety of video background images can be artificially projected behind the dogs’ video images, so that the dogs can think they’re at the beach, in a forest, in the AKC show, on the couch, etc. According to the company, in beta testing most dogs quickly accepted the scenarios, were transfixed for up to several hours at a time, and there were very few fights.

Sign-up is free through http://www.doggovision.com, and requires the owner to enter their dog’s description, disposition, favorite activities, typical daily schedules, and any triggers that drive bad behavior (e.g. mailman, vacuum cleaner, etc). Fees are based on session length, time of day, and size of group.

The DoggoVision software, in addition to using Zoom technology, uses Match.com AI algorithms to optimize dog matches globally. An owner has the capability to swipe a ‘paw’ icon if a proposed dog or dog group is objectionable. Software automatically verifies that dog preview photos are current.

According to a spokesperson from Match Group, owner of Match.com, OkCupid, Tinder and other services: “Match Group’s mission is bringing people together. DoggoVision extends this concept to our best friends, and in providing diversion for dogs, creates a little peace in the home.

Our existing software platforms were essential in developing this product in record time. This is not a simple watch-only video product – it’s fully interactive, inspired by the natural outgoing and playful spirit of dogs. There will be no equivalent version for cats. Importantly, while DoggoVision fulfills a specific need, it is not intended as a substitute for the obligations of responsible dog ownership.”

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Posted in Marketing and Media, Social Media, Technology and tagged Dog owners, Doggy daycare, dogs, Guilt, Match.com, OkCupid, Spaces, Tinder, Zoom. Bookmark the permalink.

Mom’s making lemonade – what’s your excuse?

Posted on March 23, 2020 by davetuchler

Over the last week, shelter-in-place restrictions due to Covid-19 have turned the work landscape upside down.

This is one story of how one person, given lemons, has made lemonade.

Mom turned 89 last week. She has been a lifetime pianist, still does performances at senior homes several times each month, and has been teaching now for about 65 years, currently with about 5-10 weekly students.

The new workplace rules prevent in-person lessons, and as anyone who ever took piano lessons knows, skills deteriorate quickly. This is not good when you’re a piano teacher. You need your students to continue to move forward with their skills.

So, with guidance from a former piano student (now at MIT), Mom decided she would try to teach remotely.

And that is exactly what she’s done.

As she described it excitedly yesterday:

“It’s really very easy. I’m using Chrome, and the Zoom app. My students (aged 7-17) are quite capable of setting up a camera to show their hands on the keyboard. I send them an invitation, give them the code, and off we go. I see their hands, and they see me. It actually works better for the younger students because they are forced to figure things out for themselves”.

Mom has successfully completed her first 5 online teaching sessions, with more to come.

She did not have this skill last week.

What barriers are you facing? What’s your excuse?

Love you, Mom. And yes, I’m washing my hands.

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Posted in Marketing Strategy, Social Media, Technology and tagged adapt, barriers, distance learning, Google Chrome, Mom, online learning, piano lessons, Zoom. Bookmark the permalink.

PROOF! The internet is not all real!

Posted on June 30, 2019 by davetuchler

The late football coach Dennis Green famously sputtered after his Arizona Cardinals lost a big lead to the Chicago Bears in 2006: “They are who we thought they were!!!”.

DOES NOT APPLY TO THE INTERNET

No longer just the province of faceless hackers and fake identities, the internet now is the land of fake faces, too. Very often people are not who you thought they were.

James support agent

I first became suspicious when my LiveChat support agent ‘James’ was a little awkward (every conversation started with “hey”), and he seemed to operate from a very different time zone. He just didn’t seem like the chill dude in his photo.

Suspecting that his image was stolen from a real person, I did what anyone with borderline clinical stalking tendencies would do – I did a reverse Google search on his photo.

Tom Brown Facilis

Eureka! ‘James’ was actually a real person named Tom Brown, a Director at a company called Facilis in the Bay area. Hey – I’ll let Tom know someone stole his photo. Upon looking for his contact info, I found out that this was fake, too. There’s a Facilis, but this isn’t it. The site URL http://www.pgyx.com/team-member.html# looks like a developmental website for a business that may or may not exist, now or in the future. You can check for yourself.

Collage 1

Back to the image search. It turns out this person, whoever he is, has been replicated and is now overrunning the internet. Sort of like the magic brooms in Fantasia. ‘James/Tom’ is also Michael Flynn, lead developer at a tech company; Bob Roger, CEO of a restaurant supply company; Mike Hussy, data guy at Delhi Public Schools, and many more.

Sorcerers magic brooms

This dude is everywhere! It is likely that many or all of these people are placeholders on developmental sites created by a web developer somewhere. At this point I stopped the investigation…almost.

collage 2

Because the fake sites usually had more than one photo, I did the same search on a female face in one of these sites, and found that there’s lots of her, too! And lots of other people as well. It’s like there’s a parallel iStockphoto universe of smiling people.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/health-startup-ubiome-used-stock-photos-for-website-testimonials-11558016423?mod=searchresults&page=2&pos=4

Well, according to a May 16, 2019 article in the Wall Street Journal, there is. A company called uBiome recently had to take down a photo accompanying a testimonial, because they used one of these stock models as well.

In a final act of avoiding doing something useful, I did a reverse image search on the uBiome guy as well. HE’S ONE OF THEM!

uBiome

It was at this point I needed to remind myself that these faces actually belong to real people – they’re not just virtual props for developers. But good luck finding the real one.

There has been an increase in the use of images of real people, to humanize online transactions. Just be warned that the person you think you’re interacting with may not be the person you see.

Cowboy philosopher Will Rogers once said: “Don’t believe anything you hear, and only half of what you see”.

I think it’s time to take that down to a quarter of what you see.

Hey – it’s me!

3 Comments

Posted in Branding, Marketing and Media, Technology and tagged avatars, Dennis Green, istockphoto, LiveChat, stock photos, They are who we thought they were, uBiome, wall street journal, WSJ. Bookmark the permalink.

Can Technology Be More Human Than an Actual Human Interaction?

Posted on November 30, 2018 by davetuchler

I recently had to actually drive to my bank to deposit a check. Aside from 2 receptionists there wasn’t a single customer service person to be found (you may be familiar with the archaic term, ‘teller’ – – or the archaic term ‘check’). At any rate, no tellers in this bank.

Video tellers

There was, however, a Las Vegas-style array of video tellers, and my instant reaction was ‘great, this is the bank version of phone customer service hell’.

My actual experience was terrific.

in this case, technology enabled a customer service interaction that was polite, competent, quick and personable. What everyone wants, but without an actual face-to-face encounter. Sounds almost blasphemous.

Video teller 2

Of course, this approach started as a way to cut costs, by pooling resources centrally and deploying dynamically based on demand, rather than having to staff a large number of branches.

Bank teller 3

How can what is essentially cost-saving technology surpass the traditional gold standard of a smiling face in front of you?

Instant gratification. Because there are a lot of them in one location, a customer service rep was immediately available. No wait = good.
Great video quality – – clear enough so that facial expressions were easily visible, in either direction. So a good percentage of the personal interaction was preserved.
It happened to be my birthday (yes, and visiting a bank made it even more special) – – and to my surprise my CSR wished me a Happy Birthday. My account info apparently flagged this on her end, and gave her the opportunity to delight the customer – – which she did, in a very cheerful way. Sometimes it’s the little things that count, and this one gave my CSR the opportunity to make a personal connection – – which she did.

Compare this with the traditional experience of potentially waiting for a clerk, who then might mechanically take care of your business because he or she does this a thousand times a day.

Bored Teller

Maybe, just maybe, as technology and data use continue to mature, there may actually be hope that we won’t totally have to discard our humanity just to get a little service.

Now let’s see if we can do something about humanizing customer service experience just about everywhere else.

Inside Candidate URL Guerrilla Warfare!

Posted on February 17, 2016 by davetuchler

Recently Donald Trump’s campaign acquired the domain for jebbush.com* and directed it to donaldjtrump.com.

This raises the question, what sort of campaign is Jeb! running when his staff hasn’t even registered his own name?

Classic domain warfare dictates scooping up all likely (as well as expected negative) URLs so you can control the message.

As it turns out, Jeb! is not the only one who has missed this rather basic tactic. (the screen shots below can be clicked through to the actual sites). In fact, depending on whether the middle initial ‘J’ is involved, The Donald missed a few himself.

—> http://www.tedcruz.com was taken over by a group promoting immigration reform, forcing Ted’s people to base operations on tedcruz.org (wouldn’t have been his first choice).

http://www.tedcruz.com

—> http://www.carlyfiorina.org was hijacked by someone with an axe to grind. (spoiler alert: the last screen tells us it was 30,000 people – – all of whom had families)

http://www.carlyfiorina.org

…and Donald himself was caught flat-footed when he allowed http://www.trumpsucks.com to be directed to none other than Fox News’s Megyn Kelly! Megyn punks Donald!

http://www.trumpsucks.com

By the measure of controlling the URL landscape, overall, aside from the Megyn Kelly thing, Trump does pretty well. He grabbed Jeb’s site (probably paid a squatter for it), and got ahead of a few ‘Ihate***.com’ sites, including some of his competitors. (see chart below)

Ted Cruz and Jeb! fare worst. They don’t have their name.com URL and both need a less obvious URL for their base of operations. Jeb particularly has been rumored as a presidential candidate for at least 30 years. You would think he would have been savvy enough to get ahead of the game and grab his own name domain.

John Kasich, Bernie Sanders, Ben Carson, and Hillary Clinton have decided to invest in only one URL. The others are somewhere in between.

Is URL control a huge deal? Probably not – – someone who gets redirected is likely not going to be automatically swayed just by landing on an unexpected site.

But still, there’s something to be said for controlling access to your message. Maybe it’s time for each of us to look at www.(your name)sucks.com and see what comes up!

*in WordPress, jebbush auto-corrects to nebbish. hmmm.

Man vs Machine – Parts 2 and 3

Posted on December 5, 2015 by davetuchler

Recently I observed a hair salon employee rejecting a customer’s minor request for his son to get his haircut first, solely because he had made his appointment online, and she was unable to override ‘Corporate Policy’ (as dictated by the technology).

My point was that while technology is often designed to enhance the user experience (and this chain’s reservation system is actually very good), we cannot ignore the value of personal interaction and judgment.

Since then I’ve experienced 2 more man vs. tech situations – one of which was negative, the other positive.

Case 1: Schlotzsky’s Deli, Denver Airport. Schlotzsky’s makes a fine sandwich, and has apparently long used kiosks, presumably to speed the ordering process. (According to Schlotzsky’s, these were first introduced in tech-savvy Austin TX in 2002 to improve the customer experience! Of course.)

I suspect the real reason is that since sandwiches are pretty modular, it lends itself to a automated selection approach, credit card payment, limited human interaction and most importantly, reduction in personnel cost.

The kiosks are fine, but an airport is a unique situation – – customers are by definition not locals, so the kiosk requires some instant learning. And the lack of interaction with a human (their only role is to hand you the food) somehow depersonalizes an eating experience, which somehow makes it seem more like a vending machine and less like a temporary respite from the typically solitary travel experience.

The biggest issue is that despite all of the technology, my food preparation speed was glacial (I had to yell to the kitchen to start my sandwich), and for me there was absolutely no benefit to the kiosk. The only employees visible had an expression of detached ennui. Not a great experience.

Airport_Parking

Case 2: O’Hare Parking. I’ve used O’Hare for years and they have just recently un-manned the parking booths – no more attendants taking your money. In their stead is an automatic card reader (takes both your parking ticket as well as your credit card).

Now THIS is technology working for us! In the past, the attendants were extremely slow, even though (maybe because) they were processing tons of mind-numbingly similar transactions that required zero judgment.

Now, you zip the ticket in, zip your card in, and you’re on your way. The computer never gets bored or sullen.

Technology is helping facilitate a multitude of transactions that we make every day. We just need to remember that when it comes to optimizing the human experience, technology can be amazing, but for some things there’s no substitute for the human touch.

Hopefully there’s an opportunity for the former parking attendants at a nearby Schlotzsky’s.

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Posted in Marketing Strategy, Technology and tagged automated payment, customer interaction, Denver Airport, man vs. machine, man vs. technology, O’Hare parking, Schlotzsky's. Bookmark the permalink.

Not all Innovation is High-Tech. Not all High-Tech is Innovation.

Posted on October 31, 2015 by davetuchler

To borrow an old punchline, sometimes companies innovate around technology ‘because they can’.*

A recent visit to the Hertz facility at the Denver airport illustrates the point – – innovation can only work when it is designed around the user experience. Innovation that requires the user to adapt to technology, at the expense of experience, is not usually a blueprint for success.

My key car rental criteria are price, convenience and how fast I can get my car. At the counter, I preemptively say I don’t need an upgrade, don’t need insurance, and will fill it up myself. I also tell them they’re on the clock and my personal record is out the door in 3 minutes (although I had a wonderful 1:30 experience just this past week). It works, and it’s not nearly as jerky as it sounds. (really)

So I was eager to experience the Denver Airport Hertz facility, which is huge (2500 s.f.) and bristling with open format desks, high-tech kiosks, and bumblebee-colored employees. The car rental facility of the future, right? I’d be out of there in no time.

It was a disaster. First, 25 minutes in a standard Disney-style winding line; then left the line and went to the separate line for a kiosk on the recommendation of a Hertz employee. 10 minutes to get to one of the kiosks, which needed assistance to operate. The disembodied head on the kiosk video screen informed me that while I had a reservation, my car would not be available for at least another 30 minutes. Except, of course, if I wanted to upgrade (at extra cost). (we’ve seen this before)

I got mad and tracked down a manager, who finally gave me an upgraded vehicle without the upcharge (duh). That was 45 minutes of hell in a facility that was presumably built on research and smart engineering.

The expensive technology and fancy building did nothing to help this experience. The difficulties I had (kiosk operation, being held hostage for an upgrade) were resolved with the human touch. The same human touch that gets me in-and-out of low-tech counters in under 5 minutes (often with a high-five to the counter person).

(Perhaps I should have thought more when I passed the cute ‘recharge’ station – under what conditions would you be using one of these at a car rental place?!).

On the other hand, a recent Delta flight showed how smart innovation made the experience much better. This was on a newly refurbished plane.

The overhead compartments had signs asking passengers to load their rolling bags vertically rather than horizontally, which gets more bags on the plane, and therefore keeps me from gate-checking. Smart! I win!

Facing me on the bottom of the seat in front was an electrical outlet. I’ve seen these before but they’ve been awkwardly placed in a hard to reach place around my ankles, presenting the constant danger of feeling up my seat mate’s leg.

In both situations there was an outlet on each seat. Delta figured out it’s better when you can see it. Smart! I win again!

Technology has transformed our world and has fueled amazing innovation. But this innovation has only worked when it has improved the user’s experience.

Technology with no benefit is usually not lasting.

*it’s a guy joke. If you don’t know it already, you probably wouldn’t appreciate it.

2 Comments

Posted in Marketing Strategy, New Products, Product Management, Technology and tagged Car rental, Delta Airlines, Denver Airport, Hertz, High-tech, innovation, technology, user experience. Bookmark the permalink.

SAP spells ‘Trust Me’: S-I-M-P-L-E

Posted on November 15, 2014 by davetuchler

Say ‘SAP implementation’ to someone who has been through one and you are likely to get a look conveying some combination of pain, pity, terror and dread (and perhaps schadenfreude).

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) giant SAP recently announced an approach and suite of applications called ‘Simple’.

For a company with a reputation of being anything BUT simple, this casting-against-type positioning could be tricky business; successful transformation will not be immediate.

And one look at their recent 2-page WSJ ad indicates they may not yet be fully embracing this ‘Simple’ concept.

5 years ago Domino’s acknowledged that it didn’t taste as good as it should, and used this acknowledgment to justify a reformulation that was the focal point for a new campaign. By many accounts, this bold ‘we sucked, now we’re better’ approach has yielded good results.

But ERP software is not pizza – – with pizza, a $10 or $15 mistake and you’re on to someone else.

Do a search for ‘SAP Implementation’ and it’s obvious that the stakes are quite a bit higher – – not only $100 million or more, but years of organizational churn and resources, as well as lost opportunity if/when things go awry. You can’t say ‘we know we’ve messed these up in the past, but going forward we’ll be awesome – trust us’.

A few examples here, some others below:
– Avon Products halts an SAP implementation, leading to write-down of $100-125 million
– Waste Management and SAP in $100 million lawsuit
– HP claims $160 million damage from flawed SAP implementation
– Select Comfort abandons SAP ERP implementation
– SAP issues at Hershey prevents $100 million in shipments for key holiday
While client’s management often has a hand in screwing things up, at the end of the day, it’s SAP’s name in the headline.

SAP has chosen to own ‘Simple’ as its defining principle going forward. In the ERP space, this is a compelling proposition. And some industry experts are cautiously optimistic.

But based on SAP’s history, it’s a tall order – – and prospective clients will certainly have a ’show me’ mindset.

Requiring 2 full pages to explain Simple is not a great start.

3 Comments

Posted in Branding, Marketing Strategy, New Products, Product Management, Technology and tagged Avon Products, Domino's, Domino’s reformulation, Domino’s repositioning, Enterprise Resource Planning, ERP, Hershey chocolate, HP, pizza, SAP, SAP implementation, Select Comfort, Simple, Waste Management. Bookmark the permalink.

The Armchair MBA

Category Archives: Technology

PROOF! The internet is not all real!

Can Technology Be More Human Than an Actual Human Interaction?

Man vs Machine – Parts 2 and 3

Not all Innovation is High-Tech. Not all High-Tech is Innovation.

SAP spells ‘Trust Me’: S-I-M-P-L-E

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