Many customers are making use of technology and the internet to post their grievances caused by companies. These give a bad impression towards the company and effect the reputation and sales.
However the power of the technology and internet also is in the hands of the employers. Tools as done in the past (nestle-fb-greenpeace, dominos-youtube), but these technologies are already available to the employers and it is difficult from stopping them. Companies must acknowledge that employees have technological power.
Just like any other company Best Buy is open to critism from the Internet, but because it structured differently it can respond to this better than other companies. Employees who sign up for the Twelpforce program which enables them to respond to any critism posted on Twitter.
HERO (Highly Empowered & Resourceful Operative) is referred to people who are able to innovate with technology inside a company. Many customers put up their grievances on the internet, and it is up to the employees to use technologies and solve the problem.
Most companies IT departments are unable to handle customer service related problem. Management is also unwilling to empower the employees with technology and prefer a lock down. In order for companies to respond to the customer's escalating power they can encourage the HERO innovation.
-- Heroes innovate within the structured framework. Employees who come up with these innovative projects must coordinate with the management and IT.
-- Managers encourage innovation and manage the risk. Managers must be open to employee innovation and recognize success and failures. They must understand the risk and gains associated with innovative ideas.
IT agrees to support and scale HERO projects. They must act on an advisory bases. They must assess the risk.
For HERO project to be successful there must good understanding and coordination between the employee, manager and IT.
BLACK AND DECKER
The sales manager of Black and Decker equipped his employees with a camera. It was not soon before he had many videos depicting the strengths of Black and Decker and the weakness of competitor’s products. Many of these videos were posted on YouTube. The IT dept agrees that at first it was reluctant to give into this idea- How quickly can we capture the productivity across our commercial team is always a critical question.
VAIL RESORT
Vail resorts found that it’s traditional advertising strategy- ads in ski magazines was becoming ineffective. Vail’s CEO appoints an interactive development personal to embrace social networking sites as new their new marketing strategy.
They were able to follow and tackle many negative comments on social sites. For example a customer Bob tweeted a problem he faced signing up for meal passes. Bob had a followers list of 13,000 and 13000 people became aware of this negative aspect of the Vail Resorts. Because Vail had a system in place it was able to tackle this tweet.
Vail’s CEO is an example of HERO friendly manger. These sorts of mangers have a common attitude. They plainly communicate corporate priorities (as in this case the switch to social site for marketing). They encourage experimentation at the same time keeping up the brand image and avoiding risks.
BUILDING A HERO- POWERED BUSINESS
If you are potential HERO then you need to take certain steps.
- Find out how many departments will need a say
- What level of technology will be needed
- What’s the budget
- There is a need to look at also the affects of the idea and how can you prove that value in increased revenues, lower costs and other parameters of the business.
- Look for similar projects. Can learn a lot from those.
If you are a manager, then
- Urging people to be creative is not enough- find solutions outside and inside of the company
For example General Mills has a monthly departmental meetings where creative strategies used by other brands and companies are highlighted.
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