Business Goes Virtual - Chapter 7 - The People Know Best

The seventh post of my Business Goes Virtual blog series continues with “Chapter 7 – The People Know Best”.  Today's successful businesses have taken steps to becoming more customer-centric, more social, and more agile to keep up with the fast-paced internet trends.  One of the case studies examined in this chapter is the use of viral internet memes to successfully launch a marketing campaign:

One the most spontaneous viral- creating events must be the so- called Crasher Squirrel. In 2009, a vacationing couple were enjoying an amazing vista in a particularly picturesque part of western Canada. The moment was so special that the couple wanted it to last for eternity. They decided to take their own picture with a beautiful background of a lake surrounded with near-perfect mountains. To achieve their snapshot of time, the recent groom carefully balanced his camera on a rock and scurried back to be with his beautiful bride as the self-timer counted down. Three, two, one...say cheese, and the shutter snapped.  

Excited to see if they had captured the moment, they looked at the LCD screen to view the photo. To their surprise, there were three faces, not two, in the picture. Th e third face belonged to a gray squirrel that scampered into camera view while the groom was taking his place.

Once the Banff/Lake Louise Tourist Office knew about the picture, they decided to act quickly and decisively. After securing the rights to the picture, they took the bold decision to make Crasher the focus of the very successful media campaign.

Could or would your organization jump on a social media opportunity? Is your organization agile enough to capture the moment?

Buy a physical or electronic copy of Business Goes Virtual: http://www.businessexpertpress.com/books/business-goes-virtual-realizing-value-collaboration-social-and-virtual-strategies

The content includes:

PART I - THE CONVERGENCE

Chapter 1 - Virtual Business: Real or Imaginary?

Chapter 2 - The New Face(book) of Organizations

Chapter 3 - Real Leadership in the Virtual World

Chapter 4 - The Power of Sharing

Chapter 5 - Making Sense of Virtual Worlds

PART II THE STRATEGIES

Chapter 6 - Any Place, Any Time

Chapter 7 - The People Know Best

Chapter 8 - Everyone Has a Stake

Chapter 9 - Real in the Virtual World

PART III THE WAY AHEAD

Chapter 10 - What Every Leader Needs to Know

Business Goes Virtual - Chapter 6 - Any Place, Any Time

The sixth post of my Business Goes Virtual blog series continues with “Chapter 6 – Any Place, Anytime”. Using 
Cisco’s marketing collaterals on telepresence,  the language was reworked in order to reflect statements on the value of virtualization.  These statements form benefits to communicate the value proposition to achieve a competitive advantage:

• The new way of working. Today you face greater business demands and a more competitive marketplace. You must continually find new ways to be agile and increase speed to market while reducing costs. Effective communication and collaboration are critical. The ability to engage immediately across geographies with employees, suppliers, and customers is a must to sustain competitive advantage.
• Virtualization for everyone, everywhere.
• Do more with less. 
• Transform your organization.
• Drive competitive advantage.
• Be greener and improve quality of life.
• Build a collaboration strategy.
• Powering the new way of working. Virtualization powers the new way of working. Learn how you can empower teams to collaborate like never before, transforming your organization by leveraging collaboration and social approaches; your world will simply get better.

By further consolidating, these key benefits have core communication messages for leaders to consider in positioning the value of virtualization with their employees. We have filtered these down to these virtual value propositions:

• Create new ways of working. Increase your connections with your coworkers and customers and reduce your time to market, increase your agility, and reduce your costs.
• Accelerate decision making.
• Innovate across the value chain.
• Scale resources.
• Support the environment by going green. 
• Create the foundation for the new world of work. By going virtual you can power the new world to attract, develop, and retain your talent.

Has your company integrated any of these tips during its virtualization process, if so, how has it benefited your business?  If not, which of these tips would you want to integrate into your business and why?

Buy a physical or electronic copy of Business Goes Virtual: http://www.businessexpertpress.com/books/business-goes-virtual-realizing-value-collaboration-social-and-virtual-strategies

The content includes:

PART I - THE CONVERGENCE

Chapter 1 - Virtual Business: Real or Imaginary?

Chapter 2 - The New Face(book) of Organizations

Chapter 3 - Real Leadership in the Virtual World

Chapter 4 - The Power of Sharing

Chapter 5 - Making Sense of Virtual Worlds

PART II THE STRATEGIES

Chapter 6 - Any Place, Any Time

Chapter 7 - The People Know Best

Chapter 8 - Everyone Has a Stake

Chapter 9 - Real in the Virtual World

PART III THE WAY AHEAD

Chapter 10 - What Every Leader Needs to Know