Brittany M Cougle

Interesting, collaboration is key for growing business!

Interesting, collaboration is key for growing business!

I work for Dorma Door Controls and our main location in Germany has recently implemented a collaboration tool that is new to our business, and it is called Yammer. Yammer is essentially Facebook for organizations, but it is owned by Microsoft. Since it is relatively new to the company, the entire business hasn’t really adopted it and has been using it to its full potential yet, but it allows for employees all over the globe to communicate and share documents privately or publicly and it has sort of been successful so far, but it is still too early to measure its effectiveness.

I think that the easier the training for a collaboration tool the better. Most employees tend to freak out when there is a new technology tool presented to them. As we learned in 3535, some employees don’t adapt to change so easily. So the easier the process or the more they understand the collaboration tool, the more comfortable they are with adopting a new tool. Making this new collaboration tool successful in the end. The company that I’m interning now is big on collaboration and have devoted several SharePoint sites to collaboration tools. Prior to launching these sites, they sent out emails with training material and had presentations on how to use these tools. They wanted to make sure they provided enough information, before launching these sites.

I do think that the watch industry is underestimating the apple watch a bit. I don’t think that it can compete with true luxury watches (Cartier, Rolex, etc), because if someone wants a watch covered in diamonds that they saw someone famous wearing, they aren’t gonna go for the Apple Watch. However, there is a bit of a cult surrounding Apple and everything they produce, so I think that a lot of people will buy an Apple Watch just because it’s an Apple product. I absolutely think the fitness wearables industry should be worried, as the Apple Watch Sport, if priced competitively, far outranks the competition in terms of functionality.

I genuinly do not think that the Apple watch will disrupt the watch industry. Even though they are trying to with the Gold Apple Watch, I feel that they are two different customer bases. There is an art to a mechanical watch which a lot of customers see as value. I think if Apple is trying to disrupt the watch industry, then Tesla trying to attract customers who drive manual cars is a good analogy. Even though it is possible, I think we are very far from that occurring.

I agree with Dan. I don’t believe Apple can disrupt the luxury watch market. A smartwatch has a life cycle, a watch by Rolex or Omega does not. You are expected to purchase a new smartwatch when the next iteration comes around, while the value of the luxury watch increases as it ages. Apple watches may be more functional, but no one buys a mechanical watch for it’s functionality.
As for the fitness wearable angle? I agree, Apple’s brand name in technology products can move mountains and this is one of them.

I do not think Apple will disrupt the luxury watch industry because they are different customer segments. When I think of a luxury watch I think of high end classy watch that you would wear to work or if you are going somewhere nice. For Apple to create a luxury watch, thats more technologically based. The apple watch has a lot more functions and you can do a lot more. I think Apple will take away the meaning of a luxury watch. Its more for a fashion statement rather than a watch that does everything from a touch of a finger.

I don’t think the luxury watch industry should feel threatened by Apple’s new watch. People who buy luxury watches, like Rolex, are going for a particular look or style, which Apple’s smart watch will not be able to compete with. Some luxury watches also appreciate in value over time while an Apple smart watch will only depreciate over time as its technology and capabilities become obsolete. Wearing this smart watch would also convey the wrong message over time. People wear luxury watches as a status symbol, a nice Rolex 20 years ago will most likely still be looked at as a fine watch now. Where as a first generation smart watch would be looked at as a low end watch.

Though not as noble as the minute clinic, I think that personal health trackers (Nike+ FuelBand, FitBit, etc) are an example of disruptive innovation working to make things more accessible. Before these personal health trackers, people had to see dieticians and sleep specialists to learn if they were eating and sleeping well. Now, these trackers, which are conveniently worn on the wrist as a small bracelet, allow people to take control of their own health by tracking food intake, exercise, and sleep patterns for under $200, which is a one time cost just to buy the band. Everything else is conveniently linked up through a free app, thus making these health trackers a disruptive innovation that’s inciting some positive social change.

I agree that these are all great ways of expressing the value of data to a CEO. I think that the non-financial measures will be harder to communicate, however. In IT we tend to understand the value of data and what would happen without it better than other areas of the business. Trying to communicate the intrinsic value or business value, however, is difficult if the person does not already know that data is important. I think that the cost value and market value will be much better because you can show some hard numbers as to why data is important. I think the most effective measure that Laney states is the Economic value of information. This is a hard thing to measure but trying the data directly to the company’s bottom line will be very persuasive.