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Use new technology to do new things not just repeat the old

Platform: Mobile | Author: Jessica Sandin, Senior consultant and head of mobile, ?Whatif! Digital | Source: NMA magazine | Published: 08.05.08

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In the US, Wal-Mart is trialling a successful online product recommendation tool, Olay for You from P&G, in the retail environment. It's not the first time digital recommendation has been taken into shops, but it's an interesting trend because it shows how our familiarity and use of online channels have opened up something new in the bricks-and-mortar world.

It's not clear whether it'll work - transposing an experience wholesale into a different environment isn't necessarily a good idea....

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... In fact, providing personalised advice using customers' mobile phones could work better than having people queue at an in-store kiosk. But it still shows the ability of digital to help drive innovation and new thinking in unexpected places.

I've written in the past about how technology companies run ahead of the curve and hype things before the market is ready. It is, however, equally true that people now have technology at their fingertips, which non-tech companies can be excruciatingly slow to take advantage of. Embracing new technology in tune with users' habits can both save costs and generate revenues, and plant a company in consumers' minds as innovative rather than staid.

Most sizable businesses these days have a web strategy (although despite the boom in internet use and ecommerce, it's not always one that's well thought through or optimised for the medium). Mobile, however, is only just appearing on the horizon for many corporates.

Large, established companies often have a hard time embracing new ways of doing business, sometimes to their own detriment, like when the record industry resisted online. The point is that new technology that fundamentally changes the way society works or interacts - as mobile does - can also enable businesses to enter into dialogues and business models they never thought possible. That requires an innovative spark, but one that's sharpened by awareness of what's possible (at what cost) today and what's likely to happen tomorrow.

Far too often, when addressing new digital channels, companies think only about how they can use them to emulate what they already know, rather than devising new ways of interacting with consumers through the technology. Mobile is often used simply to mimic other channels: a smaller version of the online experience, or text replacing voice calls. As those active on the channel have discovered, more interesting possibilities emerge when you take that interaction and start a dialogue with the user that wasn't possible before.

Sometimes, of course, emulating a known business practice also works well. I've just bought some mobile tickets to a gig - cheaper and simpler for me because there's no postage fee or paper tickets to collect, and presumably a lesser administrative burden and lower cost for the venue. The only big question-mark is why it has taken quite so long to get to this point, given that mobile phones with SMS capabilities have been prevalent for some time.

Most likely it was to do with established practices, comfort with what you know and fear of change, of sticking your neck out and embracing something new. Change isn't an end in itself, of course, but by fearing rather than embracing what consumers have taken to their hearts, there's a risk you might forego your own place there.

Jessica Sandin is Senior consultant and head of mobile at ?Whatif! Digital, jessica.sandin@whatifinnovation.com