In late July, our client work had me thinking about the fact that our organizational structures aren’t keeping pace with the speed with which all of our products, services and business processes are becoming Internet-enabled.Our corporate marketing organizations are working hard to transition to “Web first” content creation, catalog maintenance, and marketing campaigns. They lead with well-tagged and granular e-content and then produce glossy brochures and catalogs, rather than the traditional approach of the other way around.
Our product development groups are incorporating “phone home” features into products for troubleshooting and diagnosis. Many products are now Internet-connectable, from your cell phone to your stock portfolio, from your tractor to your home or office energy management system, from your exercise bike to your blood test equipment. Some products now include Internet-based service updates (book a service appointment), replenishment (order more ink cartridges), and email alerts (your stock just hit a threshold) based on events or on triggers customers can set. Many products offer built-in subscription features (“do you want to download updated tax tables now?) as well as renewals (licenses, maintenance agreements, subscriptions, memberships). Some products now come with electronic dashboards. And many of today’s products and solutions are custom-configurable online.
