Innovation everywhere
Following on from Scott's last post, I keep finding out that everyone works in innovation. Last weekend I was at a first aid for babies class and someone asked me what I did. When I told him, he said he also worked in innovation - for oil tankers. He's just been appointed the job, and it's his business to innovate around new business models. Right now they are a big company that hires out oil tankers. He needs to innovate new ways of making money. Now how's that for a huge, slow, difficult to challenge business issue?
It makes sense - the world is changing so fast, and everyone needs to seriously look at defining who they are and what they do. Look at Tesco (like Walmart but in the UK). They could have defined themselves as a supermarket and worked out how to sell more detergents and cereals. Instead they've defined themselves as a database (I'm guessing by the way, I've not worked for them or anything).
They have access to all my key information (because I have a loyalty card) they know when I was pregnant, when I had the baby, when I have a headache, when my daughter started walking, even when I lose and gain weight (through the clothes I buy). Depending on how they want to use their data, they can know everything about me. And right now Tesco does catalogues of garden furniture, car insurance, bank loans, dvds, electronics, even a dieting website. All because they're a database, not a supermarket.
So - any ideas for my friend and his oil tankers? What would you innovate if that was your job?
Pam
It makes sense - the world is changing so fast, and everyone needs to seriously look at defining who they are and what they do. Look at Tesco (like Walmart but in the UK). They could have defined themselves as a supermarket and worked out how to sell more detergents and cereals. Instead they've defined themselves as a database (I'm guessing by the way, I've not worked for them or anything).
They have access to all my key information (because I have a loyalty card) they know when I was pregnant, when I had the baby, when I have a headache, when my daughter started walking, even when I lose and gain weight (through the clothes I buy). Depending on how they want to use their data, they can know everything about me. And right now Tesco does catalogues of garden furniture, car insurance, bank loans, dvds, electronics, even a dieting website. All because they're a database, not a supermarket.
So - any ideas for my friend and his oil tankers? What would you innovate if that was your job?
Pam
posted by ROInnovation at 12:27 PM
1 Comments:
I would offer the following (rather unrealistic) suggestions to the person responsible for "oil tanker innovation":
1. Hydrogen-powered oil tankers. It's kind of an oxymoron... but I love the idea of a tanker cruising around on Hydrogen - there'd certainly be plenty of water around to fuel it!
2. Mini-tankers. Perhaps the airline industry can prove a metaphor here... the upstarts these days are companies like NetJets, Marquis Jet, etc that have fleets of smaller planes. They fly more point-to-point, and can be more nimble with their scheduling. What about unveiling a fleet of smaller tankers that travel faster, more efficiently, and on more of a point-to-point system than current tankers? What about new scheduling software that can improve trip efficiency?
Those are my first random thoughts. What an interesting job this person has in an industry that (as I perceive it) has changed little in the past decades!
Post a Comment
<< Home