Build a great app, destroy 90% of your value proposition

Have you been following the ongoing dispute between satellite TV provider DirectTV and the ubiquitous Weather Channel?

For those not familiar with the story, essentially it boils down to this - when it came time to renew the contract that allows for the Weather Channel to be carried on the satellite service, DirectTV, citing a 20% decline in customer viewership of the Weather Channel, has requested a commensurate decline in the fees it pays to the channel. The Weather Channel, citing, well, things other than actual ratings, is holding out for a (small) increase in carriage fees from DirectTV. While the two sides continue to negotiate and toss barbs at each other, the channel has been taken off DirectTV and has been replaced with an alternate weather information channel.

While these kinds of TV distribution service and content producer disputes kick up from time to time, (there was a pretty widely reported spat between Time Warner Cable and CBS TV a few months ago for example), they have almost always been centered about one thing - costs. Almost invariably, and not surprisingly, the content producers want increased fees from the TV distributors for the right to carry the content/programming. After all they have a compelling argument. No one subscribes to DirectTV for the sheer joy of seeing one of those tiny satellite dishes bolted to the roof of the house. The value is in the content. 

But in the DirectTV/Weather Channel spat, DirectTV has introduced another element to the mix, one that serves as a bit of a warning too - that creating an amazing, relevant, easy to use, and distilled to its most important elements mobile app might actually work against the Weather Channel in the long run. 

What do I mean by this?

That since the Weather Channel has an incredibly popular mobile app, one that millions of people check everyday, and does not typically get deleted once it has been downloaded, it has in effect, reduced the need for the 'full service', i.e., the TV version of the Weather Channel. Nine or maybe even nine and a half times out of ten the weather information that people need can be and is delivered perfectly capably on their mobile device and within a few seconds. Everyone checks the weather on their phones. And unless there is a major storm or natural disaster type event, the information you get on the phone is a perfectly suitable substitute for watching the actual TV version of the Weather Channel.

Step back a second then and think about what this suggests more broadly. Whether it is a media property like the Weather Channel or a technology solution like an HRIS system or even an organizational entity like an HR department - going down the path of mobile deployment or offering a mobile service element usually means a reduction or a distillation of the offering/value proposition such that it actually works on a mobile device.

And the service or solution has to meet the additional demands of the mobile user - simplicity, speed, ease of use, fun, and most importantly, has to deliver value at that moment.

In the Weather Channel example, their mobile app clearly delivers on those requirements. It is one of the most popular apps across all mobile platforms. And it pretty clearly demonstrates and reinforces the long standing and seems to work everywhere 80/20 rule. Except for the hardcore weather nerds, almost all of the value the Weather Channel creates comes from about 20% of what they do.

The problem now, at least according to DirectTV, is that when you give people the choice to consume only the valuable 20%, well, they don't need, want, or care about the rest of what you do.

I don't have a great big insightful takeaway on this, I just thought the story was interesting.

Mobile-first, or mobile only services certainly don't run into this problem, but for the rest of the world that continues to struggle to squeeze years and years of legacy operations onto a 4-inch screen, I think we will see this scenario playing out more often.

Giving people an amazing mobile experience might be all they need and it might make the rest of what you are doing look and feel kind of old, kind of antiquated, and kind of unnecessary.

Have a great weekend! 

Admit it, you love the Bedazzler

Remember the Bedazzler?

The little stapler-like tool that lets one attach rhinestones, studs, and stars to clothing and other items? In the words of a classic TV infomercial pitch the tool - 'Takes things from dull to dazzling'.Flickr - Linda Libert

Just in case there is anyone reading that does not remember the Bedazzler, the basic idea was that you take an old or plain looking shirt or pair of jeans and via the careful and artistic attachment of (fake) jewels and other decorative attachments, the article of clothing would be transformed from a boring and typical piece into something unique and special.  The benefit (at least as described by excited TV pitchmen) was the rescue of clothes and other objects, and the ability to imbue some personality to plain articles.

That old pair of boring jeans, or that plain, solid color t-shirt immediately become one of a kind 'artworks', that can revive and revitalize a tired wardrobe and instantly transform the wearer into a kind of unique and distinctive personality.  Why be boring when you can be Bedazzling?

And you, or perhaps more accurately, many of your organizations love the idea of the Bedazzler. 

How so?

Think about that old legacy ERP system that you are using for HRIS, or the technology behind your intranet or employee portal, or the home-grown Microsoft Access and Word-based system a few smart folks from IT hacked together nine years ago to do some rudimentary talent and succession planning.

As time goes on, and with budgets constrained, and resources are tight the organization has likely been forced to make-do with what you have had, and most updates/enhancements/improvements to these systems (and perhaps to the underlying processes they support) are not at all that much different than slapping a few rhinestones on your old pair of jean shorts.  Sure, the first few stones and studs look good, they add a bit of flair, and in the case of your systems, a bit of functionality. And just like 'Bedazzling' a pair of jeans, adding incremental pieces of capability to your old systems is cheap, generally easy to do, and often provides some short term excitement and satisfaction.

But eventually the excitement and the ability to continue to meet the demands of the business with a cheap set of rhinestones runs out.  And then Bedazzling stops being fun. No matter how many fake jewels and colored studs you slap on those jeans, they're still the same old, tired jeans underneath.  

Eventually you'll fill up the jeans with glam, there will be no more room for additional enhancements, and you'll be left with a one of a kind custom monstrosity.

And that is not very dazzling.

Lost in Wonderamaland

I spent the day yesterday at my Dad's house, which used to be my house as well I suppose, helping him get re-settled as it were, freshly home from a lengthy illness that required hospitalization, then intensive care, followed by two weeks in a rehab facility.

Dad is doing much better, and I continue to be thankful for all the support and kind wishes I have received in the last two months as this drama meandered on, through several ups and downs.

At the house, digging through one of the many closets that all were seemingly absolutely packed with stuff, I unearthed an old 13-inch black and white television.  The television is at least 30 years old, and I remember well the constant fiddling and jostling with the antenna in attempts to better focus important episodes of Charlie's Angels, Fantasy Island, and of course Met and Yankee games.

For a moment I convinced myself if I turned that little black and white tv back on, it would still be able to dial in those old programs.  I want to think that while I have gotten older and moved on and grown up that the tv is still living in 1978, Farrah is still young and alive and gorgeous, Ricardo Montalban can re-assume his rightful place as the most interesting man in the world, the Mets stink and the Yankees are World Series champions.  Well, at least in 2010 the order of things in baseball hardly seems to have changed.

I pulled the tv out from the closet, early on a Saturday, in the room where I spent the better part of 20 years.  I wanted to watch Wonderama one more time. I wanted to be sure that Farrah and Ricardo and Bob McAlister Bob McAlisterwere still in there somewhere, behind the tiny, dusty screen, and along with them my 10 year old self. 

My son is about the same age now that I was back then. When that little black and white must have seemed to me like the most important possession in the world. When everything was not only possible, but almost certainly achievable.  When my Dad played ball with me, every time I asked him to.

I wonder if one day, thirty or so years from now if my son will be digging through one of my old closets, unearthing some similar relic, a Wii game, or an ancient DVD player and have some of these same thoughts. Will he stop what he is doing and try for just a minute to forget about his problems, his fears, the pressures of having to take care of the person that always took care of him? 

Will he think to himself, 'I was so happy back then, so freakin' happy.'

I hope so.