Give it away!

Does the future of software involve giving it away?

Companies will not be giving it away 100% of their software, after all how would any of them make money? Today some business models have found ways to do this, but I don't like having sponsors and or advertising in software, as i don't think this model has long term viability.

For a software company to be truly successful they have to be open to some sort of free edition.  To a fair amount of people out there this is crazy unless its a free limited function or limited trial type download. While this is will work well for certain markets,  I don't feel that it really accomplishes all it would need to in order to achieve its maximum potential.

Let me explain why.

To achieve maximum potential you need to first have people that know about your product, (as many as possible).  These people must know how it works, why its needed etc.   Not only this but they have to be fans, in fact they should be RAVING FANS

Where do RAVING FANS come from?

Some of these people will be employed by your company, some will be partners who benefit from the sale of the software either through commission or services. Some will be passive agents that just think what you are doing is cool.  There is something to be said for having each of these sets of people be fans, and each set will will need to know something about the software. But how far will this scale?

What’s missing from this analysis?

Community, Social media, and camaraderie.  This will be covered in a few follow on posts i am working on. I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic so drop me a note.

Now back to this post. Let us assume that you are using some kind of social media and you have started getting your name/product out there.

Inevitably people will find you, they will be interested in learning more.  People will want to play with, experiment and test your software out.  The question is how do you better enable this, nurture it encourage it?

Achieving this will be very difficult to do if you don't have some “developer edition” or some kind of free version of your software.   Many companies out there have limited function or 30-day trials.  However This does not encourage a long term relationship.  This would allow someone to play with the software for a short period of time maybe make some observations but that's it.  What happens on day 31?  The person would either have to buy the software or let the relationship go. 

If you follow Jeff Shuey’s concept of Corporate Authenticity which connects Social Media to Enterprise Content Management systems you would know a smart company would have been having a dialogue all along. But, what about the other 90% - the not so smart companies? How should they think about Freemiums

30 day trials are perfectly fine for many cases, I have downloaded many 30 day trials and played around to get an idea of its capabilities.  But what about more enterprise type software.  In this case many of these types would not be willing to pay thousands of dollars for this software just to learn it.  this would be true even if they would make a profit from it by providing services for it. 

How do you empower these people and begin the conversation with them to take your software beyond the basics?

These people who work to evaluate your software will usually have a circle of influence no matter how small.  They will influence others about your product.  Consider David Armanos influence diagrams

Even if you manage to reach a level 3 they can in turn influence a 2 or a 1 which flows out like a ripple in water.  However to begin this ripple people need to not only find your software they have to get their hands on it, learn it, understand it, and believe in it.  The only way to get someone to that point is over time and through some kind of communication channel.  This will take longer than 30 days, (thus the 30 day trial wont work)  You will also need to take the time to work with these people and make them an ally. 

I don't want to try and make this entire entry seem like a marketing ploy, that is not my intent.  Merely 1 step in the process.  Once people have your software you still need to have avenues available to them to provide feedback and be able to establish multiple communication channels with them, establish a relationship at some level, i feel social media is one of the best places to achieve this, but much more on that later.

So what do you think?

Are you someone who thinks that a free edition is a good thing or do you view is as a risk?  Should people who really want to learn your software have to buy it?  Even if it benefits you more than them?

Let me know what you think. Your comments and suggestions are always welcome here. You can find me on Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin. Or you can email me directly chris dot geier at Gmail.com

Build a better mouse trap

I have to admit somewhat sadly, I watch a lot of television. I use the DVR to capture a lot of it because it allows me to watch it on my time. The DVR i use is from Comcast, the software is not the best (I cant wait for the TIVO interface). In any case you setup shows to record and then you can get a season recording so it gets all the new shows. Great stuff, and works well until recently. It seems that they have started to schedule shows at odd times. Now i wont go so far as to say there is a conspiracy at work here. But, it certainly can cause one to think. Lets take a look at an example.

From 8-9 I record both CSI and Law and Order

From 9-10 i record Mythbusters and a special on the cosmos.

This works great for me, unless there is something else i want to record. Luckily it does not happen all that often. But now on occasion i am finding that some shows run from 8-901.

I would have expected that the shows i wanted to record from 9-10 would just start recording at 901 right? NOPE. They wont record at all since there was overlap. Very odd i know.

Do you think this is some messed up way to keep people watching the shows they want you to. Perhaps if you can’t DVR it, you will not record the other show, or perhaps you wont DVR it and you will watch it commercials and all? Maybe this will be a way the networks can get more people back to watching live TV?

I don't honestly know if the networks have any ulterior motives for this stuff or if Comcast just has a crappy DVR. But i think there is a good point/example to be made.

I see a fair number of companies out there who rather than trying to help the consumer enjoy their product/service more they are trying to prevent you, hinder you or make the other guys stuff less appealing. They are trying to make it harder to move from their stuff to the other guys stuff in totally the wrong way.

Rather than trying to put up barriers to exit, why not simply make your product/service that much better. Spend the time, money, resources on improving the product/service or getting out there to connect with your community. Build and awesome, product/service, build a strong community, grow a raving fan base, and connect with them. THAT will work better than trying to be sneaky about it.

Playing a sales role in different organizations has given me the opportunity to see other forms of this first hand. Constantly disparaging your competitors, starting rumors, good old FUD is always a tool in the belt. I could never participate in this, I think those methods stink. I would rather work to help the customer understand the product, what I feel its strengths are, help them map the strengths and features to their needs. I always encouraged them to evaluate all their options even if that meant other products. If they end up choosing my product/service. I have made not only a sale, but probably a loyal fan. If they chose the other guy, then I now have an opportunity to learn what we may need to improve but I probably also still made a fan them a fan of the company, and that can help in the long run.

Here is a great place to get you started in learning about social media. One of the best places i have seen to read about Social Media

http://www.interactiveinsightsgroup.com/blog1/how-to-sell-social-media-to-cynics-skeptics-luddites-tips-resources-advice/

And one of my new favorite sites

http://altitudebranding.com/

Just found a post that speaks to this as well. Find it here

http://mediatransparent.com/2009/01/01/10-leading-trends-in-social-media-for-2009/

"Business Week’s Steven Wildstrom notes that consumers can’t find many great old movies on DVD or online in this era of the long tail retailing.
The battle is between an industry that wants to tightly control who gets to see what when and customers who want to watch what they want wherever and whenever. This clash is slowly being resolved in favor of consumers. Movies are becoming available for download and on DVD more quickly after theatrical release. Director Steven Soderbergh has a deal with Mark Cuban’s Landmark Theatres and HDNet that allows some of his movies to be released on disk and online the same day they show up in theaters. I expect more movies to be launched this way.
The day you can choose to see a new movie in a theater, on your TV, on your laptop, or on your iPhone is still some time off, but it is coming.

Let me know what you think. Your comments and suggestions are always welcome here. You can find me on Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin. Or you can email me directly chris dot geier at Gmail.com

Social Workflow

Think it’s an oxymoron? Not so fast. There is more to it if you think about it.

The terms BPM, Process Improvement, Workflow carry some baggage with them that you should acknowledge and re-examine in the cases of “Social Software”

Process and workflow have very similar meanings, they are essentially a series of discrete steps that are linked together to achieve a result. This can take on many forms and have different “sub-types” such as “system to system”, “human to system”, “human to human” etc.

Contrast this with the terms community, social, and “the conversation” typical terms found when researching “social software” Some would say these two mindsets are somewhat opposed. But I say they can work together.  Workflow can actually help you be more social.

Examples

What if you wanted to better facilitate discussions in your community that take place on your forums.  You could accomplish this  by starting a process/workflow each time a thread gets started, this could then assign a task to a “moderator” or “facilitator” to watch it and make sure it gets attention and can add follow-up if necessary. (for resolution see below) . This can be done only on some forums or with all. Taking this one step further you could only kick off this process if a thread does not get a resolution within a certain amount of time, or after a certain number of replies.

What’s the best part of Social Workflow?
It’s global. Conversations happen in real-time anywhere around the world. Tasks can be assigned in real-time, anywhere around the world. Why does this matter? It matters because it brings people and process closer together. It matters because people can connect with other people no matter where they are to effect a common cause. It means that a social effort can effected by Social Workflow.

More specifically Microsoft Discussion Threads need help

I have done research recently for some of my MOSS issues, I typically find dozens of good threads that speak exactly to my problem. Yet NONE of them have any resolution. Just every few weeks/months someone adds to the thread and says I am having this problem too has anyone found a resolution? Especially on your technical or general support type forums even general customer service, this is VERY important. The more of these threads people see the more likely they are to not even try to post.

Think of similar examples with blogs, and blog comments, or even with Google alert search results. If you setup a Google alert and you get email when new search results come in. What if you could kick of a process each time one of these emails come in. The process could assign an owner and ensure it gets paid attention to.

From a collaboration perspective what if I have a group of friends I trust, those with whom I network and collaborate often. Each time I am working on a new blog entry or an article I want to share it with them before I click the publish button and expose my thoughts to the world or even just the company. I simply upload the doc and boom a new process gets kicked off where it collects thoughts and feedback from each of them and sends me the results. I can then incorporate their feedback and then finalize it or just take it in and not change anything. But that process helped me collaborate and “socialize” that document. The process helped me connect with those people but it also adds a touch or manageability and helps me later on know how often each of my inner circle actually gives me feedback. Later on I could try to figure out why that is, or perhaps it makes me want to re-think my circle.

This kind of thing really reminds me of twittergrader, and mrtweet etc. These are looking at process data. Where each tweet is a step in a process, someone following someone and that person following back are also steps. These can then be reported on.

This is all still about the conversation and participating etc. Adding process just makes it more manageable and in the end allows you to better see how you are doing at it. For individuals who are just out there looking to network, connect with other individuals its less so. However for companies who want to get out there and make sure they are doing it right, adding process is a start and it helps.  Adding the the social media technologies will create the foundation for “Social Workflow”

I have read a fair amount on the ideas of “Process Aware Applications” so building in process features into all your applications. I think this is an area that is going to make huge inroads into every area of technology. Building process into everything just makes sense. I would love to see more of it in my social software. There is some of this in MOSS today, but it is very low level. I am sure more will come soon, but there are a ton of other areas where people could apply some process and get MUCH more out of their community.

So have you ever thought about “Social Workflow” or have you been touched by some one else using it?  Do you think you would know it if you were?  Or would it be transparent? 

Let me know what you think. Your comments and suggestions are always welcome here.  You can find me on Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin.  Or you can email me directly chris dot geier at Gmail.com

Welcome

This is my new blog. Hopefully we will be able to share a lot of thoughts together