GUEST POST from Hitendra Patel and Ronald Jonash

Organizations still have a long way to go to to fully integrate the social web to connect to their customers. Here are some great examples, curated by Hult International Business School and Center for Innovation, Excellence and Leadership (IXL Center). Their book Connectivate! is a collection of real world stories from 54 innovative companies whose breakthroughs are changing the world.

By leveraging today’s confluence of technological and analytical breakthroughs, these companies connect people, businesses, governments and entities in novel and meaningful ways, capturing win-win propositions on the value chain. These companies have created a new economic context, increasingly accessible in a space-time singularity called Always Available.

Real world stories about innovators and innovative companies are an important way to learn, and we place high value on them at Innovation Excellence. The next case study in our Connectivate! series is:

GNU GPL – Free Software Ecosystem

CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

Build applications with existing software platforms and volunteer programmers and testers

WHO NEEDS IT?

Individuals and companies who want to use software without paying licensing fees, or who want to build or customize software in a way that leverages the work of a large community of volunteer programmers.

WHAT IS THE CONNECTIVATION?

The GNU Public License (GPL) is a software license that guarantees those using the software under the license to utilize it, customize it, share it and contribute changes to it. The GPL enables anyone to access GPL software and brings millions of software developers together to build software collaboratively. The Internet is powered in large part by GPL software, which was instrumental in the Internet’s fast growth and expansion.

WHAT WAS THERE BEFORE?

Companies building proprietary software have to build it from scratch — an expensive proposition requiring in-house expertise. Customers of proprietary software are locked in to expensive license agreements that limit their ability to modify the code to their needs. GPL software enables companies to use and build better software more efficiently and at a lower cost.

IMPACT

Over 80% of the Internet runs on GPL or comparably licensed server software, and over 90% of the world’s content management systems powering Internet websites use GPL or comparable licenses. Almost two thirds of web browsers are GPL or based on GPL. Leveraging open source software saves companies $60 billion a year in IT costs, and it would cost $387 billion to reproduce the 4.9 billion lines of code and 200,000 open-source software applications currently under GPL.

COMPANY “AHA”

We can produce better software faster and at lower cost by collaborating with other software developers. We can all work together if we set up the right licensing structure — one where we are all free to use, share and build upon each other’s code.

EMERGING TRENDS

·                 Globalization: The GPL license leverages the contributions of people from all over the world.

·                 Technological Convergence: Programmers can work collaboratively without being in the same place, leveraging the Internet and well-developed processes.

·                 Sustainability: Companies looking to reduce costs have been willing to adopt and contribute to GPL software.

BASIC HUMAN NEEDS

·                 Personal Growth: Programmers like contributing to GPL software because it gives them a sense of pride. They like gaining respect in a community of developers that wants to achieve the same goals that they do.

·                 Safety: Since the source code of GPL software is available to all, users can feel confident that the software is as safe and efficient as possible — resulting from the contributions of dozens to thousands of programmers constantly fixing bugs and security flaws.

·                 Connection: Open source software developers like to belong to a community of like-minded developers.

WHY THEY ARE WINNING

Given the amount of GPL-based software running the world’s Internet infrastructure, it is difficult to build any new software without using at least some GPL code. There is strong loyalty among developers to continuously build more GPL software.

PRICING

·                 Freemium: GPL software users don’t have to pay licensing fees, but often pay for customizations, resulting in a win-win for everyone

·                 Customer Loyalty: Because of the freedom to use and adapt GPL software, it has become the standard for much of the Internet. It effectively delivers software that is co-created by thousands of developers, high-quality, and robust, at low cost.

PRODUCTION

GPL is maintained by the Free Software Foundation. Millions of software developers volunteer their time to contribute to GPL software in exchange for bragging rights and the right to use other people’s code.

OFFERING

When a software developer writes code, he or she releases it under the GPL license, giving others the freedom to use, share and modify the code, as long as they contribute the changes to the project and give credit where it is due.

DELIVERY

The GPL license is electronically embedded or referenced in the code of the software that uses the license.

MARKET

Billions of people and millions of companies using software for free, or adapting free software to meet their needs.

PARTNERS

·                 GPL relies on millions of software developers around the world to build software applications based on the license.

·                 GPL relies on legal partners to make sure the licensing terms are enforceable.

image credit: fsf.org

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GUEST POST from Hitendra Patel and Ronald Jonash

Organizations still have a long way to go to to fully integrate the social web to connect to their customers. Here are some great examples, curated by Hult International Business School and Center for Innovation, Excellence and Leadership (IXL Center). Their book Connectivate! is a collection of real world stories from 54 innovative companies whose breakthroughs are changing the world.

By leveraging today’s confluence of technological and analytical breakthroughs, these companies connect people, businesses, governments and entities in novel and meaningful ways, capturing win-win propositions on the value chain. These companies have created a new economic context, increasingly accessible in a space-time singularity called Always Available.

Real world stories about innovators and innovative companies are an important way to learn, and we place high value on them at Innovation Excellence. The next case study in our Connectivate! series is:

BOX – File Sharing on the Cloud

CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

Share files simply, securely and at low cost with anyone, anywhere

WHO NEEDS IT?

Individuals or companies who need a secure and easy way to create and share files, especially people who need to collaborate and access shared information remotely from any device, at any time and any place.

Companies looking to share files with their customers and suppliers to become more effective.

WHAT IS THE CONNECTIVATION?

Box’s cloud content management platform is a secure, simple and affordable solution that enables individuals and companies to share and manage all business content online which can be accessed either from a computer or a mobile device.

Box’s open platform connects with Google and other business applications allowing people to use and manage more information.

WHAT WAS THERE BEFORE?

Files were saved either on individual computers or on the company’s network and couldn’t be accessed from anywhere at any time.

Sending files, tracking different versions, setting access and collaborating with files was difficult and cumbersome with previous solutions.

IMPACT

Box has changed the way people work and do business. The company is growing through contracts previously signed with giants such as Microsoft. One hundred thousand businesses including 77% of Fortune 500 companies and 7 million individuals use Box.

COMPANY “AHA”

Provide a simple and secure solution to manage, share and access content online — anytime, anywhere, from any device.

EMERGING TRENDS

·  Always Available: Having information available to be shared and downloaded 24/7.

·  Technological Convergence: Use of smartphone apps to access and share files making it more convenient for users.

·  Globalization: People traveling, companies with employees across different countries need to have easy access to files. Making it possible for several people to work on one document from different locations is changing the way people work.

BASIC HUMAN NEEDS

·  Convenience: In a busy and competitive world, people need to get as much work done as possible in less time, requiring better tools.

·  Community: People feel the need to work together, share ideas in order to get better and bigger ideas. They believe in collaboration.

WHY THEY ARE WINNING

With more than 50,000 businesses around the world managing content, sharing files and collaborating with others through internet and mobile apps as well as integrating the platform with Google and other business apps.

PRICING

·                 Commission: Box charges $15/month per user with a minimum of three users per subscription.

·                 Customer Loyalty: They retain their customers because of the convenience and trust on the site.

PRODUCTION

Content management platform made for the web and designed as an open platform. Communication-integration with mobile apps, Google Docs and other business apps.

OFFERING

Content management, online workspaces to view and edit files, track versions, post comments. Administrative controls for security, privacy and integration with other business software.

DELIVERY

Access, share and collaborate on files anywhere through the Internet and mobile applications.

MARKET

Any group or company that needs to share files internally, with their customers or their suppliers.

PARTNERS

Mobile application developers, business platforms developers such as Google, Salesforce and NetSuite, and companies integrating Box into their products or services.

image credit: box.com

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GUEST POST from Hitendra Patel and Ronald Jonash

Organizations still have a long way to go to to fully integrate the social web to connect to their customers. Here are some great examples, curated by Hult International Business School and Center for Innovation, Excellence and Leadership (IXL Center). Their book Connectivate! is a collection of real world stories from 54 innovative companies whose breakthroughs are changing the world.

By leveraging today’s confluence of technological and analytical breakthroughs, these companies connect people, businesses, governments and entities in novel and meaningful ways, capturing win-win propositions on the value chain. These companies have created a new economic context, increasingly accessible in a space-time singularity called Always Available.

Real world stories about innovators and innovative companies are an important way to learn, and we place high value on them at Innovation Excellence. The next case study in our Connectivate! series is:

AIRPLUS – Carbon Footprint Monitoring

CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

Manage my travel expenses, and reduce my carbon footprint

WHO NEEDS IT?

The global voluntary market for carbon offsets needs tools to help mitigate greenhouse gas emissions generated by transportation, electricity use, and other sources. Companies that want to pursue voluntary offset of travel-related emissions as part of corporate social responsibility (CSR), and investor relations programs.

WHAT IS THE CONNECTIVATION?

The AirPlus Company Account automatically offsets carbon emissions incurred on business flights and processes climate protection credits. Creates an automatic marketplace between travel-buyers and offset providers, linked digitally together by a single transaction. A sustainability dashboard allows corporate travel departments to track CO2 emissions and climate protection premium per plane ticket.

WHAT WAS THERE BEFORE?

Participants in the voluntary carbon offsets market connected in ad-hoc, one-to-one relationships. The diversity of players in the carbon offsets market made it difficult to interact–from providers of various types of offsets, to developers of quality assurance mechanisms, to third party verifiers, and business travelers.

IMPACT

AirPlus has more than 900 employees worldwide and over 35,000 business clients. To date, the $700 million global voluntary market for carbon offsets has generated about 123.4 million metric tons of CO2 reductions, with 40,000 metric tons of reduction resulting from the AirPlus Company Account and about €1 million in revenues.

COMPANY “AHA”

Meets the clean carbon offsetting needs of a growing market of frequent fliers, high-volume travel buyers,  and carbon offset providers.

EMERGING TRENDS

BASIC HUMAN NEEDS

·  Community: People like to feel a positive bond to their environment. AirPlus allows companies and employees to affirm their connection to and responsibility for the global community.

·  Simple: People value ease of use. Through AirPlus, all carbon offset amounts are automatically settled flight booking.

WHY THEY ARE WINNING

Connecting bulk travel purchasing with automatic purchasing and reporting of offsets empowers AirPlus customers to control financial and environmental costs seamlessly.

PRICING

Market Maker: AirPlus simplifies the carbon offset payment by offering audited offsets and expense-controlled travel procurement through an automated process while offering offset providers access to large-volume purchasers.

PRODUCTION

AirPlus proprietary dashboard and benchmarks. Offsets arranged in proprietary marketplace.

OFFERING

Offsets purchased automatically with bulk travel transactions on behalf of company. Statistics displayed on an interactive dashboard — expenses, carbon impact and offsets.

DELIVERY

Flight bookings are made as usual with offset payments automatically processed by AirPlus through clients’ chosen climate protection organization. Clients can view performance on a web-based dashboard.

MARKET

Companies around the world that consider a carbon offset strategy to be critical to environmental sustainability.

PARTNERS

·  Offset providers are audited and approved by local government or international organizations, e.g. the UN.

·  Airline partners: Air China, Austrian Airlines, British Airways, Continental, Lufthansa, Swiss International, TAP Portugal, Singapore Airlines, and Luxair.

image credit: airplus.com

Sign up here to get Human-Centered Change & Innovation Weekly delivered to your inbox every week.

GUEST POST from Hitendra Patel and Ronald Jonash

Organizations still have a long way to go to to fully integrate the social web to connect to their customers. Here are some great examples, curated by Hult International Business School and Center for Innovation, Excellence and Leadership (IXL Center). Their book Connectivate! is a collection of real world stories from 54 innovative companies whose breakthroughs are changing the world.

By leveraging today’s confluence of technological and analytical breakthroughs, these companies connect people, businesses, governments and entities in novel and meaningful ways, capturing win-win propositions on the value chain. These companies have created a new economic context, increasingly accessible in a space-time singularity called Always Available.

Real world stories about innovators and innovative companies are an important way to learn, and we place high value on them at Innovation Excellence. The next case study in our Connectivate! series is:

AIRBNB – Beds for Rent

CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

Find a low-cost place to stay with local people, or make money by renting my space to a visitor

WHO NEEDS IT?

“Bed renters” with extra short-term sleeping space, but no practical methods to find and secure renters. “Bed seekers” who are looking for sleeping space that is cheap and/or unique all over the world.

WHAT IS THE CONNECTIVATION?

A website with an easy interface to search, filter, pay, and communicate with potential hosts that enables anyone to rent out a bed, a single room, or an entire apartment. Booking and payment logistics is managed in exchange for a renter’s fee of 6% to 12% depending on booking value. The service unlocks a perishable product —beds — by enabling anyone to become a “virtual innkeeper” for free — Airbnb only charges a fee when a rental is made.

WHAT WAS THERE BEFORE?

Traditional hotels, vacation rentals, and sublets which are often more expensive or require credit checks and paperwork. Craigslist and newspaper ads had no mechanism for securely managing payments or rating / reviewing potential guests.

IMPACT

Airbnb has raised over $100 million dollars. Airbnb’s popularity has exploded recently, growing more than 800% in 2011, and booking over 2 million night stays in other people’s homes since 2008. Co-founder Brian Chesky claims that more people stay each night in New York City via Airbnb than in New York’s largest hotels.

COMPANY “AHA”

Beds are a perishable product whose value disappears every night, but reputation is critical for customers to trust it.

EMERGING TRENDS

• Integration: Enables individuals to rent their beds to others without travel agents, but with the safety of the social curation and peer review
• Access to Information: Airbnb combines the range of activities required to list, rent, collect money, and leave feedback in an easy to use web-based or mobile app

BASIC HUMAN NEEDS

• Convenience: Drives supply of beds by providing all the services bed renters need including payment processing, reservation management, and even a free photoshoot with a small booking fee of 3%

• Safety & Security: For people to rent beds to each other, reputation and transparency are everything — the service is as invested as renters / tenants in creating a safe, enjoyable experience

WHY THEY ARE WINNING

Airbnb is a simple application built on top of multiple platforms, ranging from mobile networks and social graphs to mapping and payment processing systems, focused on a clear problem with no existing, acceptable solutions.

PRICING

Market Makers: Free to list, free to browse — the service matches beds to heads!

• Right Size: Started as a way to safely and easily rent out beds, but has grown to be a one-stop shop for beds, bedrooms, and entire houses depending on what customers have and are looking for — including a $5,000 per night vacation house in Colorado!

PRODUCTION

Airbnb invests in photos for new renters; it enables security deposits and holds rental money in escrow until 24 hours after the tenant checks in.

OFFERING

An eBay-type rating system tracks feedback in real-time. Mobile application finds beds near you and enables renters to handle all aspects of renting anywhere in the world.

DELIVERY

Website and mobile application with deep social links — members can sign up with their Facebook profile and see which of their friends are also using the service.

MARKET

Airbnb is really about making renting as simple as possible and has over 50,000 listings so far — in the process, people looking for beds benefit from a wider range of sleeping options at lower costs.

PARTNERS

Facebook’s social graph brings a layer of transparency; the largest payment process in the US (ACH), PayPal, and a range of national banks safely manage the money for Airbnb; Google provides map / calendar functions.

Sign up here to get Human-Centered Change & Innovation Weekly delivered to your inbox every week.

GUEST POST from Hitendra Patel and Ronald Jonash

Organizations still have a long way to go to to fully integrate the social web to connect to their customers. Here are some great examples, curated by Hult International Business School and Center for Innovation, Excellence and Leadership (IXL Center). Their book Connectivate! is a collection of real world stories from 54 innovative companies whose breakthroughs are changing the world.

By leveraging today’s confluence of technological and analytical breakthroughs, these companies connect people, businesses, governments and entities in novel and meaningful ways, capturing win-win propositions on the value chain. These companies have created a new economic context, increasingly accessible in a space-time singularity called  Always Available.

Real world stories about innovators and innovative companies are an important way to learn, and we place high value on them at Innovation Excellence. The next case study in our Connectivate! series is:

GAIKAI – Online-Game Development Ecosystem

CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
Access designers, developers, testers, distributors and buyers from all over the globe

WHO NEEDS IT?
Gamer access to the latest titles via endless web-based touch points.
Affiliate reviews adjacent to the content interface.
Retailer sales and pre-orders driven through try-before-you-buy.
Developer receives direct access to the consumer.

WHAT IS THE CONNECTIVATION?
Video game consumers can experience, play and review the latest releases on any device, for free as content is streamed from the cloud onto partner website platforms for the purpose of rapid testing, content review and additional pay-as-you-play options for the enthusiast on a budget.
The cloud-based gaming stream creates four important connections: User-Developer, User-Local Retailer, Publisher-Retailer and User-User. Unlimited access lends to unlimited communication.

WHAT WAS THERE BEFORE?
Publishers, retailers and consumers have relied traditionally on mass media advertising, online reviews and word of mouth in order to reach their audience or make purchasing decisions.
Upon their release date, games are available for trial and purchase, but at the brick, not at the click.

IMPACT
In June of 2011, Gaikai launched the “Affiliate Network” — a broad contingent of gamer websites that will play host to the latest releases. By going through retailer websites and affiliates, Gaikai CEO David Perry plans to achieve a 100 million user base by 2012. The network has been launched in 12 countries throughout North American and Europe to date.

COMPANY “AHA”
Welcome to the world of the open cloud — streaming free video game releases on a multitude of platforms including tablets and mobile phones.

EMERGING TRENDS
· Globalization: The gaming industry wants to access users around the world regardless of their ability to spend on traditional consoles — browser-based games will enable the masses.
· Integration: Slow Internet connection got you down? Cloud-based gaming will make the speed of connection irrelevant; graphics quality and platform access will become instantaneous.

BASIC HUMAN NEEDS
· Personal Growth: The need to belong to something special is at the base of connecting today’s online social gamers — Gaikai enables free access to expensive video game platforms.
· Customization: People enjoy their ability to choose and be independent — the Gaikai network nurtures this feeling by connecting gamers with an array of alternatives, information and product guidance.

WHY THEY ARE WINNING
Gaikai is unique from their competition (i.e. Spoon, OTOY and OnLive) in enabling affiliates to advertise the latest games via web-based demos with a variety of purchase options for a broad range of devices.

PRICING
· Revenue Share: Websites that join the Gaikai network share in the marketing revenue of free streaming games.
· Digital Distribution: Creates the ability to bypass the console and disc model of traditional gaming — allows users to purchase, download and stream games directly from the cloud.

PRODUCTION
The value of the cloud-based gaming platform increases as affiliate websites join the Gaikai network, the breadth of reach is magnified and the barriers of access are reduced.

OFFERING
Test the latest video game offerings on any website within the affiliate network.
Purchase digital copies of releases online or to your devices — anytime, anywhere.

DELIVERY
Digital distribution will allow for gaming access directly through the cloud to your devices.Removes the need for the disc-console interface as we know it today.

MARKET
The affiliates platform and consumers access unleashes Gaikai to the full gambit of the gaming enterprise. In June 2011, the video game market was valued at $65 billion.

PARTNERS
·Gaikai is playing it safe and grabbing the leading industry players as critical partners in their cloud offering, including: EA, Intel, Limelight Networks, Bigfoot Networks, The Escapist, Eurogamer, Wal-Mart and Capcom.

image credit: gamerant.com

Sign up here to get Human-Centered Change & Innovation Weekly delivered to your inbox every week.

GUEST POST from Hitendra Patel and Ronald Jonash

Organizations still have a long way to go to to fully integrate the social web to connect to their customers. Here are some great examples, curated by Hult International Business School and Center for Innovation, Excellence and Leadership (IXL Center). Their book Connectivate! is a collection of real world stories from 54 innovative companies whose breakthroughs are changing the world.

By leveraging today’s confluence of technological and analytical breakthroughs, these companies connect people, businesses, governments and entities in novel and meaningful ways, capturing win-win propositions on the value chain. These companies have created a new economic context, increasingly accessible in a space-time singularity called  Always Available.

Real world stories about innovators and innovative companies are an important way to learn, and we place high value on them at Innovation Excellence. The next case study in our Connectivate! series is:

BzzAgent – Real World Social Marketing Network

CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

Use word-of-mouth to reach consumers

WHO NEEDS IT?

Consumers who love to try new products and share their opinions.

Companies looking for a non-traditional way to boost sales, activate existing customers into brand advocates to test out offerings, and build credibility. Instead of broad marketing campaigns with vague metrics, companies need detailed forecasts of potential sales impact.

WHAT IS THE CONNECTIVATION?

Empowers companies to leverage brand advocates (their own customers) to drive product sales across a range of online and offline mediums; spurs conversation between companies, early adopters, brand advocates, and the people that trust them.

Combines elements of social marketing, focus groups, and brand advocates into a hyper-segmented population that is highly motivated to share brand experiences with others.

WHAT WAS THERE BEFORE?

Traditionally, mass-marketing techniques and formal focus groups were the most common ways to influence purchase behavior.

BzzAgent tapped into social marketing before the rise of digital social networks.

IMPACT

BzzAgent has an addressable network of over 400 million shoppers around the world. Since launching in 2001, BzzAgent has activated consumer volunteers (agents) across a multitude of focused segments to support over 2,500 social marketing campaigns. The company raised almost $14 million in venture financing before being acquired in 2011 by dunnhumby, the retail marketing firm owned by TESCO, a UK-based global retailer.

COMPANY “AHA”

Real consumers want to share opinions and create value — engage them and their advocacy will drive sales!

EMERGING TRENDS

·                 Access to Information: Mass marketing techniques are losing their effectiveness as competing messages drown each other out.

·                 Changing Lifestyles: Social networking enables people to get together, engage and share opinions in ways never before imagined, effectively supercharging BzzAgent’s core business with a host of new word-of-mouth tools.

BASIC HUMAN NEEDS

·                 Convenience: BzzAgents get access to new products and services often well before the general public.

·                 Connection: Before Facebook’s Wall was a household word, BzzAgent tapped into the desire of individuals to try new things and share their experiences with their friends.

WHY THEY ARE WINNING

BzzAgent monetized a set of existing behaviors — sharing new product experiences — to create a two-way marketing channel that drives sales, “connecting the dots” between social media and shoppers for the first time.

PRICING

·                 Recognition: Unlike other marketing organizations, consumers get no remuneration — besides access to new products or services for free.

·                 Curation: BzzAgent utilizes loyalty and point-of-sale data from nearly 400 million consumers to identify the right people for marketing programs, and charges a premium to access its network.

PRODUCTION

• Volunteers are enrolled, profiled, invited to campaigns, and educated about how to best spread the word.
• Provides 250 data points on 800,000 volunteers; point of sales data on 400 million consumers.

OFFERING

• Word-of-mouth campaigns are manageable and measureable through easy-to-use tools.
• Measures sales volume and ROI from actual in-store sales, marketing mix modeling, and matched market tests.

DELIVERY

BzzAgent matches campaigns to volunteer consumers — providing the full brand experience, including the offering and relevant education. Opinions are shared in person and digitally (blogs, Facebook, etc.).

MARKET

Companies that want to find better ways to reach their target markets and measure their marketing effectiveness, beyond traditional channels and vague metrics.

PARTNERS

·                 BzzAgents are the core asset and yet they are volunteers! They accept “payment” in the form of new products or services – in return they just have to honestly share their opinions!

·                 Media analytics firms — Nielsen and Symphony IRI.

image credit: bzzagent.com

Sign up here to get Human-Centered Change & Innovation Weekly delivered to your inbox every week.

GUEST POST from Hitendra Patel and Ronald Jonash

Organizations still have a long way to go to to fully integrate the social web to connect to their customers. Here are some great examples, curated by Hult International Business School and Center for Innovation, Excellence and Leadership (IXL Center). Their book Connectivate! is a collection of real world stories from 54 innovative companies whose breakthroughs are changing the world.

By leveraging today’s confluence of technological and analytical breakthroughs, these companies connect people, businesses, governments and entities in novel and meaningful ways, capturing win-win propositions on the value chain. These companies have created a new economic context, increasingly accessible in a space-time singularity called  Always Available.

Real world stories about innovators and innovative companies are an important way to learn, and we place high value on them at Innovation Excellence. The next case study in our Connectivate! series is:

ANGIE’S LIST – Online Service Shop

CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

Find the best local service provider through reviews that I can trust

WHO NEEDS IT?

People and businesses that are looking for the right contractor across different service categories. Users willing to get the right service or solution to complement friends’ and family members’ references and recommendations.

WHAT IS THE CONNECTIVATION?

Angie’s List connects both consumers and local service providers by compiling, organizing and making available reliable information on local service providers.

The online referral site contains local service companies such as home improvement contractors, auto mechanics and health care providers enabling users to choose which companies to employ or avoid, based on ratings and reviews from previous consumers’ experiences.

WHAT WAS THERE BEFORE?

People used to go to the yellow pages to find local service providers. Others used to ask friends, neighbors, and family for referrals. These referrals were based on a single interaction, making it difficult for a consumer to confirm a word-of-mouth recommendation before making a purchase decision.

IMPACT

In 2010, the company generated $59 million in revenue and had a net loss of $27.2 million. As of June 30, 2011 the company offers 550+ service categories, and has 820,000+ paid memberships nationwide. The company filed for a $114 million IPO in November 2011.

COMPANY “AHA”

Build a place for users to get the real scoop on local service companies to get reliable information on which companies to use and which to avoid.

EMERGING TRENDS

• Changing Lifestyles: Due to a slower economy more people are turning to remodeling instead of buying new homes, encouraging people to look for and choose contractors.

• Integration: It is said that in New York City alone 10 billion products and services are offered, making it difficult for consumers to choose the right service or solution according to their needs.

BASIC HUMAN NEEDS

• Maximizing Wealth: Consumers are always looking for the best available solution/service to do a job fast and right the first time, without spending too much time looking around for the right provider. Consumers are always looking for affordable services that guarantee high quality standards.

• Convenience: It is easy to use and simple to connect with the right contractors and service providers.

WHY THEY ARE WINNING

The company doesn’t allow anonymous reviews and it offers certified data collection to prevent companies and providers from reporting on themselves or their competitors.

PRICING

• Subscription: Pay-up-front — users select a membership plan and term (monthly or annual), when the company is new to a city it opens a free membership trial creating a grass roots memberships that allows the company to build the list; members then have the option — versus the obligation — to renew their membership.

• Customer loyalty through convenience: Users have access trusted contractor and service provider reviews.

PRODUCTION

Web page with a subscription-based user-generated reviews of consumer service companies.

OFFERING

Access to local reviews, live support through a call center, and access to the complaint resolution team (a team that will intercede if a home repair or health experience goes bad).

DELIVERY

Services are accessible by members on the Internet, by smartphone, telephone or text message. Also through the call center and the monthly magazine.

MARKET

Consumers looking for services such as: remodeling, furniture repair and cleaning, movers, appliance repair, auto repair services and pest control. Consumers looking for healthcare providers.

PARTNERS

Angie’s List partnered with the healthcare blue book that offers a free guide to fair healthcare pricing, in order to expand Angie’s service offering within the healthcare sector.

image credit: angieslist.com

Sign up here to get Human-Centered Change & Innovation Weekly delivered to your inbox every week.

GUEST POST from Hitendra Patel and Ronald Jonash

Organizations still have a long way to go to to fully integrate the social web to connect to their customers. Here are some great examples, curated by Hult International Business School and Center for Innovation, Excellence and Leadership (IXL Center). Their book Connectivate! is a collection real world stories from 54 innovative companies whose breakthroughs are changing the world.

By leveraging today’s confluence of technological and analytical breakthroughs, these companies connect people, businesses, governments and entities in novel and meaningful ways, capturing win-win propositions on the value chain. These companies have created a new economic context, increasingly accessible in a space-time singularity called  Always Available.

Real world stories about innovators and innovative companies are an important way to learn, and we place high value on them at Innovation Excellence. The next case study in our Connectivate! series is:

BIGBELLY SOLAR- trash management

CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

Eliminate the waste in waste management by only emptying trash cans that are full

WHO NEEDS IT?

Municipalities, park systems, colleges and universities, and corporate and government campuses who want to reduce the cost of a mandatory but expensive and time-consuming service — waste disposal and recycling.

WHAT IS THE CONNECTIVATION?

BigBelly Solar created a smart network of waste & recycling stations made up of BigBelly compactors and/or SmartBelly components that send out text messages about their status through the mobile network to a web-based software system.

By connecting individual bins to garbage collectors, BigBelly Solar empowers customers to use collection and capacity data to reduce the use of gas and make their operations more efficient.

WHAT WAS THERE BEFORE?

A system of garbage trucks typically collecting waste from around a specific area at regular intervals, but without data on garbage bin capacity creates large inefficiencies.

As a result, some garbage bins are overflowing thus polluting the environment, or do not contain much trash making it a wasted trip for the garbage collector.

IMPACT

BigBelly Solar has doubled sales in 2010 and increased staff by 30%. The company has deployed more than 10,000 waste & recycling stations for over 750 customers across the nation. As an example, the city of Philadelphia reduced garbage collection trips from 17 times a week to only five times a week generating a 70% savings in operating costs—$900,000 in the first year and $13 million over the next ten years.

COMPANY “AHA”

Garbage collection is very inefficient — creating a network of “smart” garbage bins that let us know when they are full can reduce gas consumption and manpower that translates to savings for the customer and better service for the public.

EMERGING TRENDS

• Changing Lifestyles: As the number of people in cities increase, the amount of waste produced also grows making it difficult at times for the local government to collect all the trash.

• Sustainability: There is a growing push towards more environmentally sustainable practices in all human activities including waste management — the collection, disposal or recycling of trash.

BASIC HUMAN NEEDS

• Convenience: BigBelly Solar’s system allows customers to simplify the management of waste collection by using cloud-based software that displays the whole network of trash and recycling bins which can then be monitored and controlled at any place at any time.

• Customization: Customers can choose between BigBelly Solar’s offerings (solar-powered compactors vs. non-compactors, components for trash, recycling, compost, etc.) to suit their needs.

WHY THEY ARE WINNING

BigBelly Solar demonstrates the savings that customers get upon implementation, translating into a quick win that customers — typically local governments and higher education — can show, thus getting support and buy-in from the public.

PRICING

• Subscription: The company gets monthly revenues by using a subscription model for their smart grid waste management system,

• Customized offering: BigBelly breaks down each piece of the modular system — network management console, command center and collection stations — into offerings from which customers can pick and choose based on their budget and needs.

PRODUCTION

• Compactors are manufactured and assembled in Vermont and Kentucky, with 90% domestic-made materials.
• The cloud-based waste management system is also built in-house.

OFFERING

A system of solar-powered receptacles that communicate with an electronic waste management system that monitors the component status and reports and analyzes on the best way to collect waste.

DELIVERY

BigBelly Solar can install and maintain the waste and recycling stations for their customers.

The company also maintains and controls the waste management IT system.

MARKET

Municipalities, park systems, colleges and universities, and corporate and government campuses who face pressure to reduce expenses and maintain a clean environment.

PARTNERS

• Distribution partners including Waste Management in the US, and in Europe: CSE Clean Solutions, Kyron Energy & Power, and Plastic Omnium, a strategic partner marketing the BigBelly system under the brand “Solar’ium”.

• SolidWorks software helps in designing the BigBelly compactors and SmartBelly components.

image credit: bigbellysolar.com

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