Posterous theme by Cory Watilo

Filed under: business

What's good for you is good for me

My business, KM Authorized, provides small businesses and individuals with dedicated Information Technology (IT) support. This includes computers, peripherals, and nearly every device that deals with storage or communication of information.

I call this service Guilt-free ITTM, which is a fixed-fee support model designed to make it less stressful for people to call or email me with questions or support issues.

A consequence, or reward depending on how you look at it, of not billing hourly is that what's bad for my business is also bad for my client's business.

For example, if I do a poor job of recommending a new computer to fill a certain function in a business, and that computer is overloaded, freezing, or otherwise not doing it's job, then that computer recommendation can end up having consequences for both businesses. My business is affected because I have to put in extra hour s of work to keep the darn thing working, and the added downtime or lost productivity is expensive for any business.

On the other hand, if I recommend a computer with components designed to meet or exceed the workload that will be placed on it and a warranty that includes next business day repair/replacement from the manufacturer, then my business (and my client's business) will benefit from a reliable, efficient computer system that requires less support.

Since it is the tendency of business to do what ultimately serves to benefit our own business, Guilt-free IT is designed from the start to align the benefit of those tendencies in favor of both parties.

 

Google's “Less Than Free” Business Model

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via abovethecrowd.com

This is an interesting article on how Google is changing the marketplace. More traditional companies like Microsoft and Garmin that sell their products for a profit to consumers are going to have to change the way they do business if they want to survive!

Certainly there is a benefit to consumers who love to get free stuff, but there is also something given up...privacy. Google makes money by knowing everything about our preferences. By knowing what we want, when we want it, they can sell that information to other businesses at a premium.

Google has been gathering data about consumer preferences through searches on google.com for the last ten years, and now they are expanding into mobile phones, Internet browsers, just recently maps with turn-by-turn directions, and soon operating systems!

Many of these products are growing in popularity and quality, making them even more competitive in the marketplace. Additionally, companies are choosing to incorporate these Google products into their own products, like Android and Google Maps Navigation in the new Droid by Motorola, because Google pays manufacturers part of the ad revenue generated from consumer use of the phones (searches done on the phone and location aware ads). This is what Bill Gurley from abovethecrowed.com calls the "less than free" business model that will revolutionize many industries affected by Google's new products.

Should we trade some privacy for free, useful, ever improving products and services from Google? I think it's a fair trade so as long as Google uses the data they collect to better serve us what we need, when we need it, and not to spam us or bombard us with advertising.

Dan Pink on the surprising science of motivation

via ted.com

As it turns out, I've been running my businesses in the way Dan Pink is talking about and I didn't realize it until I saw his speech! One of the advantages to being your own boss.

I keep my schedule flexible, work on what I enjoy, and am free to stop work on one thing and move on to something else whenever I feel like it. I get a lot accomplished and feel good when I can solve difficult problems.