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"Meet Customers 3.0, Commentary: Smart retailers will innovate to catch next wave of shoppers.” Jeffrey F. Rayport & Eric J. McNulty, MarketWatch, June 5, 2008.
What if the current retail recession is about more than the overall slowdown of the global economy? In our view, there's more here than meets the eye. Put another way, when the good times are back, our bet is that many retail businesses will still be wondering where their customers are. "Why Ballmer Bailed on Yahoo," Jeffrey F. Rayport, BusinessWeek, May 10, 2008.
According to Jeffrey F. Rayport, there are five reasons Microsoft's chief gave up on his bid for Yahoo, including its cost and its not making sense. QVC must figure out how to keep the business healthy as the media and retail landscapes undergo seismic shifts. It needs to remain "relevant" (in marketing speak) to consumers while enticing a new generation of shoppers and battling a perception that direct-response TV retailers sell just hokey, flimsy or kitschy goods. Advertising is now universally acknowledged to be broken, but the need for it obviously still exists. Making it effective again will require radically altering our perspective on the interstitial. Instead of choosing from the available slots between segments of media, marketers must turn the age-old formula on its head. It’s high time to focus not on “avails” in media but on those in consumers’ daily lives—where, when, and how people might prove receptive to relevant commercial messages. We’re not talking anymore about interstitials. We’re talking about what I call vivistitials. It's Down to Two: Microsoft and Google," Jeffrey F. Rayport, BusinessWeek, February 4, 2008.If Microsoft's $44 billion acquisition of Yahoo! looks like a big business story, it is—but not necessarily for the reasons you've been reading about these past few days. Yes, it's a Big Gulp of a deal that will pay a 60%-plus premium on the share price. And yes, it's a transaction that marries two high-profile brands of the technology world. That's only the beginning. "Microsoft's bid for Yahoo is bigger than you think. Commentary: Acquisition would change landscape of online search industry," Jeffrey F. Rayport, MarketWatch, February 4, 2008.Sure, at $44 billion, this M&A transaction is gargantuan by any measure -- relative to other media and technology deals, and in absolute terms. Indeed, it dwarfs any one in the breathtaking series of recent combinations that have already shaken the online world, including Google's acquisition of dMarc ($1.1 billion), Publicis's of Digitas ($1.3 billion), Google's of YouTube ($1.65 billion), Google's of DoubleClick ($3.1 billion), and, yes, Microsoft's of aQuantive ($6 billion). "Flash in the Online Plan," Meridith Levinson, CIO, April 5, 2006.
Rich Internet technologies can make your Web engaging for customers and more profitable for you. Jeffrey Rayport says it's in companies' best interests to try out new Web technologies. "If you don't find a way to experiment with these new technologies to find out which will be relevant to your customers, and your competitors get it right, you'll have a lot of catching up to do," he says. "Customer Service Hell," Hannah Clark, Forbes, March 30, 2006.
As companies cut costs and shift their call centers overseas, service has become less personal--and more frustrating. There's a solution to this problem: e-mail. Companies save money by answering queries over the Internet. And customers don't have to waste time waiting on hold. But there's a problem: E-mail help doesn't work well, and it's only getting worse. "The Customer Service Challenge," Forbes.com, December 5, 2005.
In the rush to save money, many companies are unwittingly pushing their customers through inappropriate "channel pathways" and poorly executed interfaces, costing themselves near-term revenue and long-term relationships whose value far outweighs whatever savings, if any, may initially be realized. Jeffrey F. Rayport argues that the basis of competition in many industries is shifting from what companies sell to how they go to market through a firm's channels and interfaces. "My View: Face Forward," Microsoft Executive Circle, Spring 2005.  Leading companies now must look to a new frontier of competitive advantage based not on what they sell but how they sell. It's a new frontier defined by the effectiveness and efficiency with which a firm orchestrates its interactions and relationships with its customers and markets. This article originally appeared in the Spring 2005 issue of Microsoft Executive Circle Magazine. "Tech Nation (KQED) Interview with Jeffrey F. Rayport," May 1, 2005. Jeffrey Rayport discusses his new book, Best Face Forward: Why Companies Must Improve Their Service Interfaces with Customers (co-authored with Bernard J. Jaworski) with Dr. Moira Gunn on her weekly nationally-syndicated radio program about new advances in technology. "The Golden Touch," CMO Magazine, March 2005. In an interview with CMO Magazine Jeffrey F. Rayport argues that on a corporate battlefield transformed by technology and commoditization, victory will go to whomever makes life easiest for customers. Creating Smart Self Service In a sidebar interview with Optimize magazine, November 2004, Marketspace founder and chairman and Best Face Forward co-author Jeffrey Rayport outlines the ongoing revolution in front office automation that will totally change the way companies deliver services, with positive benefits for corporations to offer better performance at lower cost. |
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