Schlagwort-Archive: Latency

Preparing the stage for the customer contact

More than thousands of years, customers were met where they lived. Customer contacts took place on the market. The first mail-order catalogue was printed in the middle of the 19th century. Since then, new touchpoints for customers evolved. With the Internet we are today able to get in touch globally with everyone, as long as an Internet connection is available. As a result, one business model after the other is invented. In order to be able to convert every customer meeting into a business, good preparation is needed. The basis for this is a framework for the development of the Customer Journey: the stage for the customer contact.

The following cycle creates the framework to synchronize the required paths of customers and affair. In the illustration, the sequence begins in the lower part.

  • The Latency
    Hidden in the latency are proposals that companies develop in advance in order to win the required number of buyership. Providers have to make efforts early on to show these quotations. The unintentional wandering of the senses perceives these things, but they are often not connected with meaning. The frequency of attention-seeking stimuli results in a kind of subconscious habituation of a deliverable. With the beginning of the next phase, the entry, this preload is released.
  • The Entry
    The assortment develops an external effect that, at some point, attracts the attention of the customers. From now on, the deliverables will be noticed, but without any demand yet. At this moment possible uses, pros and cons, or the associated prestige should stimulate the longing. The desire grows subconsciously until one becomes aware of the need and comparisons are made with similar proposals. As soon as the decision has been made, the purchase is put into action and the next phase begins.
  • The Execution
    Depending on the procured deliverable, it may involve the possession of an object or the use of a service. The first step is the setup – be it the installation or the consent on how the service will be provided. Then the usage starts – the pleasure of the service, the use of the new thing or simply the fun of looking at an object as one’s own satisfaction. The deliverables can be adapted within the term of the contract – other services are used; accessories are added; the thing is placed somewhere else. This occurs until the end of the contract term.
  • The Exit
    Services are usually agreed for a certain period of time. If the perceived value continues to exist at the end of the useful life, it is highly probable that it will be extended before the end of the service time. If the opportunity to place alternative services has been missed, the business relation tends to come to an end. The exit is accelerated, if towards the end something does not function in the same way as it did initially. Things are often constructed in a way that it has a certain lifespan. If used properly, defects will only arise later. Now you have a good opportunity to sell your latest proposition. Satisfied customers will continue to build on the same brand. If a prestige object no longer provides the desired recognition, it ends up on the garbage or at best with the junk dealer. With the Exit the cycle ends and the original wishes and experiences disappear again in the subconscious – the latency.

The circle closes here. The proposals stay in the latency, until they’re revived. Thus, trends, tendencies and fashions are repeated with unpredictable intervals. With the arrow, leaving the latency left of the latency, the circular flow restarts.

Bottom line: This cycle is the framework that covers all life cycles of customers, users and suppliers. Whatever happens in the entry, the execution, the exit and the latency, is described in the respective Journey. The service framework provides the stage for all customer contacts.

The tree – the ideal metaphor for life cycles

Everything follows the path from the cradle to the grave. This applies to life cycles of products, styles, corporations, technologies, cultures and nature. The life expectation of a TV is almost eight years, a video game nearly six years, and a smartphone just over four years. Cars have an average life expectancy of 18 years and an airplane of roundabout 30 years. Technology cycles change the entrepreneurial business models every 40 to 60 years. Roman culture survived for 1000 years, while the Spanish asserted themselves as a global superpower for 500 years and the United States persevered since its entry into the First World War just 100 years. The Neanderthals became extinct about 30,000 years ago, after an estimated 170,000 years of populating the world. There is nothing that can escape being and passing away.

The following phases are the basis for a holistic life cycle.

  • Development
    Everything starts small scale, with a seed that is planted in the fertile soil. It matures something new and the first versions are evolving that do not have much in common with the final specimen. It requires openness and creativity to achieve viable results. The first mobile phones, the so-called “brick phones”, were only mobile to the extent that they did not need a telephone cable. Otherwise, they were much more bulky than today’s smartphones. The step of the development takes advantage of the existing leeway to reach the final shape. The results are diverse and at the same time very similar. In the end, the most practical solutions are implemented and build the basis for future variants. The tree also grows using the available light and water. After a certain time, it has conquered its place that can be seen in its form. The nature is generous in this phase and spreads a huge number of seeds, since only a small number have a chance to survive. Since this is also true for man-made things, it takes a large number of attempts so that individuals can make it.
  • Disruption
    The so-called disruption is a recurring decision point. This raises the question as to whether the chosen path has proven its worth in daily business. You probably see this blog post on your tablet computer. When these PCs were introduced to the market for the first time in the eighties, they were not ready, since the broadband networks were not yet available. Only in 2010 the IPAD prepared the way for the current devices. As soon as you reach this decision point, criteria for the assessment are needed, which help in the choice whether or not to continue. A tree must also deal with disturbances. In addition to its annual active phases (see below), it goes through a natural life cycle that depends on the long cycles of climate change. If the conditions of the climate are changing that much that the livelihoods of the tree come to an end, then the degradation begins. While the nature can react robustly to the fluctuations, missing nutrients in products and services, like demand and resources, lead to a rapid initiation of the phase-out.
  • Activity
    Activity is the ongoing operation. It works until the disruption is decided. Let’s think of today’s programs that run on smartphones, the apps. They are frequently updated as long as there is a corresponding demand. Afterwards, they simply disappear from the market. The continuous improvement extends its existence. The “operation” of a tree follows the cycle of the seasons. In springtime, the blossoms sprout, which allow the tree to enlarge and replicate. In summer the leaves use the sunlight for growing. In autumn, the leaves are falling to save energy and to be less vulnerable to cold and ice. In winter, the tree rests by squeezing as much water as possible out of its trunk so that the cold can not affect it. And then the productive cycle begins again from the start. Every change of the season means stress that is compensated by natural measures. In business life, everything is a matter of simple objects that have little flexibility. These products and services are used as long as they provide benefit without difficulties. Instead of adapting to new circumstances, simply new solutions are created. Therefore these technical solutions have a much shorter life than a tree.
  • Phase-out
    After the decision is taken to decompose, the selected choice is implemented unswervingly. In some cases, this sun downing can take years. Today major computer programs that are written in Cobol, a programming language from the 1960s, are still running. On the other hand, Microsoft decided to not continue to develop the operating system Windows XP after 13 years. Nevertheless it will still be found until the last XP computer is scrapped. The phase-out announces the end and leads to a steady deterioration. The inertia of the organization and the people involved require a strict disclosure of the reasons for the dissolution as well as hopeful prospects for the affected employees. The removal of a tree takes much longer. At first, fewer leaves sprout, then moss evolves, and eventually it rots from the inside to the outside until it tumbles down and dissolves – even though the oldest tree has already survived ten thousand years.
  • Latency
    Although solutions are no longer used, they are still subconsciously available. The computer mouse is such an example. It was developed in the sixties of the last century, but it was not used extensively until the eighties because of Apple. The graphical interface that is controlled with a mouse had not been developed by Apple, but Xerox. However, because Xerox was specialized in copying, the idea disappeared in the drawer – in the latency. Through an open dealing with latent ideas, you can get faster to new things with former functioning solutions. This means that the wheel has rarely to be reinvented. Even if trees disappear as soon as the climate changes, the nature make it possible to grow them out of nowhere, as soon as the required climate reigns and sufficient water is available. The path to the latent solutions goes via open, nonjudgmental brainstorming.

Bottom line: The longevity of a tree impresses. And it regardless follows always the same process: development, disruption, activity, phase-out and latency. Since everything starts at different moments and takes different lengths of time, all life cycles generate the chaos that we have to deal with in everyday life and business. Just as many trees create forests and let them disappear, technologies enable new fields of business and disappear after a certain time. Becoming and fading with the entire phases make the tree an ideal metaphor for life cycles.