Is every company a tech company?

Or should they think that way?

The history of the tech sector includes some very highs — often led by visionaries — and a lot of lows.

The difference between the high-fliers (Amazon, Google, etc.) and the low-riders is simple and is something for EVERY COMPANY - not just tech.

It is not innovation, operational excellence, and acquisitions that sets the high-fliers apart from the rest.

The answer lies in their approach to value creation. By making new markets, they are adding value to customers. 

Add Value

By adding value to the customer - by building a new market, a new service, or a new point of difference - you engage customers with a service or product. In Amazon's case, for example, a seamless shopping experience. 

Sticking with Amazon, they've been expanding by adding value via online grocery sales (Wholefoods gave Amazon a nationwide layer of infrastructure), 2-hour delivery, Echo devices, Prime Video, voice, and on and on and on. They could have just stuck with books.

An extensive R&D budget isn't required to make giant leaps in innovation and new markets. However, in traditional companies, R&D is generally aimed at adding incremental features to existing products or portfolios. Therefore the funds for customer value creation are often too minuscule to move the needle and, sadly, considered a stretch. They are the first budget to get slashed when financials are under pressure. 

I would love to see creative, tech and media (data) really come together in advertising. It exists in pockets, but you would see more giant leaps if diversity of thought, backgrounds and experience came together.

A Culture of (Re)Invention

[Growing] Tech companies are in constant cycles of invention, reinvention, and innovation. And not just in their core industries. 

That focus can keep a company growing for years and NEVER be left behind - simply because you are innovating for the customer.

On the other hand, companies that do not innovate for the customer often produce a risk-averse culture that focuses on protecting existing markets rather than creating new ones.

Value Makers embrace risk, tolerate failure (so long as they learn from it), and continually spend R&D dollars to create demand. 

Advertising and Marketing

Of any industry that needs to reinvent constantly, it is marketing and advertising. The CMO in many companies now is the person charged with innovation and revenue. And in advertising, the struggle to hold onto great talent is a significant issue.... creating value for our clients in new and exciting ways is something we need to think about.

And when it comes to pure creativity, finding and embracing ways to do things, we (me included) in advertising need to lean into new platforms, new thinking, and new methods. Experience today is the new brand, and yet many companies are still focused on just one TV spot. Whopper Detour or Nike 2 hour marathons are campaigns that thought differently.

Even on Nike when they thought even more different and build an experience around diversity, and put money behind Colin Kaepernick, shares of Nike reached an all-time high.

Making Value Adds

Why don't all enterprises use innovation to create new markets? The problem isn't a lack of activity or thinking. The problem is a lack of Conviction and Purpose and a lack of courage.

The single question we need to ask ourselves: Are we here to build widgets or create something better for the customer?