Biggest mistakes by companies are making in Digital right now !

Companies are spending billions on Digital and much of it is wasted.

Three Big Mistakes are being done
1) No clear strategy, taking a journey without a clear map, not decided where they want to reach
2) Not putting the user at the center of their strategy. Focus on users with right kind of insights is missing.
3) Not moving fast enough. Legacy company either move too slow in terms of taking actions in the market. That may be due to decision making, legacy way of looking at market that means trying to take the old play book and taking it online. That`s not digital

What can be done ?
Need to ask "what we can do today which we were unable to do it earlier due to lack of digital Technology" "What Digital tools we can use today, to do our job more efficiently ?", "What new doors can be opened with current toolset ?"

Way to go ahead to become a leader
- To re-imagine what is possible now with new Digital Technologies.
-  Re-Engineering is a good start but not a road map to become a leader.

The only way is
1) Start to Re-imagine your position
2) Re-imagine the Art of possible
3) Take a white sheet, where do we stand, what we can do with our capabilities

Art of the possible is the window to open up whole new possibilities.

Gives CEO/Executive a view which enables them to
- "Look around the corner, to see whats coming, and say "That`s where we need to go", "That`s where we want to win."

This ultimately translates
- In scale to real market leadership
- To Unlock new ways to make money in newer ways
- Top-line rapid growth
make you a leader than a laggard

The Art of possible - 10 Principles

Came across some good piece of information which might be useful for customer strategy.

Ten principles are at the heart of any effective customer strategy. Based on long-standing practice and observation — along with a recent global survey of 161 executives and interviews with key players in eight industries — these principles show how companies can position themselves for future customer success.

1. Master the art of the possible. The most successful companies continually experiment with innovations that make life better for customers. That doesn’t mean asking your customers what they want; rather, you must develop your own informed judgment about what new technologies will appeal to your customers at just the right time, in just the right way, so that customers become more loyal to you. This is particularly important for digital and mobile technologies, which continue to fundamentally affect the ways people interact with the types of products and services they favor.

2. Know your customers at a granular level. Leading companies are moving beyond traditional quantitative segmenting. To raise your own customer analytics ability, thoroughly define your market and customers. Deepen your knowledge by applying techniques such as mapping the customer journey. Seek out data from a variety of sources at the most granular level; for example, activity tracked by the Internet of Things, real-time interactions with your own Web and e-commerce sites, social media, and online communities such as customer advocacy councils.

3. Link your company’s customer strategy to its overall identity.  Every successful company has a strong value proposition that distinguishes it from rivals. To deliver this, it must develop and deploy a group of interrelated, distinctive capabilities. All of these must work together across the full portfolio of products and services. Linking your customer strategy to your company’s value proposition means aligning the emotional elements of your customer strategy, and all customer touch points including pricing, with the strongest capabilities your company has. Apple has mastered this. It offers customers a sense of superiority, grounded in an intuitive experience and beautifully designed devices. Everything Apple does reinforces these attributes. It sticks to premium pricing and high margins, creating an association with status on which the company has refused to compromise.

4. Target customers with whom you have the right to win.  When your company has a strong identity, you don’t need to claim the right to compete in every marketplace — only in the categories where you are reasonably confident of winning against competitors. You can and should branch out to other customers and markets, but those new customers and markets should be reachable with the same capabilities that gave you an edge with your core base. The Trader Joe’s grocery chain has a right-to-win customer strategy that provides a clear example of this principle. From the start, instead of trying to reach a mass market, the company built a devoted following by providing budget-friendly products for health-conscious and diet-conscious shoppers. 

5. Treat your customers as assets that will grow in value.  Building great customer relationships is a long-term game. It goes against many common practices, such as tracking the short-term return on customer acquisition investments. It even goes beyond quantifying the lifetime cost of a customer relationship, though that’s an important first step. You can build on this quantitative understanding by analyzing your customers’ paths to purchase, which will give you the insight you need to expand and tailor your customer relationships and to invest in meeting the evolving needs of your customers. The results of this analysis, particularly when customer data is included, can affect every aspect of your customer relationships, including the emotional attributes of your brand and the consistency of your pricing.

6. Leverage your ecosystem.  Your company’s relationships extend to suppliers, distributors, retailers, industry associations, institutional partners, and government agencies. You can leverage this ecosystem to engage your customers in new ways. A broad ecosystem can reveal what else is of interest to your customers, opening up new ideas for product and service offerings and growth opportunities. Crucial to this approach is developing brand ambassadors. These advocates promote your brand to win over new consumers for you. Companies such as Lego, Harley-Davidson, and BMW, whose enthusiastic customers communicate regularly with one another, are models of this principle.

7. Ensure a seamless omnichannel experience. Consistency across channels will be critical during the next three to five years, because customers are getting to a point of taking it for granted. They expect to be able to hop between call centers, websites, mobile apps, retail stores, and sales calls, getting the same experience at each stop. This raises the bar for every part of the organization. Apparel startup Bonobos adapted its omnichannel approach after a close look at customers’ expectations. Initially, Bonobos was a Web store designed to help male shoppers find pants that fit. Now it offers a “guideshop” where shoppers can try on clothes with the help of a guide who then places an order for them. This multichannel strategy meets customers’ needs and streamlines costs because Bonobos doesn’t need to set up stores that carry full inventories.

8. Excel at delivery. The physical delivery of products and services is critical to keeping your customers happy. Whether or not you compete directly with Amazon, you are affected by its delivery innovations. These include recruiting individuals to do on-demand delivery, experimenting with drones, and signing up the U.S. Postal Service to handle Sunday deliveries. You can emulate some aspects of Amazon’s practices, even if you don’t deliver nearly as high a proportion of merchandise directly. You can tailor delivery options on the basis of margin, brand positioning, and customers’ value expectations — while staying in step with technological advances. The use of relevant metrics, including customer experience, cost, and productivity, can help ensure high-quality delivery without sacrificing profitability.

9. Reorganize around the customer. Your organization should be “fit for your customer," designed to make it easy to deliver a great customer experience. Redesigning your organization might involve changing decision rights, shifting roles and responsibilities, establishing new teams, and aligning incentives, norms, and practices – always with your preferred customer groups and value proposition in mind. You may need to take the building blocks of your organizational DNA — the structures and processes of the existing company — and wire them differently.

10. Match your culture with your customer strategy.  A relevant culture is a bigger advantage than ever for customer-facing companies. You might feel that your embedded cultural inhibitors hold you back. Don’t try to fix these problems directly; focus instead on the few critical behaviors that exist in your organization in which people are doing well for customers. These might include mobilizing a cross-functional team to help a customer solve a problem quickly, saying no to a potential deal with a customer with whom you don’t have a right to win, or starting meetings by explicitly asking how it is relevant to the customer strategy. Then help spread these behaviors through the rest of the company.

Oze National Park - Main Coordinates

(For future reference)
Drive to this location (Approx 200 Kms from Tokyo) :


This is a parking area where you need to park your car and buy tickets for minibus/van taxis. This you will get at the entrance of this parking area. You can take your car ahead  till the start of trail only after 10th October. They say Autumn are early (early October) here as compare to Tokyo.



Parking Location & Taxi Stand:
https://goo.gl/maps/a5iLzYLaZkv
〒378-0411 群馬県利根郡片品村戸倉７６６
0278-58-7263


Then Taxi till near the trail: The point till where the Taxi/Van or Mini Bus will take you to where the walking trails will start. I think the charges were 700 or 900 Yens/Adult. Lesser for kids.

 If you are more than 9 members, while coming back, take only 9 tickets which is the max capacity of the vans (A Kids ticket can be exempted). We were told this later though :)
Taxi Terminal Location:
https://goo.gl/maps/1A341fCkso72
〒378-0411 群馬県利根郡片品村戸倉
0278-58-2111

A short walk (100 mtrs) and the exact trail starting point
From the Taxi stop, you walk to this point from where the trails start. This is also the point from where the taxi tickets can be bought. Taxi is the only option till 10th of October. After this time, it is opened to normal vehicles and Even private cars can travel to this point. In case of only taxis,  last taxi taking back to your car park is at 17:15. There is a small refreshment area here.
Start of Trail Location:
https://goo.gl/maps/UCfFSPJpcpR2
〒378-0411 群馬県利根郡片品村戸倉８９８−２５

Which Trail of Kids/Others:
For kids : Looks for the left side mark when you start your trail. There are three such markers. The destination would be around here : https://goo.gl/maps/pzEaj7Hr5vm.  Following trail is easy. It is 3.3. Kms one side and starts with a decline till you start walking on wooden pathways. Only while coming back kids will realize that there is an ascent. Take breaks in that case. Otherwise they will enjoy the route. Also there are bells on the way to notify beers the human presence. Do that and kids will have something to enjoy. Also just before 0.5 to 0.7 km there is a sitting benches in a corner where you can have your snack break.

As soon as you complete this 3.3 kms, there is an open camping area, place to live (like Dorm log houses which required prior reservations). There is a small caffe and food place too here for refreshment. Toilets too. From here you can explore more go in the direction of lake, which can take some time. Take a call based on how much time you have more to return back.There are longer trails of 7 kms from there and deeper for several kms. Would suggest to explore only if you are staying there.

Onsen while coming back:
If you area fan of Onsen, the locals swear by this onsen. Its a beautiful rotenburo included too surrounded by small mountain styled trees overlooking the mountain ranges. Small flowers too as in the name :)
Hananoeki Katashina Hanasaku Hot Spring
1113 Hanasaku, Katashina-mura, Tone-gun, Gunma-ken 378-0408
0278-20-7111
https://goo.gl/maps/3orQnjqKGqj

Hope you find this info useful.