Growing the ecosystem

Application grows Technology

Ecosystem grows Application

One example is Google maps. Although a late entrant in the world of maps with an established competitor Mapquest. But by opening up its APIs and encouraging it to be used beyond “driving direction” has promoted a healthy ecosystem of building unlimited solutions around geographical mapping needs.

Now Google maps based mashups are available around the world on almost any concept. Innovation is happening daily expanding the influence of Google Maps without Google breaking a sweat leveraging the power of many that grows everyday.

Similarly, healthy ecosystems around enterprise applications continue to differentiate among current players. Organization and product encouraging ecosystem that goes beyond basic enterprise need expanding it to address niche markets, new industries, micro verticals, various local/global needs etc. find itself scaling faster than its competitors regardless of the size. Key remains how to nurture this ecosystem towards delivering end to end customer experience consistent with the core throughout its life cycle.

One success factor is when organization is able to tout “proudly made elsewhere” rather than tied to “not made here” syndrome. An example is P&G – in the March 2006 issue of HBR there is a good case study on how P&G found its new innovation strategy. The Article titled “Connect and Develop: Inside Procter & Gamble’s New Model for Innovation” discusses how “invent-it-ourselves” was restricting its growth and what it did to turn around.

So support your ecosystem to spur innovation and growth needed by enterprise products to scale new heights.

Mass collaboration

Another nice clip on YouTube passed on to me by my colleagues at Sage. This one capturing how web is changing social experience.

 Thanks to Jarett Smith and Robert Fayle from Providex team on sharing this.

Changing Web

Web is changing. Here are the symptoms:-

1. Web is becoming a trusted medium
2. Web is getting self governed
3. Web is becoming reliable
4. Web is the knowledge
5. Web is becoming the way of life – this life and second life
6. Web is social for both social and anti-social people
7. Web is the place for people to hang out
8. Web is the great equalizer – brings power to all
9. Web gives it – Web takes it away. Don’t earn notoriety on the web.
10. Web is changing personal habits. 

And for the nerds

1. You can sell web sites for over $1bn

Simplicity

There is much chatter about Google and its product strategy in the blog circles lately. Particualry after it announced closure of the “Google Answers” earlier this week.

Few posts are here, here and here suggesting reasons and how strategy could be changing at Google. Also, Brin suggests simplicity as way to succeed in future.

Simplicity is also key consideration for building successful enterprise product .

It reminds me of Steve Krug suggesting how development should be thinking about building products that customers can use in “Don’t make me think“.

On a side note – wikipedia remains impressive updating its entry on Google Answers real time. Living to the promise of social web providing accurate and relevant information available on timely basis. What a simple concept.

Google’s time machine

While growing up as a kid in independent India, I used to wonder how was India’s independence portrayed in the then European and American media. Thanks to Google who made news archive available now – making it convenient for people to peek back in the history and review the news articles from the past. I like reading Time magazine articles reporting India’s independence from 1930s. 

Did you know Mahatama Gandhi only weighed 76 lbs? wow! I missed that detail – knew he was a lean person. I had not imagined though if he was this frail with such strong determination in his belly.

Anyway, check yourself out Google news archive here. It gives time search as well – so you can track the progress of important historical events.

Ignorance has never been an acceptable argument – and now people can learn from the history more than ever without pleading ignorance of the past <grin>