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Customer/Employee Empowerment

• Let Your Customers Be Part of the Solution

  Work Together to Solve Problems, and Bond in the Process

  by Ronni Marshak

  Don’t try to hide problems from customers—that never works. And don’t just tell them there is a problem without seeking their help in finding a work-around or an outright solution.
  Oct. 5, 2009

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• Want Customer-Contributed Content?

  Make It Easy for Your Customers to Multi-Post

  by Patricia Seybold

  Do you want customers to contribute content to your Web site? Customers are more likely to post or curate content in an environment that will "automagically" syndicate that comment or posting out to several other sites.
  Sep. 1, 2009

  Strategies

  

• Who "Owns" Your Medical Records

  Whose Data Is It?

  by Patricia Seybold

  An organization called Health Data Rights has published five principles for the basic human right to access and to understand your own healthcare data and information.
  Jul. 8, 2009

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• What Are Visionary Customer-Centric Execs Thinking About?

  Engaging with Customers to Innovate, Solve Problems, and Keep their Brands Focused on Customers' Goals

  by Patricia Seybold

  Patty’s Visionaries are the leading customer-centric executives who are transforming their companies (and their industries) from the outside in. This is an overview of some of the topics they discussed in their Spring 2008 meeting.
  Jun. 5, 2008

  Strategies

  

• Making Team Innovation Work

  Learning from FIRST How to Inspire Inventors and Build an Innovative Culture

  by Patricia Seybold

  FIRST’s annual world robotics championship inspires kids to work together while competing, and to come up with innovative solutions to difficult challenges. There are lessons to be learned on how to inspire adults to innovate and cooperate.
  Apr. 30, 2008

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• Managing Customer Advisory Board Programs

  How Do Companies Structure, Manage, and Profit from Their B2B Customer Advisory Boards?

  by Patricia Seybold

  This report provides a summary of the current practices in managing B2B CABs.
  Nov. 21, 2007

  Strategies

  

• Publishing 2.0/Libraries 2.0: Students are Shaping the Future of Academic Publishing

  How Graduate Students Want to Interact with Information

  by Patricia Seybold

  How do professionals and students consume information in the Web 2.0 era? Three graduate students provide great insights into how digital information should be presented, organized, consumed and shared among professionals.
  Mar. 29, 2007

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• Customer Innovation Guide: Core Competency 1

  Mastering the First Core Competency: Incorporating Story-Telling into Your Organization's DNA

  by Patricia Seybold

  Innovation spreads by word of mouth. It’s the stories that everyone remembers. We recommend formalizing a managed process for capturing and sharing customer-related stories.
  Mar. 28, 2007

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• Digital Natives in the Classroom Are Propelling Us to School 2.0

  A Few of David Warlick’s Thoughts on How Kids and Web 2.0 Are Reshaping Education and Publishing

  by Patricia Seybold

  You’ve heard of “Web 2.0.” Now we have School 2.0. What can we learn about the future of education and educational publishing from long-time tech-educator, David Warlick?
  Mar. 21, 2007

  All Members

  

• Customer Co-Design in Rural Uganda

  How URDT Empowers Grass Roots Creativity

  by Patricia Seybold

  See how the URDT worked with Ugandan villagers to tackle issues of rural development. The approach they took is one that can be applicable for your organization as it works with customers to create innovative solutions.
  Mar. 8, 2007

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• A Coordinated Game Plan for Business and IT Execs to Spur Outside Innovation

  Five Initiatives to Support Customer Innovation

  by Patricia Seybold

  To make rapid progress in enabling and empowering your customers to lead you toward new innovations, you need to coordinate your business strategy and your IT efforts.
  Jan. 11, 2007

  Strategies

  

• Customer Innovation Guide: Taking the Fourth Step

  Empower Customers to Strut Their Stuff

  by Patricia Seybold

  This guide provides a self assessment to see how far along your company is in empowering your customers to strut their stuff.
  Dec. 21, 2006

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• Pan American Health Organization

  Using Online Meeting Software to Collaborate on Addressing Health Issues throughout the Americas

  by Ronni Marshak

  Our interview with Bob Rodrigues of the Pan American Health Organization spotlights how the multinational group uses the Elluminate Live! online conferencing tool to increase the number of people able to attend important meetings.
  Dec. 14, 2006

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• Customer Innovation Guide: Taking the Third Step

  Nurturing Customer Communities: The Key Third Step to Outside Innovation

  by Patricia Seybold

  Customer communities are key to fostering outside innovation. This guide provides a self-assessment to help you determine what your next steps in nurturing your customer communities should be.
  Nov. 22, 2006

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• Customer Innovation Guide: Taking the Second Step

  Provide Customers with Tools to Use to Reach Their Outcomes

  by Patricia Seybold

  This guide provides a self-assessment to see how far along your company is in making these tools available to your lead customers.
  Nov. 9, 2006

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• Customer Innovation Guide: Identify and Study Lead Customers

  Have You Taken the First Step towards Customer-Led Innovation?

  by Patricia Seybold

  This guide provides a self-assessment to see how far along your company is in the important first step towards customer-led innovation by identifying, interviewing, and engaging with your lead customers.
  Oct. 19, 2006

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• Customer Innovation Guide: Five Roles Your Customers Should Be Playing

  How Engaged Are Your Customers in Shaping the Future of Your Business?

  by Patricia Seybold

  This guide explores the five different roles that customers can play and companies can leverage to become an outside innovation organization.
  Oct. 11, 2006

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• Outside Innovation at the BBC

  Q&A with Matt Locke, Head of Innovation, BBC New Media

  by Patricia Seybold

  As the BBC attempts to reinvent itself as a digital media company, the company developed an externally-facing, open innovation strategy.
  Oct. 5, 2006

  Strategies

  

• Landscape Forms’ Use of GE ColorXpress® Services Customer Innovation Center for a New Product Launch

  Launching a New Product Line Based on Customers’ Input

  by Patricia Seybold

  Landscape Forms, an industry leader for the design and manufacturing of outdoor site furniture, worked hand-in-hand with GE ColorXpress® Services Customer Innovation Center experts to help create a bold new product line.
  Sep. 28, 2006

  Strategies

  

• GE ColorXpress® Services

  Helping Customers Design Differentiated Products

  by Patricia Seybold

  By making it easy—and exciting—for customers to become part of the color design team, GE Plastics has created an innovative business that brings customers back time and time again.
  Sep. 21, 2006

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