Simple. Needed. Product!
Customers need speed, but they also need to be heard and to get simple products
Designing products is a difficult thing nowadays. Even more difficult when you try to drive a digital transformation. A product can be considered anything from a loan offered by a very traditional bank to a new delivery service from a new chain of proximity stores or even a new bakery product made out of dough, crenvurst and cascaval. The digital transformation is difficult and long and involves the people, not necessarily the computers.
Knocking on the wrong door
Recently, I engaged in a conversation with a very talented businessman who is delivering in dentistry and looking for a quick expansion in Western Europe. He nailed down the right market for expansion, he understood the competitive advantage that he could bring and he was relentlessly focused to get closer to the customers. During our conversation, we identified some potential improvements in his business model and we offered some solutions to implement these. We took time to analyze and explain the benefits but missed one important point. We did not focus on his most pressing pain points. He was looking more to the means to expand his customer base while we were looking to optimize his kitchen. Needless to say, we could not get a deal, even though the topics we identified were valid and creating potential savings. We came simply in the bad moment and the gentleman had more pressing needs. We understood we could not deliver those items with the right quality and decided to move forward, keeping in mind the valuable insights of the process.
Quick takeaway:
Understand the customer and offer what he needs, or simply move forward to the next customer with the learning.
Resilience, my dear Watson!
Another interesting experience I had in the last weeks was enrolling in the new digital bank of Banca Transilvania . It is named Salt Bank and aims to be the digital bank for Romanians in Romania, but also all over Europe where big communities are present. It was a lot of advertising everywhere and they got my attention. As I consumed in the last 20 years a lot of digital banking products, both for individuals and for enterprises, I wanted to try yet another one. To make it easy to understand, I had a digipass for electronic payments from ING and Unicredit already in 2005, I use 7 cards or more, I was a customer for 7 banks during my adulthood, I have loans of all possible types, credit cards, savings account, investments and insurance. I missed using bonds from the state, but I plan to do it soon. I was a founding member of Orange Money and I had my first card in 1999, at the age of 20. Using Revolut with one of the advanced plans, for me and the children. So, why not test the new bank and the new offer?
I installed the app, but I could not complete the enrollment because the authentication with the ID was pretty good. I could not fake it easily with a screenshot on another device and I postponed it for later. I could resume the process a couple of days later, mostly pressed by the ads I got and the people advocating that there are very few spots left to be nominated founder. I spent no second understanding the benefits, but I assumed (right) that was a trick copied from Revolut, to pay for new customers. Good idea! After I resumed the enrollment, it was a nice screen saying I could relax with a coffee and everything will be set in the background. Meanwhile, i watched some podcasts where Doru Lion?chescu explained that Salt Bank works with one of the finest companies that are ensuring digital identities. Some guys from London! The same day, Amazon announced that it would close the walk-in stores where you could walk in, take the goods, and leave without paying to a desk or cashier. The reason: the AI needed 1000 workers to observe the customers. With these 2 things in mind, I assumed that the automatic enrollment was double-checked by 200 back-office bankers soon to be laid off and the enrollment would take a while. There were created groups on Facebook where some hard advocates claimed a smooth process, also motivated by the bonus offered for referrals (Use mine, it looks like this: "MYHF3T is my referral code for Salt Bank. Join me in the first 100% Romanian neobank! Download the app here: https://getapp.salt.bank/5Jb4/qei86jho"). It was a very effective approach, as some got very creative excuses, starting with "We need to have patience, as they are Romanians" and ending with "You never launched a product, so you do not know how hard they work". On the other side, people started to complain or to make jokes, like the ones I also used: "It is slow because it is made in Ardeal"or "This is not a banking app, it is a promo for coffee shops". It also revealed some interesting summaries of benefits and strong advocates that could make it to the point. After a bit more than one week of mocking up on social media, I decided that this app was simply not for me and they launched too early for too many customers. I think it can be the case, but ultimately the experience was not so bad. I commented on LinkenIn to a connection that made Robert Anghel (Chief Business Officer at Salt Bank) aware of the issue with the enrolling and he jumped into the topic and approached me. Highly appreciated, that he put me in contact with Murat Husamoglu (head of customer support). Murat was available on Saturday (21st of April to be very exact) to fix the things, he followed up and made the process smooth. Did I use the service meanwhile? Hell, YES. During my last business trip, I made a payment in EUR and got an exchange rate better than the one already good from Orange Money or ING Visa Gold. Plus, I could use the lounge at the Vienna Airport for conducting a meeting and having brunch between 2 planes.
Quick take aways:
领英推荐
One is that leaders should be role models. Be resilient and follow the topics that you are made aware of. Shout out to Robert Anghel and Murat Husamoglu !
Second, create a product that is simple and useful. I got the promise of a good exchange rate, access to lounges, and a simple interface. I got it!
Who is the customer?
During the pandemic, I got enthusiastic about changing the healthcare industry. I entered into some groups, tried to design some products for telemedicine, moved into the collection of medical records, refined it as digitalization of the clinics and expanded to other ideas like dentistry labs and laboratories. Every time, it looked like the new idea was spot on and I could hit the buck. One day/week/month later I realized that I could not define who is the customer and how the monetization would be realized. I identified needs, many of them personal needs, but I was not able to narrow down the segment of customers that would consume or pay. Recently, I better identified a potential business model, but it would not fit my investment possibilities. Therefore, I restarted the process and I plan to launch 2 simple products that would help me validate the assumptions and get paid the expenses. I am applying the idea to identify the need and create a simple product.
Quick takeaway:
Don't be afraid to start over and make it simple!
To sum it up for you
With all the 3 experiences, I got valuable insights about what I can offer to my customers. Stay tuned to get the new page of NOUVEAUX . We will offer consultancy services for management, team coaching and organizational interventions, software development for Software Defined X (Devices) and architecture services.