Time for a Change — again!

One year in particular, my parents gave me a very special birthday gift. It was a digital watch. Its tinny alarm sang my choice of 30 melodies, and each note appeared on a musical staff as it played. It was truly amazing. I loved it! My friends loved it, too! But clearly, my teachers at school and at church did not share our enthusiastic appreciation. Fast forward to today, and youth are carrying smart phones (with ear pods) everywhere they go.

Change can be challenging—especially when we’ve grown accustomed to specific ways of doing things. From our own perspectives, we struggle to understand the value in changing. And when change is thrust upon us—recall any change you did not choose—we resist it, deny it, hate it, wrestle it, tolerate it, then relent to it. We adapt to it, and—if we value learning and growth—we ultimately work to embrace a new way of living or working.

Digital innovations in the funeral profession are much like my amazing new watch. My watch had an important purpose and stunning capabilities, but it required the user (me) to think carefully about its particular use and value from different perspectives and in different contexts. That ultimately required effort.

The opportunities change can bring are often at risk of being rejected because our paradigms (the ways in which we think about and view the world around us) have become too rigid. While change may be happening around us—and even to us—we tend to focus on protecting, or at least being able to snap back to, what's familiar. Paradigms are important and can serve us well for a lifetime, but if allowed to harden and become inflexible, they can also become dangerous traps.

Giants!

Consider, for a moment, Blockbuster video stores and the Kodak film company. Blockbuster eventually faded into memory because the Internet and live streaming services became more convenient than physical video rental. The Eastman Kodak Company, on the other hand, was a pioneer in digital photography, but chose to focus on producing and selling its film with high profit margins.

According to Wikipedia,?Steven Sasson, a Kodak employee, developed the first handheld digital camera in 1975.?In 1979, another employee, Larry Matteson, wrote a report predicting a complete shift to digital photography by 2010. Company executives were reluctant, however, to make a strong pivot towards digital technology, citing, among other things, that it would require heavy investment and make their core film business unprofitable. While film sales continued to rise in the 90s, they began to falter in 2001.

The company was ultimately forced to change and tackle the digital sphere. Not lacking determination, Kodak became the number one digital camera in the US by 2005, but digital cameras had low profit margins and global competition was fierce. The opportunity that an earlier change might have afforded Kodak had passed. The company filed for bankruptcy in 2012.

Kodak's experience, as a case study, offers important insights and lessons for funeral professionals, their executive teams, and owners.

The digital technology revolution continues to advance around us, and the digital economy continues to grow as consumer preferences (remember, you’re a consumer, too) shift to simpler, more convenient digital services and opportunities for engagement. If your funeral business isn't keeping pace with the types of digital experiences that today's consumers are expecting, I respectfully suggest it’s time for a change—again! ???

Interested in learning more about how to improve the digital experiences that you and your staff offer??Let us know.?Foveo offers a simple funeral experience platform that enables you to delight families and your staff, too.

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