Internet Mega-Trends

I couldn’t have a look earlier to the well-known KPCB Internet trends presentation. Lots of figures and insights in the 164 pages.

The latest edition of the annual Internet Trends report includes:
1. Key Internet trends showing slowing Internet user growth but strong smartphone, tablet and mobile data traffic growth as well as rapid growth in mobile advertising.
2. Emerging positive efficiency trends in education and healthcare.
3. High-level trends in messaging, communications, apps and services.
4. Data behind the rapid growth in sensors, uploadable / findable / shareable data, data mining tools, and pattern recognition.
5. Context on the evolution of online video.
6. Observations about online innovation in China

Some notes from my side:

  • Internet Users: <10% Y/Y growth & slowing…fastest growth in more difficult to monetize developing markets like India / Indonesia / Nigeria
  • Smartphone Subscribers: +20% strong growth though slowing…fastest growth in underpenetrated markets like China / India / Brazil / Indonesia
  • Tablets : +52% early stage rapid unit growth
  • Mobile Data Traffic : +81% accelerating growth…video = strong driver
  • Smartphone Users = about 30% of 5.2B Mobile Phone User Base
  • Tablet Units = Growing Faster Than PCs Ever Did… +52%
  • Tablet Users = Loads of Growth Ahead… At 56% of Laptops / 28% of Smartphones / 8% of TVs
  • Population penetration and Global users:
    • TVs 78% / 5.5B
    • Mobile Phone 73% / 5.2B
    • Smartphone 22% / 1.6B
    • Laptop+Desktop 21% / 1.5B
    • Tablet 6% / 0.4B
  • Mobile Usage = Continues to Rise Rapidly… At 25% of Total Web Usage vs. 14% Y/Y
  • Average Revenue per User (ARPU) and Mobile % of Monthly Active User (MAU):
    • Google $45
    • Facebook $7.2 / 79%
    • Twitter $3.6 / 78%
  • Healthcare Realities (USA)
    • Costs Up to 17% of GDP, at $2.8T in 2012, +2x as percent of GDP in 35 years
    • Waste = 27% of Spend, $765B of healthcare spend estimated from excess costs: $210B = unnecessary services; $190B = excess administrative; $55B = missed prevention opportunities; $310B = inefficient delivery of care / fraud / inflated prices (2009)
    • Individual Costs Rising, >25% of family income likely to go to healthcare spending in 2015E vs. 18% in 2005
    • Chronic Conditions = +75% of Spend, Most costly = cancer / diabetes / heart disease / hypertension / stroke…1 in 2 Americans has at least 1 chronic condition, 1 in 4 has 2+
  • Healthcare Realities (part II)
    • Digitization of Healthcare Happening
    • Providers Using Fully Functioning EHR (Electronic Health Record): 84% of Hospitals / Academic / Institutional practices
    • 51% (& rising) of office-based practices
    • Consumers Happy to Communicate via Email: 62% for healthcare concerns
    • Digital Health Venture Investments Rising: +39% Y/Y to $1.9B (2013, USA)
    • Examples:
      • Redbrick Health – employer engagement platform = 4:1 ROI savings per participant
      • Teladoc – employer focused telemedicine platform = $798 savings per consultation vs. office visit & ER over 30 days
      • Mango Health – adherence app = 84% Statin adherence vs. 52% market average
      • WellDoc – chronic disease platform = diabetes app prescription with reimbursement
  • Internet Trifecta = Critical Mass of Content + Community + Commerce
    • 1) Content = Provided by Consumers + Pros
    • 2) Community = Context & Connectivity Created by & for Users
    • 3) Commerce = Products Tagged & Ingested for Seamless Purchase
  • Biggest Re-Imagination of All = People Enabled With Mobile Devices + Sensors Uploading Troves of Findable & Sharable Data
  • More Data + More Transparency = More Patterns & More Complexity
    • Transparency : Instant sharing / communication of many things has potential to make world better / safer place but potential impact to personal privacy will remain on-going challenge
    • Patterns : Mining rising volume of data has potential to yield patterns that help solve basic / previously unsolvable problems but create new challenges related to individual rights
  • Big Data Trends
    • 1) Uploadable / Findable / Sharable / Real-Time Data Rising Rapidly
    • 2) Sensor Use Rising Rapidly
    • 3) Processing Costs Falling Rapidly…While The Cloud Rises
    • 4) Beautiful New User Interfaces – Aided by Data-Generating Consumers – Helping Make Data Usable / Useful
    • 5) Data Mining / Analytics Tools Improving & Helping Find Patterns
    • 6) Early Emergence of Data / Pattern-Driven Problem Solving
  • Photos Alone = 1.8B+ Uploaded & Shared Per Day
  • Costs evolution:
    • Compute Costs Declining = 33% Annually, 1990-2013
    • Storage Costs Declining = 38% Annually, 1992-2013
    • Bandwidth Costs Declining = 27% Annually, 1999-2013
    • Smartphone Costs Declining = 5% Annually, 2008-2013

 

Management vs. Leadership

I was searching for articles marking the differences between Management and Leadership, after a discussion in the office.

Three interesting ones I’ve found (literature is huge in this area):

  1. Wall Street Journal
  2. changingminds.org
  3. Harvard Business Review

The Wall Street Journal article is stating a book from Warren Bennies listing in a very nice way the main differences:

  • The manager is a copy; the leader is an original.
  • The manager maintains; the leader develops.
  • The manager focuses on systems and structure; the leader focuses on people.
  • The manager relies on control; the leader inspires trust.
  • The manager has a short-range view; the leader has a long-range perspective.
  • The manager asks how and when; the leader asks what and why.
  • The manager has his or her eye always on the bottom line; the leader’s eye is on the horizon.
  • The manager imitates; the leader originates.
  • The manager accepts the status quo; the leader challenges it.
  • The manager is the classic good soldier; the leader is his or her own person.
  • The manager does things right; the leader does the right thing.

This is resonating a lot, isn’t it? ;-)

6 Management Styles

Last week, I was thinking of the 6 different management styles, something I first heard in 2000 during my MBA. Interesting how some topic can pop up in your mind.

Two interesting inputs in Wikipedia and Leadersin Heels.

As a reminder, also for me (!), the 6 categories:

  1. Directive
  2. Authoritative
  3. Affiliative
  4. Participative
  5. Pacesetting
  6. Coaching

My experience still is that you have to consciously chose the best approach depending on the people and the context. No best style!

Apple ne vend plus de produits…

Pour tous ceux qui pensent encore qu’Apple vend des produits (iPhone 6) et ne comprennent pas leur approche "Ecosystème"…

Une très bonne analyse qui nous change des discussions sur la nouvelle "taille de l’écran"

Apple ne vend plus de produits

Pour chaque euro généré par la vente d’un iPhone, combien d’euros sont générés par les musiciens, développeurs, fabricants d’accessoires ou acteurs industriels ? Car même si Apple ne se rémunère que peu sur ce chiffre global (ce n’est pas leur objectif direct), le stabilité générée autour de chacun de leurs produits est proprement phénoménale. Chaque produit Apple est une comète avec une queue de plusieurs km de long, qui donne une assise incomparable sur le marché. Une assise qui stabilise Apple bien au-delà ce qu’un Microsoft ou un Samsung pourrait rêver avoir un jour.

Dropbox in Forbes

via Forbes.com

As a happy customer (50GB plan) of Dropbox since years now, I was very interested by this article in Forbes. Some insights (even if I encourage you to read the full article):

  • Dropbox has today 50 million users, one new user per second joining
  • 96% of the users pay nothing
  • 325 million files saved per day
  • Steve Jobs/Apple wanted to acquire Dropbox in 2009 for a nine-digit price
  • 2008: 9 employees. 200k customers
  • 2010: 14 employees, 2 million customers
  • Revenue 2011: $240 million, already profitable, 70 employees
  • Revenue 2012: even if they would not sign one single new customer, their sales will double
  • Dropbox started with $15k from Y Combinator
  • 1st VC round from Sequoia of $1.2 million
  • VC round in 2008, $7.2 million raised
  • VC round in August 2011, $250 million raised with a valuation of around $4 billion, VCs participating: Index Ventures (lead), Sequoia, Greylock, Benchmark, Accel, Goldman Sachs and RIT Capital Partners
  • Competitors perceived: Apple iCloud, Google Drive

Impressive story, wow…

Mobile Trends 2011

via ReadWriteMobile

ReadWriteMobile is publishing an interesting post about the coming and emerging 10 Mobile Trends for 2011 based on a Forrester Research study. Some of them seem to be relevant also for us at Innoveo:

2) 2011 is the Year of the “Dumb” Smartphone User

Smartphones will become more affordable, thanks to handset subsidies. And these new users will be less engaged and active than smartphone early adopters. Forrester expects they’ll download fewer apps on average, but will consume more mobile media thanks to consumer education and convenience provided by the phones.

Despite the fact that these former “dumb phone” users may download fewer apps than early adopters, the overall app forecast is still good. In fact, Gartner also just released a report that stated mobile app store revenue will pass $15 billion in 2011.

3) The Mobile Fragmentation Problem will Continue

Forrester says it expects fragmentation to continue, but it’s not just referring to the multiple variations of a single OS. It means that some customers have smartphones, some have feature phones, some use apps, some use SMS, plus there are multiple OS’s in existence, in multiple versions, with multiple screen sizes and there are a higher number of devices out there. In short: fragmentation. The costs of porting, maintaining and promoting apps will remain high.

4) The “Apps vs. Internet” Debate Will Continue…to be Irrelevant

Says Forrester, it’s not a question of “either/or” when it comes to a choice between apps vs. the mobile Web, but both. Frequent and intense users of services like banking and brokerage will want curated experiences in the form of apps, but the Internet will remain the fallback for more occasional information and needs.

8) Companies will Invest First in Convenient Services for Consumers

Forrester says that mobile product and service professionals, particularly in the travel industry, will invest first to keep their most lucrative customers happy. And in the hierarchy of benefits that mobile offers – revenue generation, cost savings and convenience – convenience will reign during 2011.

10) “Mobile” Will Mean More than Mobile Phones

Consumer adoption of tablets, eReaders, portable media devices and other mobile products has grown in 2010 and this will continue in 2011. Apps and services will need to work across devices and consumers will want ubiquitous access to content and services.  This will force service providers to sync content via the cloud to maintain a consistent experience across platforms.

cross-posted on the Innoveo Blog

Corporate Culture: unusual Netflix example

Introduction

Netflix thinks that “as they grow, they have to minimize rules”. Different approach as what we all know, experience, read. And … Netflix is definitely not a startup anymore! I would like to share with you a document from Netflix I found on SlideShare about their culture and some quite innovative management ideas they have put in place. Feed for thoughts ;-)

Netflix – the company

Sources: Wikipedia, Netflix Shareholder communication

  • Netflix (NASDAQ: NFLX) is an online DVD and Blu-ray Disc rental service, offering flat rate rental-by-mail and online streaming to customers in the United States.
  • Established in 1997 and headquartered in Los Gatos, California, it has amassed a collection of 100,000 titles and approximately 13 million subscribers.
  • The company has more than 55 million discs and, on average, ships 1.9 million DVDs to customers each day.
  • More than 90% of subscribers have evangelized Netflix. More than 70% of subscribers had an existing subscriber recommend Netflix.
  • Number of employees (2009): 2’000+

Netflix reference guide on freedom & responsibility culture

Source: Netflix presentation on SlideShare

Worth an entire read, as the presentation is meant for reading, more than presenting ;-)

Some abstracts:

Their nine values

Great workplace is stunning colleagues:

Great workplace is not day-care, espresso, health benefits, sushi lunches, nice offices, or big compensation,
and we only do those that are efficient at attracting stunning colleagues

The keeper test managers use:

Which of my people,
if they told me they were leaving in two months
for a similar job at a peer company,
would I fight hard to keep at Netflix?

Hard work- not directly relevant

• It’s about effectiveness – not effort – even though effectiveness is harder to assess than effort

• We don’t measure people by how many evenings or weekends they are in their cube

• We do try to measure people by how much, how quickly and how well they get work done – especially under deadline

Our model is to increase employee freedom as we grow,


rather than limit it, to continue to attract and nourish
innovative people, so we have better chance of long-term continued success

Seems like 3 bad options

1. Stay creative by staying small

2. Try to avoid rules as you grow, suffer chaos

3. Use process as you grow to drive efficient execution of current model, but cripple creativity, innovation, flexibility, and ability to thrive when market inevitably shifts

A fourth option:

• Avoid Chaos as you grow with Ever More High Performance People – not with Rules

• Then you can continue to run informally with self-discipline and avoid chaos

• The run informally part is what enables and attracts creativity

With the Right People,

Instead of a Culture of Process Adherence,
Culture of Freedom and Responsibility,
Innovation and Self-Discipline

Mostly, Though, Rapid Recovery is
the Right Model

• Just fix problems quickly

High performers make very few errors

• We’re in a creative-inventive market, not a safety-critical market like medicine or nuclear power

• You may have heard preventing error is cheaper than fixing it

– Yes, in manufacturing or medicine, but…

Not so in creative environments

“Good” vs “Bad” Processes

• “Good” processes help talented people get more done

– Web site push every two weeks rather than random

– Spend within budget each quarter so don’t have to coordinate every spending decision across departments

– Regularly scheduled strategy and context meetings

• “Bad” processes try to prevent recoverable mistakes

– Get pre-approvals for $5k spending

– 3 people to sign off on banner ad creative

– Permission needed to hang a poster on a wall

– Multi-level approval process for projects

– Get 10 people to interview each candidate

Vacation policy and tracking

Until 2004 we had the standard model of N days per year

We’re all working online some nights and weekends, responding to emails at odd hours, and taking an afternoon now and then for personal time.

We don’t track hours worked per day or per week, so why are we tracking days of vacation per year?

We should focus on what people get done, not how many hours or days worked.   Just as we don’t have an 9-5 day policy, we don’t need a vacation policy.

Summary of Freedom & Responsibility:

As We Grow, Minimize Rules.
Inhibit Chaos with Ever More High Performance People.
Flexibility is More Important than Efficiency in the Long Term

Appropriate context

The best managers figure out how to get great outcomes by setting the appropriate context, rather than by trying to control their people

Context, not control

Provide the insight and understanding to enable sound decisions

CONTEXT

– Strategy

– Metrics

– Assumptions

– Objectives

– Clearly-defined roles

– Knowledge of the stakes

– Transparency around decision-making

CONTROL

– Top-down decision-making

– Management approval

– Committees

– Planning and process valued more than results

Setting the right context

Managers: When one of your talented people
does something dumb, don’t blame them.
Instead, ask yourself what context you failed to set.

Again, context vs. control

Managers: When you are tempted to “control” your people, ask yourself what context you could set instead

Highly Aligned, Loosely Coupled

• Highly Aligned

– Strategy and goals are clear, specific, broadly understood

– Team interactions are on strategy and goals rather than tactics

– Requires large investment in management time to be transparent and articulate and perceptive and open

• Loosely Coupled

– Minimal cross-functional meetings except to get aligned on goals and strategy

– Trust between groups on tactics without previewing/approving each one – groups can move fast

– Leaders reaching out proactively for ad-hoc coordination and perspective as appropriate

– Occasional post-mortems on tactics necessary to increase alignment

Annual comp review

• Hiring is market-based at many firms, but at Netflix we also make the annual comp review market-based

– Applies same lens as hiring

• Essentially, rehiring each employee each year, for purposes of comp

– At annual comp review, manager has to answer the Three Tests for the personal market for each of their employees

Development

• We develop people by giving them the opportunity to develop themselves, by surrounding them with stunning colleagues and giving them big challenges to work on

– Mediocre colleagues or unchallenging work is what kills progress of a person’s skills

• Individuals should manage their own career paths, and not rely on a corporation for planning their careers

Innovation & execution

• Need a culture that supports rapid innovation and excellent execution

• Both required for continuous growth

• There is tension between these two goals; between creativity and discipline

Team work and high-performance people

• Need a culture that supports effective teamwork of high performance people

• High performance people and effective teamwork can be in tension also – stars have strong opinions

Cross-posted on the Innoveo Blog

Insurance Distribution challenges

via Celent

Michel Michellod from Celent, an international strategy consultancy focused on the financial industry, has just posted a very interesting article which is very “aligned” with how we understand ourselves the current and coming insurance front-end challenges.

Some interesting strategic challenges highlighted in the post:

The direct channel requires an appropriate front end. […] This goal can be best achieved through the implementation of open and flexible front end systems facilitating interactions with potential customers, integrating modern communication tools for call center officers and allowing a high level of reactivity in terms of product, pricing and discount changes.

Communication with aggregators is key. […]  The second alternative consists in directing shoppers automatically onto the insurance online platform to perform the last step of the buying process (the effective purchase of the insurance product and its payment). This alternative requires an instantaneous transmission of customer and quote data by aggregators to insurers.

Insurers need to improve integration of affinity and bank channels. […] Insurers need to implement relevant portals allowing management and process of sophisticated insurance products.

Use brokers and agents in specific customer segments. […] I recommend insurers to implement sophisticated portals with rich functionality to provide point of differentiation.

Responding to multi-channel management. […] I believe insurers should prioritize sophisticated portals providing a single view of the customer based on service oriented architecture (SOA) with high level of automation.

As the insurance distribution landscape is changing fast and drastically, I expect this topic to be part of the European insurer’s top priorities in the coming years.

At Innoveo, we are exactly acting in this field and bringing a standard software product on the market – Innoveo Skye®– which allows insurance companies (life, non-life, health) to find an efficient, technology-proven and business-oriented answer to the different challenges raised by Celent.

Disclaimer: we were nominated by Celent as “Model Carrier” in 2007 for our effective usage of technology. See the report here.

Cross-posted on the Innoveo Blog

Laurent is a Certified ScrumMaster!

As you may know, we are more and more using Scrum as a team-based framework for developing our Skye® standard software product (front-end solution for insurances) at Innoveo.

What is Scrum? (ScrumAlliance definition)

Scrum: A team-based framework to develop complex systems and products.

Scrum is an iterative, incremental framework for developing any product or managing any work. It allows teams to deliver a potentially shippable set of functionality every iteration, providing the agility needed to respond to rapidly changing requirements.

The Scrum framework constantly challenges its users to focus on improvement, and its Sprints provide the stability to address the ever-changing needs that occur in any project.

These characteristics have led to Scrum becoming the most popular method in the world of agile software development.

We are consequently very proud to inform you that Laurent Kempé, who is acting as our Innoveo ScrumMaster besides being our internal “Scrum champion”, has successfully passed his ScrumMaster certification!

Congratulation to Laurent for this nice step and recognition.

Next step is now to apply for the next level: Certified Scrum Practitioner, as shown below (ScrumAlliance certification process):

cross-posted on the Innoveo blog