In the most recent blog post by Mark Fidelman, he talks about every company needing to be more like IBM and less like Apple. Mr. Fidelman brings up some great points. He talks about IBM being the thought police and Apple allowing employees minds to be free and think outside the box. This is not the case anymore where IBM appears to be wide open and encourages collaboration among the company through social business and Apple appear to be the big brother.
What I do like about the IBM model is that the genius grows with co-creation and collaboration verses the genius resting on one person. Remove one person in the IBM model and another steps up.
IBM’s Vice President, Sandy Carter’s says that IBM’s social culture is partially if not directly responsible for IBM’s success: “Our employees use social computing tools to foster collaboration, disseminate and consume news, develop networks, forge closer relationships, and build credibility. As a result, they’re better informed and prepared to take action on behalf of IBM.”
Carter also mentions an IBM Business Value Study where companies that use social business tools outperform the non-social group by 57% (EBITDA) and states, “If you’re not transforming your company into a social business, plan to be out of business.”
IBM is doing a great job from what I can see on the outside for social business and having employees and customers collaborate, but what I do not think people need to be more like IBM is on the user experience. IBM’s communities and blogs are a clunky and boring, which will affect user adoption.
Why do you think Apple is so successful? It is simple, keep it simple. One button, one call to action, a great user experience. I am not saying that everything needs to be one button, I am just saying keep it simple and fun.
Think about if we combine the social mentality of IBM and the simplicity and user experience of Apple together. That could be amazing!
