"My mind is a raging torrent, flooded with rivulets of thought cascading into a waterfall of creative alternatives." - - Hedley Lemarr in "Blazing Saddles"

In my last entry, I stated that I have become a big fan of Communication Enabled Business Process (CEBP).  Here is a real world example that shows that knowing "how" a target customer does business is sometimes more important than know what business they are in.

Before coming to Dialogic, I was selling hosted IP-PBX service.  My manager and I determined that I would go after health care professionals (Doctors, Dentists, etc) and lead with Find Me, Follow Me as the hot feature.  Keep in mind that we were absolutely sure that we knew what these types of target customers did to earn their living and we were sure this was a slam-dunk pitch.

I was having reasonably good success with Dentists and none with Doctors.  At first, I couldn't figure out why this pattern was developing, but then I took a step back and did some research with Doctors and Dentists that I knew.  What I learned is that very few people call their Dentist unless they are in pain and need immediate assistance.  If the primary Dentist isn't there to help them, they will go ask a friend or neighbor for the number of their Dentist and call them.  In this case, for a Dentist, missing a call was a missed opportunity.

However, it seems that many patients of Doctors call their Doctors about every little thing that might be wrong with them at all hours of the day or night.  Doctors want their calls thoroughly screened before they actually talk with a patient.  In short, Dentists want to talk their patients, Doctors don't.

By doing this simple Business Process analysis, I figured out that I was trying to sell the wrong feature set to the Doctors.  In order to be successful with this target customer, I needed to understand HOW they did business, not just WHAT they did.  This is what I believe Communication Enabled Business Process is all about.  By looking at the process, we can find the places to surgically insert appropriate communications technologies and features (Voice, Fax, Speech, Text Messaging, Video) into the process at the exact places they are needed to lower costs, enhance productivity and create better customer support.  The communications technologies simply become resources in the toolbox for truly addressing our customers' issues.

Do you have any examples of when a CEBP analysis helped to identify an opportunity or close a deal that may have otherwise been missed?  Please feel free to share.

And one more thought from the ONE event.  It was 6AM and I saw a worker hanging Christmas lights on the outside of the Hotel Del Coronado.   I thought "if that guy fell off that ladder and landed in the shrubbery below, it could be hours before anyone found him or even went looking for him."   How about an app for a iPhone that would automatically place a 911 call if you were wearing the iPhone and hit a vertical speed of over 32 feet/second (meaning you would have been in free fall for at least one second)?  I wonder what speed you would have to be falling for it to skip the call to 911 and call the coroner directly?