Xerox:

In 1959, Xerox launched the 914 photocopiers and revolutionized the document copying industry. This is something that you maybe already know. What you maybe don’t know is that Xerox also had a fantastic research center. Their inventions include the mouse, the laser printer and a windows icon-based user interface. For years Xerox management did absolutely nothing with their cutting-edge inventions and continued to profit from the 914 photocopiers. Meanwhile, Apple, Microsoft, and HP borrowed their technology and made billions.

Blackberry:

In 2007 Blackberry had more than half of the market share of phones in the US. But even after the iPhone release in June 2007, Blackberry ignored for a significant period touch screen based technology insisting their phones would remain the defacto standard for enterprises.

Nokia:

In 2007 Nokia was earning more than 50% of all the profits in the mobile phone industry and in 2008, Nokia was said to have one of the most valuable brands in the world. Nokia came up with the first smartphone back in 1996 (11 years before the iPhone) and built a prototype of a touchscreen – internet-enabled phone, at the end of the 90s. Also, Nokia continuously spent enormous amounts of money on research and development. So, where did they fail? Nokia focused mainly on hardware and decided to ignore software and also underestimated how important the transition to smartphones would be. They overestimated the strength of its brand and believed that even if they are late to the smartphone game, they would be able to catch up quickly. Long after the iPhone’s release, in fact, Nokia continued to insist that net 21% of the online advertising market Long after the iPhone’s release, in fact, Nokia continued to insist that its superior hardware designs would win over users.

Polaroid:

“Instant photography at the push of a button!”. During the 1960s and 70s, Polaroid was maybe the coolest technology company on earth. They were an innovation machine that launched one must-have product after another. Polaroid grew from being a Garage start-up in 1937 into a billion-dollar company. They failed to realize that digital cameras were going to be the way of the future and once they did it was too late. Polaroid filed for bankruptcy in 2001.

Kodak:

In the 20th century, Kodak was truly one of the world’s powerhouses. Until the 1990s it was regularly rated one of the world’s five most valuable brands. Kodak is Bankrupt. Digital photography took off and Kodak wasn’t ready for it. Was Kodak blind to disruptive changes in the marketplace? And why didn’t Kodak invent Instagram or an app like it?

Yahoo:

In 2005, Yahoo-owned 21% of the online advertising market. It was no. 1 among all players. Yet today, they are struggling to maintain their 4th position behind Google, Facebook, and Microsoft. Where did they go wrong? Yahoo decided not to be a dominant search player and outsourced their search engine to Microsoft Bing. Also very interesting is that Yahoo had the possibility to buy:

Google in 2002 for $5 billion dollars; Google is now the no. 1 brand in the world, its brand value worth over 245 billion (50 times more). Facebook in 2006 for $1 billion dollars; For some reason, they lowered their offer during negotiations and Mark Zuckerberg backed out. Facebook is now the no. 5 brand in the world, worth over 129 billion.

Blockbuster:

In Blockbuster’s case, it was streaming service and mail-order movie service that possessed the foresight that Blockbuster lacked. And while its competitors steadily gained market share through the novel and innovative approaches, Blockbuster remained defiantly steadfast in its profound reliance on a brick-and-mortar business.

The Giants who decided to change and became bigger!

Twitter:

One of the most legendary shifts in social media history is the transformation of Odeo into Twitter. Odeo started as a network where people could find and subscribe to podcasts, but the founders feared to continue when iTunes began taking over the podcast niche. They gave two weeks to their employees to come up with new ideas. The company decided to make a drastic change and run with the idea of a status-updating micro-blogging platform.

Starbucks:

Starbucks started off in 1971 selling espresso makers and coffee beans. In 1983, they decided to actually brew and sell Starbucks coffee in a European-style coffee house and transformed Starbucks into the worldwide sensation it has become today

Starbucks started off in 1971 selling espresso makers and coffee beans. In 1983, they decided to actually brew and sell Starbucks coffee in a European-style coffee house and transformed Starbucks into the worldwide sensation it has become today.

Suzuki:

Suzuki is the automotive company that may be best known today for the high-performance motorcycles and vehicles they produce. But from 1910 to 1935 Michio Suzuki was best known as the inventor and seller of machines that powered Japan’s silk industry.

HP:

HP started as an engineering company in 1947. It began by creating electrical testing products, including audio and signal generators. In 1968 they introduced the first large-scale personal computer but it was only in the 90’s when this idea started to pay off. Since then, HP focused mainly on home computers and printing-scanning accessories.

Globalization and the constant innovation of technology result in a continuously evolving business environment and it creates a competitive environment. To maintain a competitive edge in an era of hyper-competition, organizations have to deal with changing technology, processes, policies, laws and regulations and products & services. With so much change, organizations must learn to become comfortable with change. So companies need to adopt a change management process in order to survive and grow.

– Gaurav Singh

You must understand your users and what they want to do with the system. This understanding is arrived at by directly observing their behavior in context.

• Users are involved “throughout” design and development.

User’s involvement should be active. You involve users by carrying out field studies to understand users’ needs, by showing users early design concepts and by usability testing prototypes.

• The Design is Driven and refined by user-centered evaluation.

Initially, in the development process, intended users should carry out real tasks and their performance and reactions should be observed, recorded and analyzed.

“Shut up, sit and observe”

–David Travis

• The process is Iterative.

When problems are found during user testing (as they will be) they must be fixed. This means design must be iterative; there must be a cycle of design, test, and measure and redesign repeated until the usability objectives are met.

– Yuvraj Naruka

Do you have it in you to cross them and achieve your targets? While observing my team or even my colleagues from different backgrounds — some of them have good knowledge about IT and some of them are from different domains like MBA or BA graduates, what I noticed is that award winners and achievers are those who can’t sit for even a month without getting success. This hunger makes them regular persuaders — with clients in or out of office, they are punctual or sometimes even early and sometimes sit long after office hours. When they have that hunger, they find out a number of ways to achieve their targets, save their deals from getting dropped, ideas come to their mind from all directions — success makes these individuals wait, but not for long.

A few examples of my teammates here (I won’t name them). When I joined this industry in 2008 I saw a person who was from the mechanical engineering domain and had just about managed to complete his degree. He didn’t have any idea about technologies, and his communication skills were not stellar too but his hunger for placements was very strong. The only thing he was an absolute expert was at calling clients. When he became a Team Leader, a Manager and even when he achieved higher designations, the hunger in his eyes, while waiting for placements, was strong. He waited long at times, but when he got them, the numbers were enough to make him a winner every time. I had another teammate from a biotech background and another from a call center background and they too did exceptionally well. I accept the fact that the right direction is always needed to make sure that these people achieve success, but I am a strong believer that if one is honest to themselves and as mentioned before, shows a little maturity, one can easily find the right manager and guidance to put them on the correct course.

Last but not the least I would also like to mention that maturity is needed to keep a balance. Your hunger shouldn’t be overwhelming; it shouldn’t ruin your social life like your friend circle, family and most importantly, you yourself. Success actually means a lot more when you enjoy it, share it and multiply it further by helping others. When one achieves a balance between the hunger and maturity, then one actually becomes an inspiration for others. Your hunger shouldn’t make you selfish or closefisted rather it must make you inspiring and generous. There may be a lot of people whom I don’t know from different domains but who can still relate to this. And I am sure there will be a few or even many who may not agree with this. Everyone has their own way of achieving what they want to, but this is what I have observed and seen about the successful people in this industry where I belong to.

– Praveen Juneja