Being Sucker Punched By Your Own Industry

Having just arrived home from my hols, I first logged in to the BBC news site because people on Twitter were talking about an earthquake in NY. Once my fears were calmed, I noticed a great map of mobile signal coverage.

Have you seen it? If not, take a look. Whilst browsing the data, I questioned why this wasn’t available to me when I took out my 3 mobile Internet dongle package 6 months ago. The guy in the store, presented me with a similar map and I had to wander around all the shops gather my own picture of the areas of the country I travel to decide which mobile company to go with. In a word: nightmare.

Whilst this is just a mobile coverage map. Businesses can learn a lot. How do you think the mobile operators feel about having their good / bad coverage publicly available for all to see and compare under such a memorable (BBC) brand? I imagine a lot of people will be cancelling subscriptions because of this.

Now consider your own industry. Where is the data map? Is there one? Are you on it? If it doesn’t exist, could there be one? If it did, do you know how your business would be performing?

It could be a map of:

• Cool Accountants.
• Receptionists tone of voice.
• Arts venue events.
• Solicitors fees.
• Architects recommendations.
• Consultants performance.
• Hoteliers hospitality.
• Customer service dealings of complaints.

You might be thinking, this already exists? And if it is available, is it in an easy to see visual format? Lots of people have generated forums of feedback and ratings, or reviews, but they very often ask for too much info to create one simple map. The one showing what we want to know. This is the strength of collaborative data visualised: anyone can do it.

Now lets consider if data on your sector was being collected right now. Not from the service deliverers, but from your clients past and present. Would you be happy with the response given?

This is most companies worst nightmare… all their clients being able to get together and chat about the same service delivered. What would they say and share and would they choose you again next time?

I suggest collecting that information now. Before someone else does.

Mark