David Jacobson's External Insights

First Australian social (peer to peer) lender: iGrin

I previously discussed social lenders here and here.

iGrin has launched in Australia: its principal offering is a borrower-lender matching service (up to a maximum $25,000,00 per loan) whereby a borrower nominates the amount it wants to borrower and the preferred rate and iGrin co-ordinates the lenders' bids until sufficient funds at the right rate are recived. The lenders do not know who the borrower is.

iGrin charges borrowers an establishment fee (once the loan is funded) of 1-2% (depending on the credit rating) of the amount borrowed or $90, whichever is greater.

It charges lenders a monthly servicing fee of 0.5%-1.5% of the current outstanding loan principal.

There is also a Member Direct service where a lender lends to a specific borrower and iGrin arranges the loan documents and funding.

Strategic planning case study: the future of the legal profession

Every business needs to regularly review its future focus:  what are its strengths, opportunities, weaknesses, threats?

What is its business model? What resources are needed? What is its competitive advantage?

The legal profession, like others, has been affected by technology and competition. The Times Online is running a series of 6 draft extracts from Richard Susskind's new book The End of Lawyers? under the heading, Will Lawyers exist in 100 years?. Here's the first extract.

31 October Part 2: A decade on: much changed, much still to unfold

3 November Part 3: How the traditional role of lawyers will change

12 November Part 4: Outside investors will demand a very different type of law firm

19 November Part 5: No one has a vision for the next generation of lawyers

28 November Part 6: Only a foolhardy lawyer will fail to embrace change

Index

Finding information

Here's the link between knowledge management and user-generated content...an excellent video

Scenario planning

One of the hardest things for businesses is to predict the success of their product.

If you're going to brainstorm the future then the Extinction Timeline (pdf) will be a useful tool.

Designed by Richard Watson, author of Future Files, the timeline looks out to 2050 and forecasts the end of:
2009: Mending things
2014: Getting lost
2016: Retirement
2020: Copyright
2022: Spelling
2030: Keys
2033: Coins
2036: Petrol engined vehicles
2037: Glaciers
2038: Peace & Quiet
2049: Physical newspapers, Google
Beyond 2050: Uglyness, Nation States, Death

Where does your business stand? Do you need to look for a new business?

Via Ross Dawson

Does your business have a personality?

One of the first questions asked by brand advisers is "how would you describe your firm if it was an animal...or a car...or a person?" Is it a camel or a hippo or a tiger? A porsche or a volvo?

They try and express the character of your business graphically or through design.

Most often we see this on websites. Is your website modern and efficient? Or clunky and conservative? Does it have personality?

Community First Credit Union have tried to express their personality on their website through an online greeter (a concierge?) called Lisa. Is she fun, innovative or a failure?

Type "dance" into the question field and decide whether she's appropriate for a financial institution.

The effect of your employees on your business relationships

Whilst your employees can be excellent advocates for your business, it is equally possible for them to unwittingly disrupt important business relationships.

In The Blog Post I Didn't Publish - Will Your Employees Do the Same? Daniel Scwartz asks : "Will those employees use discretion in their posts? In other words, even when they do not post about the company that they work at, will they decide to NOT blog about an employer's competitors or customers?  Do they even THINK about the effect their blog will have on their employer?"

He reflects on a blog post he didn't publish because he "decided that it was better to not publish it and preserve relationships that the firm has with clients and customers than risk jeopardizing the relationship (even though I have nothing to do with that relationship). "

Whilst you can have extensive policies, ultimately it is a question of common sense: think about what you say, where you say it and who it can effect.

Demonstrating your expertise to potential customers

In the Corporate and Business Blogging session at the recent Australian Blogging Conference, 2 of the reasons given for a business to blog were to demonstrate your expertise and to show thought leadership.

During the discussion we talked about blogging policies and I said that I self-edit: I do not discuss confidential client matters and I do not talk about proprietary business methods I have developed.

The discussion moved on but I want to go back and discuss the importance of sharing information with (even educating ) potential customers.

It's long been my view that businesses (including doctors and lawyers) benefit by talking about what they do and by giving free information, whether it's building a cupboard, making cakes, medical information or administering an estate.

With information, potential customers are able to make some basic decisions: do they need your service/product or not?  How do your services/product compare with others? Can they do it themselves? Do they need an expert?

I also believe in the value of collaboration with other like-minded people (see my wiki).

I believe that the best businesses are those who are willing to share information. Because by doing so they demonstrate that what they do is work with you from a common base and add more value to your relationship than if you did not have that shared knowledge.

Who would you rather work with? Someone who is willing to provide you with information and evidence of their expertise or someone who isn't prepared to communicate at all?

What do your employees think?

It's often said that a business's best marketers are its employees (and conversely unhappy employees result in bad service).

In a time when we have technological social networking tools are you giving your staff the opportunity and encouragement to publicly talk about your business? Are you monitoring what's being said about your business online?

Here's what happened when an employee of Lloyds TSB (a UK bank) read critical reviews of her employer:  she posted a write-up about the trials and tribulations of being a bank cashier and ended with this:

Why do I stay - I enjoy the job, the staff and regular customers are lovely. The bank are very flexible regarding part-time work,maternity arrangements and are understanding regarding kids being ill swapping days around etc. I suppose they need to keep the dedicated workforce happy,as at lower levels it mainly consists of part-time women...

I'm not sure how long there will be traditional large banking organisations. With the increase of internet banks, telephone banks and supermarket banking. I believe their only chance of survival is to provide outstanding customer service. So far they haven't been getting it right. My impression is they have now recognised the need to change and hopefully things will improve for the better.

This clearly shows an employee acting as advocate and the importance of not undervaluing your frontline staff. (via Bankwatch)

If you want to know what's being said about you online, sign up for Google Alerts.

Copying other people's designs: recent cases

Businesses invest a lot of time and money in research and development of new ideas, products and designs. And the law of intellectual property (including copyright, trade marks and designs) acknowledges rights in the design products of such investment in certain circumstances.
(see IP Australia)

Here are some recent cases relating to copying designs:

• copying house designs (Barrett Group v Metricon Homes)
• copying yacht designs (Burge v Swarbrick)
• copying air conditioner designs (Polyaire v K-Aire)

If leadership can turnaround a business, can a failure of leadership lead to its destruction?

In Psychology, Pathology, and the CEO  Rosabeth Moss Kanter discussed the role of CEO's in turning failing businesses around.

In Driven to [Self-] Destruction Joanna Pachner discusses the role of a law firm's leaders leading up to its dissolution, particularly the loss of its distinguishing culture which gave the firm its competitive advantage.

She tells a compelling story of the collapse of a firm when it failed to act in accordance with its mission statement (that their business was to be conducted "only within an atmosphere of caring, collegiality, mutual respect, trust and confidence, which recognizes a commitment to the firm as a whole.")

via Gerry Riskin