Microsoft: looking internally for value...

Microsoft Dynamics is sponsoring an Economist Debate on intra-firm innovation.... (Do most businesses adapt too slowly to change?) They say in their marketing pitch:

At the heart of every business are the people who make things happen. People garner insight from business applications to drive decisions that advance the organisation. People manage relationships internally and externally to drive relevant actions forward. The most successful businesses are powered by individuals who are contributing fully, able to make a difference and committed to their company's success. Microsoft can help individuals—and organisations—realise their full potential and make a significant impact by offering an end-to-end business solution that is flexible and easy to use.

This focus internally on employees suffers from a balancing lack of focus on customers/consumers, their needs, finding what they are and servicing them ie customer value and value management...

Microsoft seems to see employees and their relationship with their firms as their core business, but not enabling a better link with their customers.... Even though their system is part CRM (customer relationship management)...  go figure....

Microsoft Dynamics is a flexible, powerful business solution for customer relationship management (CRM) and enterprise resource planning (ERP) that enables you to be agile and progressive in a constantly changing world.

Matisse embraces simplicity

The Economist reflects on two Matisse paintings

this week.

"The exhibition explores Matisse’s experimental process, in which he painted pairs, trios or series of the same subject, re-evaluating and refining his work. He struggled to “strip painting of all inessentials”, to create pure “essence” and to “capture the true matter of things.” It was an emotional, aesthetic and intellectual journey as the artist studied and compared the multiple images he made, rejecting some elements and adopting others as he laboured to become master of his style. This exhibition maps that journey. New York is its final destination, after Paris and Copenhagen. Don’t miss it."

This stripping away of inessentials sounds like what Apple is trying to do, and what Jonathan Ive often describes his process, now embedded in the iPhone and iPad.Simplicity, I found was one of twelve value dimensions in my 3G mobile phone dataset.

See Jony Ive's comments in Objectified, the movie.