Imagine that you are a global apparel company and you want to know how your new line of shirts are being displayed in department stores across the country. Now, imagine you have your very own nationwide force of “mystery shoppers” that could almost instantly and credibly report back to you. Even include photos. Anywhere. Anytime. Well, that’s exactly what businesses are now able to tap into through a promising new mobile app called Gigwalk.
Gigwalk acts as the middleman for businesses interested in gathering data on everything: prime real-estate locations, the layout of retail store floors, the efficacy of store managers, and the cleanliness of restaurant bathrooms. Anything and everything is a possibility. If you want to know more about how your business is, will, or can fare in a particular space, Gigwalk now makes it possible for you to do so for little cost.
It works like this: imagine your company is looking to gather some information about how your product is being presented in a retail store in relation to your competitors. Gigwalk allows you to post a task requesting answers to questions about the placement of the product, photos of its layout in relation to competitors, and offers a monetary reward for the tasks’ successful completion (typically between $3 to $90, depending on the location and difficulty of the task). An algorithm connects users in the area who might be able to successfully complete the task for the business through a combination of variables such as previously successfully completed tasks (earning you “streetcred”), education level, occupation, age, among others. Users can still explore any task and attempt to complete it, so long as they meet the “streetcred” requirement (have enough experience completing relevant tasks) and any other requirement such as an age limit (typically in place for bars or market research requirements).
Gigwalk’s initial success (it has just announced seed financing of $1.7 million from several VCs) can be chalked up to its unique combination of a number of collaborative and social tools, including mobile location services and crowdsourced collaboration, which in turn lead the app into the gamification realm, effectively allowing users to explore their city and earn real money while doing so. Just signing in and opening the app provides the user with a sense of excitement as they peruse the opportunities to explore and earn in their very own backyard. It’s for this reason its almost impossible to refer to Gigwalk as simply a business helping solve real business problems, though it clearly is, it has the potential to be so much more than that.
The opportunity for a business model such as Gigwalk’s to disrupt several industries clearly exists. The company has just started to scratch the surface of the possible business problems, no matter what size, that can be outsourced and crowdsourced through the use of novel location services and gamification. The most immediate opportunity for corporate offices to utilize the consumer as watchdogs, transmitting instantaneous feedback to HQ to ensure that stores and franchises are in compliance with corporate, but also that consumer brands that pay for product placement in shops are receiving the visibility they pay good money for. The app also promises to cut costs down for civic services such as road repairs, collecting data at intersections and public parks, and surveying land. A quick run through of the “gigs” available in major cities leads one to believe that health and liquor inspectors have already gravitated towards the service.
Gigwalk is onto something that appeals to both users and businesses, where everyone comes out feeling as if they have received something of value having participated directly in the outcome. The potential of the combination of geo-location, gamification, and crowdsourced data collection will surely lead to a plethora of business solutions that we are only beginning to see.
You can learn more about Gigwalk here. This one is a potential gamechanger.
When Collaboration Stifles Innovation
Jeff Hunt
June 10th, 2011
“A camel is a horse designed by a committee,” so the saying goes.
And while we’ve all suffered through too many committee meetings, we know that most of the time, collaboration is a good thing, producing a better product and speedier results.
But not always. Sometimes, a corporate culture that values collaboration can, overtime, evolve into a cumbersome, process-bound monster that devours innovation and crushes entrepreneurial spirit.
Are you confident that you know whether your organization is producing camels or horses?
Right now, it’s especially important that you do. Social media, advanced video conference technology and other online tools are taking the culture of collaboration – which took root in the 1980s as American companies emulated Japan’s “quality circles” – to a whole new level. On top of that, at a time of economic uncertainly, many middle managers in large organizations are especially insecure about their jobs, and may be inserting themselves unnecessarily into projects in ways that don’t add value, slow them down, and prevent the company from acting rapidly even when it is essential.
How can you tell whether your organization has a little too much togetherness?
• Take a look at the output of your creative efforts. Are you producing horses or camels? If what comes out of projects consistently looks different from what you expected, it’s a red flag.
• Do documents that should flow instead read like they were written in multiple styles by lots of different people? It’s probably because they were. Every document needs an editor, but not every document needs 10 reviewers. “Track changes” makes meddling too easy, and you may need to tell people to resist the temptation.
• Are you experiencing mission creep? Do projects lose their focus and broaden their scope over time? Involving too many people with too many different agendas may be a reason.
• Take a look at lengthy distribution lists for your emails, conference calls, and meetings. Do you really need all those people to be involved? Will each add net value?
• Are you dissatisfied with the flow of new ideas or with the amount of initiative you see among your people? If so, consider whether they have just become discouraged by the bureaucracy that smothers their initiative. Ask the most creative people in the company what they think about this.
Camels have their place. But most businesses today need to produce thoroughbreds to stay competitive. Make sure yours is one of them.
Tags: Collaboration, Commentary, Organizational Design, Productivity
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