FEAR Uncertainty and Doubt

I worked for a company, recently, that was having a lot of troubles. I figured they had a rough road ahead before I even started, so it wasn’t surprising that the company fullfilled my anticipation. Everyone there knew it was a “vision problem,” but exactly why that was a problem was never clear. 7 months later, it now occurs to me.

The company had established a reputation for crafting appealing and useful interfaces for end-users. This was packaged as technology licensed to device manufacturers for inclusion in consumer devices. In order to streamline its focus, the company decided to focus only on what the licensee, the paying customer, wanted. The immediate response by licensees was very positive because it assured them that they would have a strong say in what they licensed. However, this logical direction turns out to be very short sighted.

The reason that licensees came to the company in the first place was because of its expertise in understanding the usage patterns of end-users. By taking the tact of relying on licensees for requirements, the company has reliquished its expertise to the licensees and relegated itself to being purely a technology provider. At the same time, it detracts from the company’s ability to continue to lead the way with the strengths that it had gained as their reputation.

In the end, it is extremely difficult for a company to “win” in a technology race; some other company will eventually come along with technology that is faster or cheaper — or both.