Companies are not satisfied with merely transforming us into partial employees. Now they are working on converting us into ‘full-time employees’.
We at the WEBSITE DEVELOPMENT SILVERDALE has had the opportunity to highlight diverse examples of numerous companies around the world to prove that companies want customers as full time employees.
Amazon, for instance, has introduced Amazon Go, a bricks-and-clicks store that leans on the internet, intelligent technology and smart devices to convert shoppers into its full time employees. It has no employees or check-out counters. Shoppers switch on the Amazon Go app prior to entering the store, shop for merchandise and just walk out of the store: there is no check-out line, no waiting in the queues! The app automatically totals the value of the purchase and bills it to the shopper’s credit card.
The shoppers, unknown to them, have become employees at Go!
Banks too have warmed up to the concept and are pushing the envelope even further. Not only do they aspire to make every customer their full-time employee, they also penalize them if they do not carry out the new responsibilities in a manner that profits the banks! Also, read “BENEFITS OF BRAND ADVOCACY”
Banks have identified banking activities which the customers can carry out so as to result in cost-savings for them. Take the case of issuing bank statements. The bank expects its ‘full-time employees’ to download it from net banking. But if a customer makes a request for it, the bank usually levies a charge for providing it. Or take cheque leaves. Banks expect their ‘full-time employees’ to make payments using internet banking, not by issuing cheques. For emergency situations, a minimum number of cheque-leaves are issued every quarter; if more are ordered, customers are charged.
Customers As Revenue Producers
Companies are attempting to convert customers into their ’employees’ and saving on ‘cost’. Progressive companies are pushing the envelope. They are motivating customers to design products which can generate revenue for them and/ or suggest strategies to help them meet their business goals.
Take Lego. It is one of the most popular toys in the world. It invites its customers to be a Lego Designer. This is how it works:
Lego Designers can use the existing Lego bricks or Lego Digital designer tools to create new products. Once done, its image has to be submitted along with a description. The company reviews it, and if found suitable, publishes it on its site. The Lego Designer has to get her family, friends, colleagues, acquaintances—in fact, anybody and everybody to vote for their idea. If the ideas receive more than 10,000 votes and the Review Board’s nod, then it goes into commercial production. Thereafter, it is available across the world for customers to buy. The Lego Designer gets fame, glory and royalty!
Does this concept work only for the children’s category? Of course not. It holds good for every category, provided a company gains insight into what motivates a customer to become a co-creator and embeds it into the offer. One universal motivation is compensation.
Take the iPhone for instance. Can you imagine your iPhone Without the apps? To me it would mean defanging it—with the apps, we can do so much more. Who makes these apps? Apple invites the developers, provides them with resources which are designed to help them create it. The developers keep 70 percent of the revenue while Apple gets to keep the balance. Apple estimates that $100 billion was paid to developers over a decade. The balance is kept by Apple. Apple has made the developers into its ’employees’ and makes revenue from their effort.
Heineken, too, has leveraged this insight to motivate people to solve a business challenge it was facing—to make its packaging more sustainable. A financial reward of $10,000 awaited the winner.
The winner proposed a device——Heineken-o-meter— which transformed recycling into a game. People who took the trouble of returning the bottle stood a chance to win $ 1000.10
You too can engage your customers as co-creators and seek their expertise to grow revenue, achieve business goals or seek their expertise in solving business challenges with minuscule investments.
Factors Promoting this Concept by WEBSITE DEVELOPMENT SILVERDALE.
1. Laying the runway for this phenomenon are certain irrevocable trends:
2. Lack of time: People are becoming increasingly time poor and they detest wasting their time waiting or standing in queues.
3. Desire for peace of mind and convenience: People wish to have peace of mind and convenience; hence, they prefer to handle some things themselves.
4. Technology: The deep penetration of the Internet, large-scale adaptation of smart devices, and enthusiasm for technology have given young adults the tools to become willing employees. And they relish the ‘control’ that this provides.