PLANNING AND LEADERSHIP FOR A BETTER WORLD
PLANNING AND LEADERSHIP FOR A BETTER WORLD Sometimes the most obvious new product is right in front of you—or maybe in your shopping bag.
Take the mundane services and products we've all come to use without thinking, add some technology, and—voila!—you have a new business. Here are five new products that will make you slap your forehead and ask, "Why didn't I think of that?"
1. Replacing Muzak. I'll credit the New York Times for alerting me to this new competitor to Muzak. El Records is providing a custom alternative to the ubiquitous background music of our lives. Why should you have to listen to one more "easy listening" version of the greatest hits of the Carpenters when you want something geared to your tastes? Wasn't that what the iPod was all about? While El Records is a good start, I think there is a further step where you can use Twitter or another social tool in advance to find out what music will be a hit at your gathering and provide just what you and your guests want to hear.
2. Online appointment scheduling. Lots of you might say that you already have a way to schedule doctor and dentist appointments online. I'd guess that most of us use the following method: You call the office and get an assistant who checks a schedule and offers you a couple of alternatives. Lots of times you are guessing at appointment times a couple months in advance and you just say, "Sure" to whatever times are offered. A Google search will find lots of scheduling programs for medical facilities, but you would be hard-pressed to find one that allows the patient to see a shared schedule and make their own appointment. I'm guessing the doctors would say letting patients schedule their own appointments would lead to chaos. Can it be any less chaotic than one poor admin trying to balance incoming calls and doctors changing schedules?
3. Digital grocery receipts. What do you do with your paper receipts?
Stuff them in your pocket? Toss them out when you get home? Neither method is very efficient nor environmentally friendly. A number of grocery stores and technology startups are developing electronic grocery receipts. When you make the grocery purchase, a digital transaction lets you track your expenses and see how you are allocating your grocery dollars, and the store gets a loyal customer.
4. Solar rechargeable batteries. I'll give Gizmodo credit here. The casing on these batteries is the solar recharging unit. Instead of searching in the sun for a charger, cord and batteries, this obvious but new idea puts it all together in one package.
5. Turn up the heat. This is a new idea that costs nothing but can save a data center manager thousands. Why do you keep your data center thermostat in the 65 degree Fahrenheit range when most servers can operate in the 70 to 80 degree range? Again, it is often more a case of past practices that keeps the thermostat down low. Recent studies are saying it is safe to turn up the heat. This may be a case of smarter users of technology.
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