Forrester's Bruce Temkin: Google Chrome OS Sets Off Customer Experience War
Google recently created quite a stir when it introduced its new operating system (OS), Chrome OS. Here's how Google describes its new OS:
Speed, simplicity and security are the key aspects of Google Chrome OS. We're designing the OS to be fast and lightweight, to start up and get you onto the web in a few seconds.
My take: Will Chrome OS destroy Microsoft? No. Will Chrome shake up the PC market? Yes; especially when it comes to customer experience. Here are a few lessons that Microsoft and others can learn from Google's announcement:
Ultra-simplicity is powerful. Most companies compete by adding features to their products. As a result, offerings (like PC operating systems) get bloated beyond the needs of large segments of customers. That's why there are many opportunities for radically simplified offerings. This approach, which I call Ultra-simplicity, is one of five disruptive customer experience strategies.
PCs are just about passé. The world of large desktop and laptop PCs is past its prime. Computing will increasingly happen on smaller, networked devices like iPhones, Kindles, and netbooks. These portable computing devices will need to be designed like fashion accessories and provide near immediate access to functionality.
Unmet customer needs are gold. Companies should assume that they aren't meeting customer needs. With this perspective, firms will continuously hunt for those unmet needs and actively cannibalize their existing products before their competitors do. That's why one of the principles of Experience-Based Differentiation is Obsess about customer needs, not product features.
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Bruce Temkin is a Vice President, Principal Analyst at Forrester Research where he serves Customer Experience professionals. Bruce blogs at Customer Experience Matters. Syndicated from Forrester Research. Reprinted with permission.
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