March 2, 2006
another thingamy
I’ve just spent 90 minutes talking to Sigurd Rinde who was showing me his Thingamy thingamy. The name of the product obviously comes from the fact that it isn’t easy to define, and doesn’t fit in to any current pigeon hole. This is a technology that you could use to build an application, very quickly, to solve a particular problem, or you could use it to create a complete CRM, ERP, and business process management solution for your organisation. This last sentence will be mind boggling for some managers and executives. Why would you develop a new system from scratch yourself and have the hassles of maintaining it, when you can buy standard off the shelf software that does the job? Well, actually because the off the shelf solutions don’t do the whole job, are expensive to modify, and organisations tend to develop ad hoc, manual or Excel based systems around the edges to provide a complete solution, and things can fall down the cracks.[Disclosure: Sigurd and I work together.] Posted by hugh macleod at March 2, 2006 8:01 PM | TrackBack
Interesting concept, questionable marketing. Even if you have created a new platform that is capable of doing everything, it's usually better to market to one specific niche. Of course it's ok to break the rules if you know why they need to be broken, but in that case the burden is on Thingamy to explain what it is that they know that everyone else doesn't. Which, reading their website, they really haven't...yet.
Posted by: Alex Krupp at March 2, 2006 8:42 PM"Questionable" is the whole point at this stage, Alex =)
Posted by: Hugh MacLeod at March 2, 2006 9:06 PMAlex,
As Hugh suggests, Sigurd's whole approach is unconventional, which is exactly the point. At this early stage he shouldn't be narrowing his focus in the traditional way you suggest.
Hugh,
All PR is great PR... but actually my blog's Biz Two Zero. Thanks for the mention!
Please excuse the typo, David. Fixed.
Thanks!
Posted by: hugh macleod at March 2, 2006 10:18 PMAlex, agree that it is better to "market to" a niche, only thing I'm not marketing "to" as in pushing in the classic marketing think.
I'm trying to open up for people to look in; doing demos, talking to people, discussing, blogging... kind of "market in" - let the market be in the driver's seat.
I'm no expert in everything, thus I'd rather let the "market" decide where - what niche - with the best early stage fit - easiest, most bang for the buck, etc.
At that point I might focus more in that direction (albeit not pushing) and even add some specific features to ease the process. I'm not to decide, the potential user will decide - I'm merely here to accomodate their needs, listen not tell etc. ;)
They say when SAP sells $10 of software it generates $90 of consulting to implement it!
Posted by: YGG at March 3, 2006 9:51 AMonly $90?
Posted by: Hugh MacLeod at March 3, 2006 10:17 AM