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How IBM, Intuit, and Rich Products Became More Customer-Centric

Harvard Business Review

We have shifted from a competitive landscape in which companies are more exclusively focused on external forces affecting their industries and sectors, to one that has become significantly more customer-centric. Consider the battle waged by IBM’s software development teams between competing methods for getting closer to customers.

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The Potential of Geolocation for Revolutionizing Retail

Harvard Business Review

New technology promises to allow retailers to beat online players at their own game, transforming the customer experience and dramatically improving their positioning. One of the most exciting areas of development is the marrying of mobile apps, location sensing technologies (e.g.,

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Start-ups: Before You Launch Your Product, Start With a Service

Harvard Business Review

Most industry observers take the position that companies get distracted if they try to bootstrap a product with a service. The technology allows automated cleaning up of large code-bases, and was licensed back to the company by Stanford. What do you do if you are full of dreams, but stuck in the gap between concept and seed?

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Can Anyone Stop Amazon from Winning the Industrial Internet?

Harvard Business Review

Customer intimacy. Industrial giants have well-established brands, built strong customer relationships, and signed long-term service contracts. They’ve won the customer’s trust, which is why customers are willing to share data. Will industrial companies take the lead? Both have a chance.

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The Growing Power of Inside Sales

Harvard Business Review

We spoke with Mike Moorman, a senior leader in ZS Associates'' B2B sales and marketing practice and a leading authority on sales management, about how inside sales (which refers to sales positions done remotely from headquarters, without face-to-face meetings with clients) is transforming the way that B2B companies interact with their customers.

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