New Florence. New Renaissance.

Technology Innovation and Starbucks

This continues a  new category of posts focused on Innovative Uses of Technology for Business Benefit.  As I wrote in The Giant Crunching Sound, CIOs are crunching incumbent, utility technology spend and freeing up dollars for innovations.

Starbuck's HQ in Seattle and proximity to Microsoft and amazon.com must help, but I am impressed at the number of technology innovations they have taken advantage of over the years to keep up with all the product innovation their stores showcase.

The most visible, of course, is  the availability of WI-FI in most of their stores. What is impressive is how far back it made its decision to do an aggressive roll out. Has it helped revenues? Numbers are hard to come by - though this post would suggest mom-and-pop coffee shops are also under pressure to offer similar services and the number of providers have grown significantly. Using my personal sample size of one - I looked up my T-Mobile Hotspot usage and in the last 9 months I accessed their network over 30 times at Starbucks in different cities. I am a one-coffee-cup-a-day person and probably would  not have stopped at Starbucks without the WI-FI.

It fits in with Howard Schultz, the Chairman's vision of Starbucks as the Third Place (the home and work being the other two) where you spend much of your time. And if you do spend time there, you invite friends, colleagues, you try teas, pastries, maybe linger for your second or third cup  - traffic and business increases.  McDonald's has the same vision - but its "store of the future" is still in concept mode.  Starbucks has a few years lead over every other chain.  Another payback from the WI-FI network -  the employee base in the retail chain is "connected". 

Not just coffee or snacks  - it allows Starbucks to diversify in to other product areas. Starbucks  is now offering music downloads at its locations and  by extension its music collection through an XM channel. Some day you may be able to order your favorite Grisham book custom printed while you enjoy the java.

Then there was the decision to roll out its prepaid/debit card in 2003 to migrate an already loyal, frequent customer base.  Also, the  use of RFID not just to track shipments but to validate supplier employees making deliveries at its stores.

None of this is "break the company" stuff -  the technology is relatively well tested and Starbucks has partnered well for most deployments with the likes of HP and Bank One.  It is, however, so well aligned with the company's overall innovation culture...

Technology Innovation and High Rise Elevators

Here is an innovation at the New York Marriott Marquis. If you have stayed there, the biggest nuisance is not the noise from Times Square right below or from the massive conference rooms and lobby which stretch up to the 8th floor, but the slow elevators.

See how technology is changing that. What an elegant technical solution to a physical challenge!

As American as...Technology

As we celebrate July 4^th in the US and honor our troops and veterans, I would also like to salute  the leaders and foot soldiers who are global ambassadors for our technology industry. They are projecting the positive, nurturing face of the US. Our industry is bringing independence from illiteracy, poverty, bureaucracy around the world and we need to celebrate that too today.

Leaders of four companies deserve specific recognition – Microsoft, Cisco, Oracle, GE.  Just these 4 together export more each year than all of India’s industries (not just technology) export. In an age of growing US trade deficits, we need to honor them for their work.  Each of these leaders also brings a commitment and passion for global trade and relations.

- Bill Gates, with  his continued global philanthropy, including the recent Africa Live 8 event. Many folks around the world actually believe he is our President. 

- John Chambers,  with  his regular contribution and polish at the influential, annual World Economic Forum in Davos

- Larry Ellison, with his outspokenness as a “global citizen" and for his embrace of fine things from around the world, Japanese, Italian and others.

- Jeff Immelt, with  his fearless betting of his company on exports to and sourcing from the developing world  - while GE is not necessarily considered a technology company, his medical, power and other products pack a lot of sophisticated technology.

There are so many other US technology executives I could similarly applaud.

Then there are the “do-ers”. The Bearingpoint team working on the Iraq re-construction. Software veterans like Mike Laven equally comfortable in the Valley as they are in London and New Delhi. David Scott Lewis for the work he is doing to educate the US technology market about China. Others like Karen Beaman who spent years for ADP in Europe using her fluency in god-knows-how many languages.

Today in the US we celebrate the Liberty Bell, the Marines, baseball, apple pie - symbols the world knows as uniquely American. I would like to add global technology leadership to this list - and also salute the contributors.