A recipe for success in 2009 - turn up the volume

The crunch/recession/crash whatever will impact all businesses in 2009. There is nothing special about geobusinesses except that there is perhaps a higher level of unsustainability in some business models than in the wider economy (financial services excluded). For years we have searched for the killer applications of geotechnology the "must haves" rather than the "nice to haves" or "usefuls", I can recall a CEO telling a user conference less than 2 years ago that the future of his business was dependent upon building these "must have" applications and relationships with their customers. 

If our solutions are not mission critical to our clients there is a real danger that in 2009 customers will start to disinvest and certainly the pace of new investment is likely to tail off significantly. CFO's will seize control of expenditure budgets and start looking for rejustifications of all expenditure. We will certainly need champions within client companies to help make the case for continuued investment in geo.

So why turn up the volume? In the last few years most companies whilst paying lip service to listening to their customers have failed to achieve the level of delight or devotion that they will need over the next couple of years. It is not too late though, now is the time to ensure that the voice of the customer is heard loud and clear throughout the organisation.