The Widget World

You hear about it every day. Widgets being developed. Widgets being dropped in Web pages. Widgets making up new applications within other software applications. Companies that are based on developing widgets.

We are entering the World of the Widget.

No, this is not the end of the Web as we know it, but it is a demonstrable shift:

• SaaS companies are opening their platforms as they look to extend their platforms’ usability, but not bear the burden of the development costs
• Social network sites are lowering their walled gardens to try and get help monetizing their eyeballs (I dare not say community, as I am not convinced of that yet)
• Media properties are opening their Web pages for users to generate content and insert it directly
  

Savvy developers are embracing the use of the widget to accomplish their own goals.

Bottom line developers (even small ones in their own home office) are able to ‘syndicate’ their application widgets, and the content within. The power is shifting. Developers can retain control, they can try to monetize on their own, and they ‘own’ the widget and content, which now can have broad distribution.

The logical extreme? Web sites and software applications become a collection of widgets. Web sites and applications become relegated to the status of ‘aggregators’. The Web becomes more fragmented, rather than more consolidated. Companies loose control of their applications and platforms, as developers gain power.

It is not time to be scared. The Widget World is a reality. It may not be the logical extreme I paint above, but we definitely are starting the journey down the path. Smart companies will start focusing resources on how to embrace this change:

• How to manage a brand in this environment?
• How to offer customer support in this environment?
• How to maintain corporate strategy and development in this environment?
• The list goes on, and on, and on……..
  

Better start thinking about this today…. Tomorrow is near here.

Strange Bedfellows?

So now that the Microhoo merger is off the table (at least temporarily), we can get back to business as usual. Errr, or not. Does anyone remember that Yahoo and Google are going to run a trial for using Google search on Yahoo?

Is that not a strange bedfellow? Is that an ‘Art of War’ Sun-Tzu moment?

Really it is neither. It is a wise move utilizing a key strategic alliance. Being a big proponent of focusing on your core, I am also a supporter of strategic alliances.

The general assumption I work under is that even if a certain business aspect is not core to your company, it is core to some company out there. Thus taken to the logical extreme, if your company only focuses on 1 core thing, it could still cobble together a very successful enterprise by striking alliances with companies that represent all other components, where that component is ‘core’ to that business. While not realistic, the concept holds.

Companies should really take a good hard look at what their core competency is, and how they can compliment and enhance that, through strategic alliances. Sometimes, like in the Yahoo case, it requires you to ask and answer some really tough questions, challenge some notions that may be considered sacrosanct, and really swallow hard. You do not have to be best of friends to successfully work together. You just have to align people to common goals and share the vision.

Call it whatever you want; in the end these partnerships can help you accomplish some serious business goals- whether scaling costs, opening new doors to new markets, outsourcing non-core business processes…. The list goes on, and with creative thinking and a good team to help find and deliver the opportunities, you too can help change the game of your business for the better.