General Consultant Discussion

I would love any comments from you all on this. It's an issue that I think about a lot and I read an article this morning that "triggered me" LOL.

If you feel I missed the mark, let me know!

If anything, I resisted elaborating on how customers stay on weak products (cough Sage cough) because they already own it and it's easier for them to stay put.

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/fallacy-superior-technology-peter-wolf/?published=t

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Peter Wolf
Azamba Consulting Group
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@Peter Wolf I understand your points. Regardless of the go to market competition, I can only address Teams vs. Slack based on my own experience. Long before Microsoft existed, I used Apple computers. Once we had MS-DOS and superior products for business use, I switched over to all Microsoft products on PC's, and have never gone back to Apple. It's not that I love Microsoft - they are a necessary evil to me only. Most of what I use in terms of applications, including networks and PCs, are based on Microsoft systems. That being said, as an Office 365 user, I gave Teams the first opportunity for this function. For my purposes, Teams was not for me, and was frustrating.

I did not immediately try Slack - it was about 2 months later. It's been only about a month since I started, and now I have 3 workspaces shared with different groups of people. I find it to be easy, intuitive and flexible, and have so far, not found any roadblocks.​​ None of us so far have paid anything and based on the analytics probably will not need to for at least a year. My experience has nothing to do with the comparison of technology. It's more the usability.

We have already had this discussion in 90 Minds, and the initial conclusion has been that Teams is best for larger groups and companies, whereas Slack is best (and preferred) by smaller groups and people like me who deal with different groups of people with separate workspaces. Perhaps as time goes on, Teams will win out, but I think there are two separate user groups and the two programs will continue to serve their user bases with neither winning out.

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John Hoyt
Forming Solutions: john.hoyt@formingsolutions.com
Next Level Manufacturing Consulting Group: johnh@nextlevelMCG.com
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@Peter Wolf I agreed that superior technology leads to greater success is a fallacy.  

Think about the number of K-12 students in the world using Google applications. Over the next decade all these workers will be entering the workforce and will have an impact on what applications are selected by organizations. Yes, some organizations will choose Microsoft, but others will want to use what they are familiar with and Google will be well positioned for this.

So, which technology is really superior? That which has the best features or that which is most widely used?

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Myron Stevenson
Consultant
Clearis Consulting, Inc
Duluth, MN
218-525-6720
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Original Message:
Sent: 07-25-2019 13:41
From: John Hoyt
Subject: The fallacy of superior technology

@Peter Wolf I understand your points. Regardless of the go to market competition, I can only address Teams vs. Slack based on my own experience. Long before Microsoft existed, I used Apple computers. Once we had MS-DOS and superior products for business use, I switched over to all Microsoft products on PC's, and have never gone back to Apple. It's not that I love Microsoft - they are a necessary evil to me only. Most of what I use in terms of applications, including networks and PCs, are based on Microsoft systems. That being said, as an Office 365 user, I gave Teams the first opportunity for this function. For my purposes, Teams was not for me, and was frustrating.

I did not immediately try Slack - it was about 2 months later. It's been only about a month since I started, and now I have 3 workspaces shared with different groups of people. I find it to be easy, intuitive and flexible, and have so far, not found any roadblocks.​​ None of us so far have paid anything and based on the analytics probably will not need to for at least a year. My experience has nothing to do with the comparison of technology. It's more the usability.

We have already had this discussion in 90 Minds, and the initial conclusion has been that Teams is best for larger groups and companies, whereas Slack is best (and preferred) by smaller groups and people like me who deal with different groups of people with separate workspaces. Perhaps as time goes on, Teams will win out, but I think there are two separate user groups and the two programs will continue to serve their user bases with neither winning out.

------------------------------
John Hoyt
Forming Solutions: john.hoyt@formingsolutions.com
Next Level Manufacturing Consulting Group: johnh@nextlevelMCG.com
------------------------------

I have the feeling my article wasn't well-written. 

My point was meant to be about the superiority of business models in getting new products in front of people. 

I don't think the reason Teams is taking off has anything to do with the product being better in any way than Slack. It is because Microsoft is leveraging their existing Office 365 customer base to extend the customers' usage to include Teams easily.

I believe that even if Teams was horrible, it will still ultimately "win" in the market because of the Microsoft strategy.

Back to the drawing board for me to sharpen my writing skills!

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Peter Wolf
Azamba Consulting Group
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Original Message:
Sent: 07-25-2019 14:29
From: Myron Stevenson
Subject: The fallacy of superior technology

@Peter Wolf I agreed that superior technology leads to greater success is a fallacy.

Think about the number of K-12 students in the world using Google applications. Over the next decade all these workers will be entering the workforce and will have an impact on what applications are selected by organizations. Yes, some organizations will choose Microsoft, but others will want to use what they are familiar with and Google will be well positioned for this.

So, which technology is really superior? That which has the best features or that which is most widely used?

------------------------------
Myron Stevenson
Consultant
Clearis Consulting, Inc
Duluth, MN
218-525-6720
------------------------------


Original Message:
Sent: 07-25-2019 13:41
From: John Hoyt
Subject: The fallacy of superior technology

@Peter Wolf I understand your points. Regardless of the go to market competition, I can only address Teams vs. Slack based on my own experience. Long before Microsoft existed, I used Apple computers. Once we had MS-DOS and superior products for business use, I switched over to all Microsoft products on PC's, and have never gone back to Apple. It's not that I love Microsoft - they are a necessary evil to me only. Most of what I use in terms of applications, including networks and PCs, are based on Microsoft systems. That being said, as an Office 365 user, I gave Teams the first opportunity for this function. For my purposes, Teams was not for me, and was frustrating.

I did not immediately try Slack - it was about 2 months later. It's been only about a month since I started, and now I have 3 workspaces shared with different groups of people. I find it to be easy, intuitive and flexible, and have so far, not found any roadblocks.​​ None of us so far have paid anything and based on the analytics probably will not need to for at least a year. My experience has nothing to do with the comparison of technology. It's more the usability.

We have already had this discussion in 90 Minds, and the initial conclusion has been that Teams is best for larger groups and companies, whereas Slack is best (and preferred) by smaller groups and people like me who deal with different groups of people with separate workspaces. Perhaps as time goes on, Teams will win out, but I think there are two separate user groups and the two programs will continue to serve their user bases with neither winning out.

------------------------------
John Hoyt
Forming Solutions: john.hoyt@formingsolutions.com
Next Level Manufacturing Consulting Group: johnh@nextlevelMCG.com