The Inception Of The Weconomy: Sharing Is The New Owning

I believe that the more you share about yourself and your company to your colleagues, your customers and your suppliers the more value you get in return. In today’s economy it is not about owning but about sharing. In today’s connected economy knowledge is for free but experiences are unique. Status is not derived anymore from the things you own but from the things you share. Individuals and companies with the best ability to share knowledge and to create experiences are the ones that gain visibility and thus build reputation and authority. As individuals and companies we are connected 24/7 through a variety of devices. The dividing line between your personal and business life is getting more blurry over time.

The inception of the #weconomy

Reputation is about your ability to share

I believe that as an individual and as a company you can benefit from this new era. Because opening up yourself and your company enables others to get more insights and serve you better and create a true experience. When others are able to serve you better you will gain a better experience that leads to more efficiency, effectiveness and loyalty to them. This experience you might want to share with others, your peers. When you are able to better serve your customers, because you have better insights about the persons you are dealing with or the company they are working for, you can provide them with a better experience. This will increase loyalty and makes them your companies advocates. Encourage them to share this with others will increase you market perception in terms of thought leadership and reputation. A new way to gain interest of your target audience and acquire new loyal customers.

 

Weconomy products & services

With such a new dynamic coming into the marketplace easily adopted by generation y and z, they live it, it requires new things from us as individuals and companies in orther to develop ourselves. New values are created, the new currency data is getting traction which means a lot to the products and services you deliver as a company today. Cloud is ‘just’ a pre-requisite coming from many angles. Cloud is ‘just’ a pre-requisite coming from many angles.From a customer perspective who wants to have access to everything all time from any device. From a supplier perspective in order to create and develop appealing products and services for these customers. From a company perspective to open up and create ecosystems where others strengthen your products and services by connecting with them. This all requires cloud as a foundation in thinking, applications, integrations and so on.

There are some examples of companies jumping in this new weconomy. The new ones have a fairly ‘easy life’ by starting from scratch. People behind companies like Peerby have the weconomy in their DNA. For them this is the new way of life, they don’t need to be convinced that ‘sharing is the new owning’ is the new mantra. With the succes of Uber it is difficult to compete with them but it seems that Lyft did find the right angle. For them this is the new way of life, they don’t need to be convinced that ‘sharing is the new owning’ is the new mantra.Their mission is to make owning a car useless by creating a platform where people can share their car seats. A Dutch initiative SnappCar is offering a similar service but than completely for free. Just a few examples which are founded and created not without a reason. These are people that see the market and its dynamic is changing, they understand their potential customer behavior because they themselves are in the middle of that society, they are that persona they are aiming for.

Tranform traditional business: Van Moof

I find it even more impressive when you as a ‘traditional’ company have the courage and flexibility to change and adopt these new economy principles. Talking about Holland it is much about windmills, tulips and bikes. A lot of bikes. With new technology like electric bikes this industry especially the last couple of years is really getting a boost here. Also healthy life and sports is becoming a natural part of our lives more and more which makes sporting apps and tracking wearables popular but also cycling brands like Specialized and Trek are growing like never before. But there is one bike builder which is fairly new into the market place that was untill recently mainly differentiating by what we call ‘Dutch design’: Van Moof. The only thing you need to think about is why people will still buy things from you tomorrowTo most people extremely beautifull bikes without too much decoration, just plain bikes. You could consider them as a traditional bike builder but already with contemporary thoughts translated into design. They just released a new concept together with Spinlister. A great ecosystem example where traditional meets new, where technology is adopted in a way you don’t even see it, in a way it becomes a user experience that is tempting you to engagement. A combination of an app and a bluetooth enabled locking system, integrated in a Van Moof bike. To me for different reasons this is one of the best examples to illustrate the change we are in. Think about it, this example and yourself, your company and how to evolve. Although you might think your product or service is not suitable for this weconomy there is a reason why you are selling today. The only thing you need to think about is why people will still buy things from you tomorrow by adopting their new behavior into the experience you offer them. Get inspired by watching the videoclip below and have the courage!