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1. THE BEGINNING
This innovation came to life when…
GEM was developed almost by accident, and certainly through force of necessity, when On2it Software’s system architect became involved in an operations research project — to develop the world’s first global optimisation model maximising the cash flow for the next 60 years for all the forests and their associated processing plants in New Zealand — a HUGE undertaking.
At the beginning we knew they did not know how to solve the problem or even what information would be required to solve it — spawning a uniquely flexible approach to software development.
2. WHAT & HOW
The purpose of this innovation is to…
GEM is a contact management/CRM system that:
- never duplicates anyone’s record,
- auto-updates everyone sharing the same contact details,
- tracks a whole network of contacts, revealing who knows who and why.
More accurate data, improved relationships, less work.
It does this by…
The forestry model taught us that building a database from the bottom up, based on real-world entities and relationships, independent of what you intend to use it for, produces a database almost impervious to change.
Using this methodology has given GEM almost intuitive behaviour, unheard of in any computer system — behaviours that result from the methodology not built-in by design.
3. PURPOSE & BENEFITS
This innovation improves on what came before because…
Usually computer systems are designed from the top down. You define its objectives, work out how to get there, and then design your database to support your system — as taught by every self-respecting computer science department.
Changing objectives, however, can mean you have to change your database structure and all existing code that accesses it.
The benefits to the customer/end-user include…
- Never duplicates anything — even phone numbers!
- Tracks everyone’s relationships, for a whole network of contacts.
- Records everything you do — including social networking messages.
- Works with Word, synchronises with Outlook.
- Brilliantly simple to use.
4. COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE
In the past, this problem was solved by…
All existing Contact Management/CRM systems:
- merrily duplicate data between records, forcing users to remember who else might be affected by any change.
- do not track relationships for anyone in system, apart from you — and some don’t even do that!
Relationships matter. Try recalling “who’s the manager of the advertising agency used by Sensis?” without recording the relationships.
Its predecessors/competitors include…
All existing systems: Act, Maximiser, Sales Force, Microsoft Dynamics and so on, merrily duplicate records and information between records. Some have complex batch de-duping facilities. None remember who shares the same contact details or relationships between everyone in the system.
5. TARGET MARKET
This innovation is made for…
Anyone who needs to keep contact information on their computer — just about everyone! People who have discovered that all existing systems force you to remember who else’s records need to be updated when changing anything, will be particularly delighted — as GEM remembers them for you!
It will be of particular benefit to professionals who get most of their business through word-of-mouth referrals and want to network effectively to get more. (Because of its in-built project management and client billing system, it will be of special advantage to those who need to charge for their time.)
6. DISTRIBUTION STRATEGY
It is available for sale through…
GEMnetworking.com and a network of affiliates/resellers that we will initially seek to expand through e-mail marketing our 17,000 contacts and a social network marketing campaign.
Referrals are traceable via hyperlinks to our website and codes built into each CD.
Our marketing strategy is…
Users can produce CDs using downloaded artwork and give them away, as before use, GEM has to be activated online. After a FREE trial period GEM has to be registered for continued use.
GEM costs the same as a local postage stamp in every country — per record of database capacity. As storing someone’s address must be worth a stamp!
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FINE PRINT
This SMART 100 profile and the information it contains is a duplication of content submitted by the applicant during the entry process. As a function of entry, applicants were required to declare that all details are factually correct, do not infringe on another’s intellectual property and are not unlawful, threatening, defamatory, invasive of privacy, obscene, or otherwise objectionable. Some profiles have been edited for reasons of space and clarity.
