Why Microsoft Is Being Left in the Dust

Alex Goldfayn’s new book is called Evangelist Marketing: What Apple Amazon and Netflix Understand About Their Customers (That Your Company Probably Doesn’t). He is CEO of the Evangelist Marketing Institute, a marketing consultancy with clients that include T-Mobile, TiVo, and Logitech. Follow him @alexgoldfayn.
There are now a number of companies — Apple, Google, Amazon, and others — that have Microsoft in their rear-view mirrors, disappearing quickly on the horizon in a cloud of dust.
That kick of dust in the company’s face is being emitted by Apple’s iPhone and iPad, Amazon’s Kindle, and Google’s search and cloud domination. Microsoft’s own wild lunges into various technology segments are also contributing considerably to it being left behind. Take the company’s recent partnership with Barnes & Noble, where it took 18% of the Nook e-reader for $605 million in cash and future guarantees. This was a move to compete with Amazon, but can it really compete?
If you want to know why Microsoft’s share price has been flat for 11 years while Apple, Amazon, and Google shares have soared, this is why. Microsoft is not innovating aggressively. It is not leading categories or blazing trails. No, it’s acquiring aggressively as a shortcut to innovation. That isn’t working. Its own history suggests as much.

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Microsoft Has Not Capitalized on its Partnerships and Acquisitions

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Last year, Microsoft announced a broad strategic partnership with Nokia, presumably to use Windows operating systems and software on Nokia’s smartphones. This was 15 months ago. But last week, a report found that Apple and Samsung generated 99 percent of the profits in the mobile phone category. Nokia, which once enjoyed more than half of all mobile phone profits, made zero.
In 2009, Microsoft acquired a 10-year license to use Yahoo’s core search technology, which later became the Bing search engine. Today, Google’s search market share is a dominant 66%, with Microsoft’s Bing a very distant second at 15%. After spending billions building and marketing Bing, Microsoft is barely visible in Google’s rear-view mirror.
Finally, what of Microsoft’s Skype acquisition a year ago? It’s too early to tell, but here’s a fact worth noting: The Wall Street Journal reports that 85% of Microsoft’s revenue comes from Windows and Office software. The rest of it? Barely a blip.
And so, Microsoft is proving, like many have before it, that acquiring companies outside your core competencies are recipes for failure. Remember when Cisco purchased the Flip video camera, at the time one of the most popular consumer electronics products on the planet? How did that work out? In 2010, HP bought Palm for $1.2 billion, but we haven’t seen any industry-altering smartphones from HP.
Conversely, consider Apple’s acquisition of Siri: a technology that immediately and profoundly complimented and enhanced its iPhone. It fit obviously and very successfully.

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Microsoft Does Not Need to Compete with Amazon

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Another major problem with Microsoft’s partnership involving the Nook is that there is simply no need for it to compete with Amazon. This is like Best Buy focusing all of its efforts on its ecommerce site while neglecting its one major competitive advantage: its brick-and-mortar stores. This is also like Research in Motion spending a year building its atrociously received tablet, the PlayBook, while neglecting its core competency of Blackberry smartphones.
Microsoft dominates the competition in computer operating systems and software. Computers are dying, right? And yet, in May 2012, there is no Microsoft Office for tablets and smartphones. Millions of iPads and Android tablets are being adopted in corporate environments, and most of those customers would be happy to spend $70 on Microsoft Office for each device. Except, it does not exist.
I can only guess why: because with its many categories, acquisitions and partnerships, Microsoft is physically incapable of putting its full focus behind converting its desktop products to mobile devices.

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Microsoft is Going Wide, Not Deep

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Which brings me to the third and final big problem with Microsoft’s Nook play. It is keeping with the strategy of going as wide as possible. Microsoft is not, and cannot be, all things to all people. In fact, no company can.
Here’s the truth: The wider you go, the more priorities you focus on, the less chance you have to be successful. But when you go deep, you can dominate. (See Apple, and Amazon.) When you go deep, you can continue perfecting. You become the world’s expert on a certain specialty. Apple is seen as the world’s expert on smartphones and tablets. Amazon is the accepted leader in online shopping and electronic reading. It’s because these two companies relentlessly focus on their strengths, saying no to nearly everything else. No. That’s a word Microsoft should consider trying out before it gets left in the dust permanently.

12:05 by Robert dawne · 1

3 Apps for Contractors Help Estimate Building Costs

This may be the digital age, but not all contractors are fond of apps that help them estimate building costs. Some say they’re too expensive and others say the apps tend to estimate too high.
“If I used one, I wouldn’t get any work,” said Eric Reynolds, owner of EW Reynolds Contracting in Williamsburg, Virginia.
But for the growing number of contractors who see the benefits of these apps and are considering them, here are a few favorites.
3 Apps for Contractors
Bid4Build 3.5
Bid4Build includes a customer-maintenance database, a supplier database and a tool that breaks down your estimate into phases or rooms. You'll find a section that groups line items for a specific job and a database that helps calculate dimensions with a calculator. It includes forms for change orders, job costing and tracking.
The app also lets you store digital photos. You can generate maps and create a timeline schedule for subcontractors and clients to track what’s happening on a given day.
Bid4Build is easier to use than many other apps, so you can submit bids faster. It’s also easy to install, and an interactive training tutorial helps, if needed.
Cost: $500
Pros: Affordable. Lots of features. Well-designed. User-friendly.
Cons: It’s not Mac-friendly.
The bottom line: You can’t go wrong with Bid4Build. It works for large or small companies, but it’s probably best for small or mid-sized contractors.
ProContractorMX 2.6
ProContractorMX is really four apps in one. It’s great at drawing in AutoCAD and adding TDS data and image files into your report to create accurate estimates. It’s easy to customize, so it's easy to change estimates at the last minute.
Unusual features include a tool to update prices in a variety of forms, a module to calculate excavation and fills and view takeoffs of trenches.
ProContractorMX includes an advanced auto-CAD engineering functionality. It imports data from BIM files, creating estimates from the data.
Its interface is easy to use, and it includes built-in calculators and converting tools to factor in labor, equipment and markup pricing. There's a learning curve if you haven’t used an app like this before. Step-by-step instruction in a CD and Maxwell Systems courses help.
For installation, you may need an IT person to set up the database. Maxwell Systems provides a lot of support, including customer support reps you can call.
You'll find these components: ProContractorMX Digital Takeoff, ProContractorMX Estimator, ProContractorMX Earthwork and ProContractorMX Earthwork Digital Takeoff.
Cost: $2,000
Pros: Lots of features, including putting information in one place for easy presentation.
Cons: Must create your own SQL database during installation—not an easy task.
The bottom line: The app allows small and large businesses to create excellent proposals.
GoldenSeal Basic
This tool is excellent for estimating costs, scheduling, writing contracts and project management. It prepares detailed estimates.
Goldenseal includes a feature called Smart Dimensions, which makes it easy to estimate building costs. Tracking bids from subcontractors is a snap, and if subcontractors let their insurance expire, there's an option to stop their pay.
This construction-management and project-management software helps you create and manage change orders and punch lists, as well as write contracts. The business-management software organizes customers and potential customers by their contact information, appointments and sales.
Goldenseal is easy to use when it comes to setting up your client, vendor, subcontractor and company information. Setting up your cost books, cost items and assemblies is harder and takes some time and attention to detail. Despite the complexity of the app, it’s easy to install. Turtle Creek offers training courses, well-written manuals and free lifetime support.
Cost: $400
Pros: Versatile. Lots of management programs. Large database.
Cons: Lacks features found in competitor software, including CAD. Can’t export job-cost estimates.
The bottom line: Goldenseal is a good solution for small to medium-sized businesses.
Mark Di Vincenzo is a journalist with 24 years of experience and is a New York Times bestselling author. He blogs for Contently.

 American Express OPEN Forum

11:00 by Robert dawne · 1