A few years ago I joined a small team at Polaroid to try and set up a corporate venture fund to incubate new digital businesses. These new services would help diversify the firms revenue stream away from film sales and help take advantage of the emerging SaaS and other Internet business models. Our focus was primarily on the commercial side, a division that produced over $1b in revenue in its hey day.
It sounds like a good match; Polaroid and the web. Both instant and sharable. However, Polaroid did not understand that they were a workflow company. For example, P&C insurers were big customers as they would use Polaroid film to document damage, staple it to a form, and mail it in to be processed. We propposed that this workflow was undergoing a shift to digital, with digital forms and pictures streamlining the process and Polaroid was well positioned with compression technogy, digital image knowledge, and a giant customer base with real contacts and brand equity.
Despite these advantages, the recurring refrain at the executive level was: "But, where is the print.?"
Just because you were something yesterday does not mean it is what you will be or need to be tomorrow.
It sounds like a good match; Polaroid and the web. Both instant and sharable. However, Polaroid did not understand that they were a workflow company. For example, P&C insurers were big customers as they would use Polaroid film to document damage, staple it to a form, and mail it in to be processed. We propposed that this workflow was undergoing a shift to digital, with digital forms and pictures streamlining the process and Polaroid was well positioned with compression technogy, digital image knowledge, and a giant customer base with real contacts and brand equity.
Despite these advantages, the recurring refrain at the executive level was: "But, where is the print.?"
Just because you were something yesterday does not mean it is what you will be or need to be tomorrow.
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