Another Business Disruption

If it’s happening to cab drivers, it can happen to anyone.

Customers-in aggregate-now have more power than the businesses.

The Backstory

At BWI rail station, cabs wait to pounce on stranded or time-constrained passengers, charging exorbitant fees to take advantage of a stressful situations.

It’s cause for resentment, but what can you do?

Disruption Awakening

While waiting to pick up a colleague, I started to chat with some of the cabbies and the talk turned to their business practices, how they decided what to charge whom.

“You know that you guys have a pretty bad reputation, right?”

They looked surprised.

I pulled out my phone and showed them my recent Foursquare check-in, where the tips frequently discussed how to deal with the predatory cab practices.

They were floored. “What’s the name of this app? I need to download it.”

It Is Happening to Everyone

EVERY organization and every industry deals with people. Those people have a voice that can be heard everywhere and at zero marginal cost.

NOT hearing the voice and engaging in a conversation with it leads down a lonely path.

Note: Sprinklr integrates with Foursquare so large companies can see who is checking-in and connect that information with the same person’s behavior on other social networks. In that way, they know if someone checks in at a store, it is the same person who tweeted last week about loving sweaters (or whatever it might be. You get the picture.)