Skip to main content

@ Forrester: Why Tech Companies Should Take Serious Games Seriously


Via: Forrester Blogs - IBM Shows Why Tech Companies Should Take Serious Games Seriously

Serious Games communicating your value proposition more effectively than any ROI calculator

Tom Grant, Ph.D., Senior Analyst at Forrester Research, serves Technology Product Management & Marketing professionals, helping product managers in IT companies hone these critical skills and help the company decide which areas the product management organization needs to emphasize. 
 
He has recently blogged about how "Serious Games" do a lot more than just grabbing our attention: they are a powerful tool for a B2B company like IBM to market its products and services in a way that engages the customer more deeply, making the company's value proposition more clear and compelling.
 
Tom provides hard evidence on how IBM has been making a serious investment in Serious Games for quite a while (e.g. overview of the work IBM has done with USC, the BPM game INNOV8 and CityOne).

"Games can explain where a company's products and services fit into the machinery of the real world. Someone might quibble with the details, but if they're quibbling, they're engaged. And if they're engaged, you're communicating your value proposition more effectively than any ROI calculator", he says.

Tom goes even further:

"This different way of communicating value removes the need for the vendor to gratuitously shove its corporate face into the picture. If you play CityOne, you'll face situations in which IBM's potential role is obvious, without needing to insert a spinning, pulsating IBM logo to make the point."

"The current realities of B2B marketing make it even more important for vendors to find tools like Serious Games that can communicate value more effectively through indirect channels of communication. As Forrester's regular surveys have shown repeatedly, business buyers are increasingly self-reliant in their evaluation and purchase of a technology. They're not waiting for a salesperson to come to them; these buyers are mounting their own investigations, during which they may find you, and may find you appealing. Or not."

Today, B2B marketing feels a lot more like The Sims, in which you can influence outcomes in the larger world, but not dictate them. Given the new rules of the B2B marketing game, any tool that makes it easier for potential customers to understand you is a major force multiplier. That's just one reason for taking "Serious Games" seriously.