Santa's the (e)Business

Twas the night before Christmas and all through the web not a button was clicking, not from any ol' mouse. Lets spend a minute, on this cold winters night, to let the spirit of Christmas take us forward in time. To a time when Santa Claus is busier than ever and that nasty Scrooge is no where in sight. To 2010.

Santa Claus is a holly, jolly fellow and why wouldn’t he be? He’s a global success story. Santa’s operation is of course mainly online these days – it’s 2010 remember! Way back in 2006 web 2.0 hit its peak (don’t worry, even four years on, still no-one knows what Web 2.0 is!)

Santa knew he had to move with the times and become web-enabled. It was at the end of 2006, just after the Christmas delivery rush, when Santa approached a Digital Agency for help. He didn’t know exactly what he needed or how best to move forward but what he did know that he had to change. This suited the Digital Agency perfectly as Santa had clear objectives and the willingness to continue his unprecedented global festive success.

Okay enough of the sales pitch, on to the story…

In terms of innovations, Santa has embraced his fair share. For instance, he helps his bottom line by offering a premium rate phone service and he uses those revenues to help fill the stockings of all the little boys and girls. SMS and WAP used to play an important role, but now it’s all about interactive premium services and let’s face it, everyone likes to chat on the phone, especially to Santa and his little helpers! SMS and WAP still play an important role but they are used to support other systems such as delivery notifications, online gift lists and exciting ‘visit Santa’ competitions.

In essence – Santa does its all. He has utilised new and changing technology to become the single source for all things Christmas throughout the world. He has treated technology as an enabler to light his way and help lead his business through the ‘on’ and ‘off’ season. He has diversified and embraced new innovations and services – from manufacturing to ordering and delivery. Rudolf has even been able to retire from active duty and concentrate on training a new generation of super-efficient and eco-friendly hybrid powered delivery sleds (part reindeer, part solar charged electric!)!

Being based in the North Pole, Santa worried about the carbon footprint and eco-friendliness of his business. The internet has helped to address issue this with email versus paper wish-lists and wrapping paper printed with natural dyes from reusable sources. Santa also offers all of his customers an individual wrapping service where they pick one of a hundred themes and he wraps all the presents in the same way. By offering a central shopping and themed wrapping service that would put Amazon to shame, we don’t spend lots of time, emissions and frustration in the Christmas rush.

And its not just presents that Santa sells – it’s Christmas eCards, online carolling services, ready-to-cook dinners (for every national pallet!), tree decorations and personal online shoppers. Not to mention the array of financial lending tools and services to help ease the parental burden when Christmas comes around.

Google’n for the North Pole website is easy for all the little kids (and parents who haven’t quite grown up yet) as it comes up on right at the top of the search engines. Why? Because Santa’s Digital Agency knows how to optimise! As well as this, even Google is angling for that extra something, and has invested in Santa’s business. Google bought Christmas? Who’d have thought!

Santa’s rickety old workshop is a thing of the past – all the little elves work at home in their own state of the art mini-workshops supported by shared services such as VOIP and hosted CRM, planning and management solutions. These services are of course managed by Jack Frost and distributed between the North and South poles (not just for disaster recovery, but because that’s where Jack spends his summers!).

For good Ol’ Santa Claus it’s been a fantastic journey. In a recent interview Santa said the greatest benefit was “knowing what he wanted to achieve and finding the expertise to help make it happen”. His willingness to embrace the latest online technologies moved his business efficiency forward, improved his eco-footprint and helped keep the world’s children (and their parents!) happy. Not bad for a guy who started out in the North Pole with only seven reindeer and a rickety old sled!

I'm sure Santa's only regret, despite all his jolly, is that he didn't innovate earlier - all of this would have been possible with lightershade today.