INNOBLOG

Looking for a last minute gift for your uncle who has everything? Feel kinda bad about the massive amounts of waste that holiday shopping creates every year? Dont really feel like going to the mall yet again? Want to make one more charitable donation this year? (Santa will appreciate itand its tax deductible).

Well do we have the innovation for youthe charity gift card. The gift certificates are premised on store branded gift cards or stored value cash cards (themselves a disruptive innovation), except the recipient of the gift is able to donate the value to the charity of their choice over the web.

A year ago we reported on our founder Clayton Christensens notion of catalytic innovation, which is disruptive innovation applied in the social sphere. Whereas a disruptive innovation transforms a commercial space by redefining the relevant plane of competition and thereby breaking down barriers to consumption for a significant customer set, a catalytic innovation transforms the ability to respond to a social need by targeting and overcoming the barriers that prevent that need from being met. Just as the fundamental unit of analysis needed to hone in on an innovation in the commercial sphere is the job to be done the essential task that a customer is looking to accomplish catalytic innovations occur when a clever business model enables the satisfaction of important jobs to be done in the social sphere.

The charity gift card fits this model to a T, illustrating the catalytic force of innovation in the social sphere and the power of business model innovation to unlock new market growth in all sorts of settings. By providing an easily accessible, convenient, and useful new way to give charity, the charity gift card will expand the overall amount of money donated.

So what jobs to be done does the charity gift card address? Think of all the bad and semi-useless presents we buy over the course of our lives. Around Christmas time we give out sweaters that will never get worn and knickknacks that will fill up drawers and landfills. So many of us would rather give and receive a certificate that enables us to donate a certain amount of money to a favorite charity.

The gift cards also fill a void in corporate or semi-formal gifting. When a colleague loses a family member we might send flowers, but wouldn't it be more meaningful to send a charity gift card, to be donated in memory of the departed?

Of course, everyone likes giving charity and everyone agrees that its a good idea. But the cleverness of the charity gift card model lies in the linkage between gift giving an often unsatisfying and frustrating experience and charity. Your gift is guaranteed to be appreciated on certain levels; it feels good to give, and it feels good to get, because ultimately it does good. Our charities and the causes they serve are the biggest winners.

See: CharityChoice Gift Cards

The annual family newsletter has been typed. The photos of your kids making snowmen are just too cute. Youre about to hit the "send button to get the e-mail to your whole family, when you remember that Grandpa doesnt own a computer. You could print everything and send it to him via snail-mail, but youve waited until the last minute and know he wont get it until after the holidays. What do you do?

If you or someone else has set Grandpa up with Presto, the answer is easy; you e-mail it to him. Presto couples an HP Printing Mailbox with Presto Service, a low cost, flat-rate monthly service to automatically print hard-copies of e-mails and photos sent by authorized users. Presto allows people to conveniently send messages and images, while simultaneously reducing the hardware and skill needed by the recipient.

Prestos offering is innovative. It overcomes barriers by offering a simple, at-home solution for the less tech-savvy. You can handle all the account details remotely, even monitoring ink levels. Grandpa just needs to plug the Printing Mailbox into a power outlet and phone jack, and add the included paper and ink cartridge. Then he can instantly receive hard-copy e-mails and photos. Grandpa doesnt need to own a computer or know how to use the internet to get that newsletter right away, and he doesnt need to go to the local pharmacy to pick up the photos that you would have needed to order.

Surprisingly, this offering has been around for a year. The concept is innovative and the reviews on Amazon.com are great, but if not for a commercial on television recently, I probably wouldnt have known it exists. Why hasnt there been wider adoption? Possible reasons include that in an effort to simplify the experience for the end-user, there is reduced functionality and the involvement of another party is also needed. This product offering relies on someone purchasing the Printing Mailbox and setting up the Presto Service account for another. HP has rendered the Printing Mailbox useless for purposes other than use with the Presto Service; it cannot be connected to a computer. Additionally, someone with a computer and access to the internet must be the account administrator; they are responsible for adding authorized users.

Despite these drawbacks, Presto has potential. Presto targets end-users who are traditionally non-consumers of computers and printers, offering a simpler product to help them join the age of instant electronic communication. The product offering also expands the HP brand to individuals who would typically not use its products. Simplifying technology to draw in non-consumers is something weve seen successfully implemented before, and perhaps with Presto, we will see it again. After all, now Grandpa can get e-mail without a computer.