This framework is competencies-based (inward out) rather than needs-based (outward in), and much more naturally centers on the customer—the absolute key to any profit-expansion effort.

The idea with enterprise edges is to exploit foundational assets in ways that were not foreseen when they were developed to support the core business.

Every download is effectively an optional improvement to the original device purchase.

To find an edge opportunity, we propose starting with a different set of questions: What do our different types of customers want (or need)? What could or should our solution include? Which of our assets would others value and why?

Accordingly, options that wrap service around product, anything that turns “do it yourself” into “do it for me,” is a journey edge.

In all of these edge examples, the common theme is that the system that supports the transition space creates leverage.

The first problem is that few (if any) companies are able to sustain core dominance over the long term. The second, bigger problem is that by definition, this route to success doesn’t even apply to most companies.

We think of customers as being on “journeys”—or missions to do or accomplish something. From this, it follows that any product or service is merely a step along the way to achieving a bigger goal.

We define an “edge” as the outer rim that frames what you do and separates it, quite conveniently, from what you don