10 strategic actions Yahoo's CEO should do now.

Here are 10 strategic actions that the management of Yahoo should do.

1. Bring Yahoo email up to par

Yahoo email is actually more popular competitor Gmail — with 302 million users globally, according to Yahoo’s statistics. But Gmail is growing quickly and will eventually win this battle. Both of them are far behind Microsoft’s Hotmail client, which reported 360 million unique users in July.

Yahoo mail still doesn’t allow people to use their accounts as an all-purpose e-mail utility for work, enterprise and recreational unless they pay for a premium subscription — meaning if you want to hide ads, gain offline access via POP, use more than 100 filters/labels or forward your mail to other accounts — you have to pay $19.99 annually.

2. Restore Flickr to greatness

Flickr rose in popularity because it amplified the ability of photographers to store, catalog and share their hobby. Eventually, Yahoo saw its potential and purchased the company. And many critics have argued that’s pretty much where the service went wrong.

Fast forward to 2012, and we see that the iPhone is now the most used camera for uploading pictures to Flickr. We also see that Instagr.am, a startup that gives users filters for pictures they take with mobile phones, has pulled in 13 million users and been named Apple’s number one iOS app of 2011. The problem is that Flickr isn’t mobile enough. The company needs a happy medium between Flickr and Instagr.am — and it needs it fast.

3. Consolidate & trim the fat

Yahoo desperately needs another consolidation plan — something that combines all of its social products into one nice, neat package the way Google is attempting to do with Google+. It’s not enough for Yahoo to provide integration of these services. The company needs to take (another) hard look at what products and areas it’s successful in, and concentrate on them entirely.

This also means the company will inevitably have to trim the fat. Services like Yahoo’s IntoNow, a social check-in service for people watching TV frequently, is hot. Several analysts see the product going anywhere in the future. Yahoo has a history of building great services and not knowing quite what to do with them, leading the company to do nothing more often than not. It should consolidate IntoNow into Yahoo’s other social services and kill things like Yahoo Deals and 4cast.

4. Better organize

The company has several very popular media channels for sports and lifestyle/culture that aren’t being used to their fullest potential. Partnerships between Yahoo and other services (Monster.com, Match.com, etc.) are mixed in with all the other Yahoo channels, which probably earns the company lots of money for placement, but isn’t very desirable for the overall user experience. Yahoo should reorganize these channels, affiliate services and products into something more manageable.


5. Clean up the homepage

Yahoo’s homepage is extremely busy. It has a somewhat complete list of apps/services in a left sidebar, tabs along the top, trending topics on the right along with must-see trending videos, a collection of recent and interesting news down the middle. The company can certainly do a better job of streamlining its services into something more appealing than the current offering.


6-Get Back Into Search

Yahoo partnered with Microsoft to have Bing power its search engine a couple of years ago, part of a deal that let Yahoo run advertising for both. While the arrangement may make sense from a financial standpoint, it robs Yahoo of direct control over one of its primary products, and strengthen's Bing's brand more than Yahoo's. The move basically told them to never come back.

7-Platform First, Services Second

Yahoo has a problem with its products: It's always chasing its competition. Typically, an innovator or competitor will launch a service, then Yahoo will follow much later with a similar product that's inferior. And its core services (search, email) were quickly outclassed by more nimble and focused players. Think Flipboard vs. Livestand, Gmail vs. Yahoo Mail and Digg vs. Yahoo Buzz. Over the past six or seven years, Yahoo has been the ultimate me-too digital brand.

Even though some of those services have improved (notably Mail), a bunch of disparate services does not make a platform. This is something Facebook, Amazon and Google understand, but Yahoo doesn't. Yahoo has a bunch of people using its services, but they're not connected in any meaningful way. Yahoo needs to find its focus going forward -- maybe it's the multitude of niche and hyper-local Groups that are still very popular -- and start uniting its suite of products around that.

8- Make a similar HuffPo Move

When AOL bought The Huffington Post, it was a questionable decision, but it was a strong move forward in the company's plan to morph itself as a media company. It also got people talking about the brand again. Yahoo needs an equivalent action to really assert itself either as an innovator or serious player in the media business. Acquiring the right startup or small-but-growing company (I'm looking at you, Tumblr) could give Yahoo direction, attention and something it's in short supply of -- cool.

9-Get Allies

Yahoo can't compete in every digital sectors. Yahoo's aging brand needs more focus. Yahoo killed its me-too deals service after a few short months last year, so now might be a good time a partnership with Groupon, which could use the help after that firm's shaky IPO. Yahoo made a strategic deal with Facebook in 2010, and it might be worth expanding that. LinkedIn is another company, at least demographic-wise, that might be a good match. Mobile is clearly an area that Yahoo wants to grow in, and there are some key players (Microsoft, RIM, Nokia, Sony) that would also love to take a bite out of Apple and Google.

10-Exit Asia

Yahoo's stake in Asia has been financially lucrative, but it's still a distraction. Its holdings in both Yahoo Japan (35%) and Alibaba Group (42%) don't give Yahoo enough control to make any difference to its core brand. It's already looking at making a deal to sell off these assets,. That'll give the company more focus and a big pile of cash to help it innovate in the coming (hopefully) years and maybe make interesting acquisitions such as vertical WebMD.

Conclusion

The company is in needs of a coherent innovation strategy that relies on a good mix between internal and external innovation building capabilities; acquisitions of innovation from start-ups and hot niche players; and alliances.

Source: Venture Beat and Mashable

Louis Rhéaume
Infocom Intelligence
louis@infocomintelligence.com
Twitter: @InfocomAnalysis