Archive for June, 2006

You’ve Got Nerve: AOL Won’t Let Customers Go

destinationCRM.com: You’ve Got Nerve: AOL Won’t Let Customers Go

Trying to sell to a customer at the moment of cancellation is a notion that Arussy has always disputed. “At that point the customer has already given up on the company’s ability to deliver up to the value you’ve promised them.”

Customer Service? Is that an oxymoron? Seriously, I have gotten so much poor customer service that my habits are changings. Before I would complain about poor customer service, but now I compliment good customer service. It seems that poor customer service is the norm, so I just tired of complaining.  Besides it is more fun to compliment (people seem to like that better and it puts me in a better mood too

But to the technology side of this thing. CRM has the potential to enhance digital stakeholder relationships, to remove barriers between the customer and the organization. But if used improperly it can create yet another layer, another frustration for the customer. In many ways the use of the technology can be a paradox. By its very nature technology can be sterile, it can create a disconnect with the customer. But when used strategically it can do the opposite. It can create a closer relationship. Last night as I was watching an insurance company commercial I saw a great example of how this can be done. I think it was Progressive, they explained how a customer could start a quote online and then chat with a rep or pick up the phone with the rep. The rep could start right where the customer was and walk through the rest of the process. How cool is that! Most companies would make you start at ground zero. But this is leveraging technology to enhance custome relations.

Perhaps AOL could learn something from Progressive?

29 June, 2006 | No comments

Open government meets IT

Open government meets IT | InfoWorld | Column | 2006-06-28 | By Jon Udell

One of the speakers at InfoWorld’s SOA Executive Forum in New York last fall was Dan Thomas, director of the DCStat program in Washingon’s Office of the CTO. Earlier this month, he alerted me to a remarkable development. Starting in mid-June, the District of Columbia would begin releasing operational data from a variety of city agencies to the Internet in several XML formats, including RSS and Atom.

Very, very cool development. As more organizations (like government) start usings the Web 2.0 technologies, more people will see the merits and perhaps we will see more “free” exchange of ideas. Which is what the internet was supposed to be about in the first place.

28 June, 2006 | No comments

D.C. Conference Suggests Government Is Ready for Web 2.0

Intelligent Enterprise Magazine: In Focus: D.C. Conference Suggests Government Is Ready for Web 2.0

Is Web 2.0 in government an oxymoron? It would seem that Uncle Sam in particular could easily fall out of step with a “new” Web of blogs, wikis, podcasts and RSS. Yet last week’s “Gilbane Conference on Content Technologies in Government” in Washington, DC, suggests that federal Web managers are indeed exploring Web 2.0 technologies.

The cool part of this article is how the US Government is looking at using technolgies like Blogs, Wikis, and RSS feed. However the really interesting part is how the government is having governance issues of its own in relation to its websites.

27 June, 2006 | No comments

Wi-Fi Company to Sell Routers for Five Dollars

FOXNews.com - Wi-Fi Company to Sell Routers for Five Dollars - Business And Money | Business News | Financial News

In exchange for receiving a $5 box, users must agree to share their wireless connections with other FON users for 12 months, the company said. Shipping and taxes are extra.

Now this is really interesting and there are some interesting dimensions. Opponents say it is equal to Napster, but not really. I can have a phone in my house and let you use it without penalty. If I knowingly allow you to access my WiFi is that the same thing? Is it different? The possibilities, if this works, are huge. But what will they do after the first year? Let’s keep watching….

26 June, 2006 | No comments

Why The Web Is Hitting A Wall

Why The Web Is Hitting A Wall

Not John W. Rogers Jr. The CEO of Ariel Capital Management LLC doesn’t use the Internet at work or at home. The 47-year-old Princeton University grad thinks the Net is largely a waste of time. Assistants print out e-mails for him and researchers give him paper copies of Wall Street analysts reports from the Web. He prefers to spend his time reading, talking directly with his staff, working out at the gym, or spending time with his teenage daughter. “If you’re spending all your time on e-mail, you’re not listening and reading,” says Rogers, who rarely took lecture notes while he was a student so he could listen more intently. “I listen and read; e-mail is a huge distraction.”

Very good article that leaves me wanting more. It does a good job of showing that there are reasons why one might not want to have the internet at home. But there are bigger reasons. We are at the point where there are not “technology” barriers, but barriers for other reasons. But that is more in line with my other Blog, Success in Balance so I guess I need to scoot over there and make a post…link.

25 June, 2006 | No comments

Rising gas prices fire up bloggers

CNN.com - Rising gas prices fire up bloggers - Jun 22, 2006

The marketing research firm Umbria Communications, in partnership with CNN.com, studied blog postings published between the weeks of March 12 and May 28, and found that the number of mentions of gas prices increased by more than 45 percent — from 4,032 mentions/million posts to 5,865 mentions/million.

Interesting how Blogging can now be used to measure the pulse of what’s important to consumers…which makes some sense. If we could open up thousands of people’s diaries we would know what is important to people who journal, so blogs being online journals….

22 June, 2006 | No comments

To Charge Up Customers, Put Customers in Charge

To Charge Up Customers, Put Customers in Charge - New York Times

Over the last few years, though, Mr. Fluevog hasn’t just been presenting ideas about shoes and style to customers; he has also been soliciting ideas from them — encouraging brand enthusiasts to submit their own sketches for leather boots, high-heeled dress shoes, even sneakers with flair. He posts the submissions on his company’s Web site (fluevog.com/files_2/os-1.html), invites visitors to vote for their favorites and manufactures and sells the most promising designs. He calls it all “open source footwear.”

Great article in the NYT (registration required) that addresses how companies are not just meeting customers needs, but through digital technologies they are involving stakeholders in the process.

20 June, 2006 | No comments

Web browsers getting facelifts

CNN.com - Web browsers getting facelifts - Jun 20, 2006

On Tuesday, Opera Software ASA is releasing its Opera 9 browser, while Microsoft’s Internet Explorer and Firefox are in line for major overhauls later this year.

Very cool. I hope Opera is successful. Web Browsers are the face of how we compute and Opera has always been an excellent performer. The only problem is the way that it renders pages designed for Internet Exploder…er, Explorer. Firefox has a couple of nice extensions which helps, but there are still some problems (for me it is with MS Exchange, no surprise there). Hopefully we will return to the days of standardization without MS holding everyone captive to their own standards…one can only hope.

20 June, 2006 | No comments

Google Spreadsheets turns up heat on Excel

Google Spreadsheets turns up heat on Excel | CNET News.com

Google is set to launch on Tuesday a Web-based spreadsheet program that will allow people to view and simultaneously edit data while conducting “in-document” chat, a company product manager said Monday.

Humm…so with the acquisition of Writely it seems Google is well on its way to creating an entire office type suite, online….for free? Or will we see Adwords there soon? This is one worth watching.

15 June, 2006 | No comments

GoodSearch: Search To Benefit Charity

GoodSearch: Search To Benefit Charity : Somewhat Frank ~ Blog by Frank Gruber

Just imagine what you could accomplish in the name of charity simply by using GoodSearch during your workday alone.

Just read about this search tool over at Somewhat Frank and thought it was a great idea. I know I will bookmark it! Definitely worth checking out. Especially if it provides great results (should if it is associated with Yahoo!) and raises money for good causes.

14 June, 2006 | No comments

A Wiki Situation

Inside Higher Ed :: A Wiki Situation

The expression “data out the wazoo” may apply. Still, rare is the week when I don’t glance over at least half a dozen articles from Wikipedia. (As someone once said about the comic strip “Nancy,” reading it usually takes less time than deciding not to do so.)Basic cognitive literacy includes the ability to evaluate the strengths and the limitations of any source of information. Wikipedia is usually worth consulting simply for the references at the end of an article — often with links to other online resources. Wikipedia is by no means a definitive reference work, but it’s not necessarily the worst place to start.

A nicely done review of the place for Wiki-pedia. Should it be the answer to all of our questions? No. Should it not be considered when answering questions? No. The answer lies some place inbetween.

14 June, 2006 | No comments

Welcome to My Blog

Welcome to My Blog - Editorial - CIO

That helped me stop overthinking blogs. They’re not a profound new means of expression. They’re just a tool—another arrow in the communications quiver. If this were a real blog, I’d keep things short and stick to one topic per posting. Here, I’ll cover three things: how to get started, how to navigate the blogosphere and a few final tips.

Even CIO is getting in on the blogging action…or at least helping people understand how to blog and the role that they play in a corporate environment.

12 June, 2006 | No comments

Survey: e-mail violations led to firings at 1 in 3 companies

Survey: e-mail violations led to firings at 1 in 3 companies - Jun. 5, 2006

Nearly one in three U.S. companies has terminated an employee for violating e-mail policy in the past year, a survey released Monday said.The survey of 294 U.S. companies with at least 1,000 employees found that, in many cases, employees who sent e-mails containing confidential information about the organization or e-mails that were considered obscene and offensive were disciplined or terminated.

Interesting, but nothing shocking here. This will be a continual concern especially in light of the liabilities companies can face in regards to e-mail content and company secrets. Many students are shocked when they learn the employers can do this. I wonder how many employees actual know the computer use policies of the employers?

5 June, 2006 | No comments

Glitch delays e-mail from AOL, others

CNN.com - Glitch delays e-mail from AOL, others - Jun 2, 2006

Millions of AOL, Compuserve and Netscape customers around the world were experiencing delays in sending and receiving e-mails Thursday.A problem was discovered about 11 a.m. ET, according to Nicholas Graham of AOL Corporate Communications.

“It is not an outage, it is a delay,” he said. The company is queueing up millions of e-mails, and they will all flow through when the problem is solved, he said.

Have you considered how dependent we are on e-mail? I have. It seems as more of my colleagues get spam control at theis institutions, more of my e-mails are sent to the spam bin. Not that I send spam, but often when forwarding a good article or insight, it might fit with some of the “spam” rules, so off I go. However many don’t check their spam bins, so I am left following up with a …”did you get this…”

It has made me very aware of how dependent I am on e-mail.

2 June, 2006 | No comments

Company Appeals Decision on ‘.xxx’ Domain

FOXNews.com - Company Appeals Decision on ‘.Xxx’ Domain - Science And Technology News | News On Technology

Although the Internet’s key oversight agency rejected a proposal to create a “.xxx” domain for porn sites, the domain’s chief sponsor, ICM Registry Inc., is appealing the decision and began taking reservations from adult sites this week.

At least some sees the sense to this, besides me

1 June, 2006 | No comments