With the launch of the iPhone in Australia later this month we will have moved a step closer to the point where phones are the preferred device for accessing the internet. This is already the case in Japan where internet content is almost universally accessed through phones.
The only question is how quickly Australian consumers will follow down the same path.
A friend of mine received a letter from their telecom company the other day. It said:
"Dear Jane Anne Smith,
We would like to advise that Jane Smith gained online access to Jane Anne Smith account details on xx Jun 2008.
This provides access to our online services using these account details.
If you have any questions regarding this letter, please visit xxxx online assistance or call us on xxx xxx xxx."
Jane accessed the online account because the company was promising to provide more environmentally sensitive invoices and reduced the amount of information on the printed account. Jane logged onto the web to access the information that was previously published on the older version of the invoice.
Then the telco sends her a printed letter specially to warn her that someone accessed her account. This seems pretty bizarre because:
Like out of control bureaucracies IT policies and processes can become total madness. They separate action from simple common sense and they divorce anyone from taking responsibility for something which is clearly nuts.
At Acorn we recognise that its not always easy to avoid the nuts (if you will excuse the confusing pun). But we also know that a process isn't completed until it is nut free.
Business is all about relationships. We want to do business with people and businesses that we have relationships with - but it is expensive for a business to create a real relationship with all its customers. That is why mass media and mass marketing has become so important.
The telecom company would not have sent the letter out if that letter had to be handwritten and hand addressed. However it still needs to work to build a good relationship with the customer.
In this case a confusing and impersonal letter leaves the customer feeling unloved and doubting the efficiency and professionalism of the business that sent it. Its a lose-lose situation.
Everyone out there who is using technology like the web to send out communications should be looking twice at the affect their communications have on their customers. Are they helping their relationship or hindering?
What makes the web so great is that it allows information to flow so freely. What makes it such a power of transformation is getting the right information to the right place in the right time.
Of course it doesn't always get it right, but when it does it changes your life (and it does it more and more often - try turning off the web and see how far you get without google or internet banking).
Here are a couple of resources that will change your life.
This is another little video of some cutting edge technology - this time of a four legged robot called "Big Dog".
Google is now a world leader in both IT and business. Its consistent ability to innovate and re-invent whole industries has allowed it to reach its current pre-eminent position.
When you think about it what Google has achieved is pretty awe-inspiring. To name but a few:
I'm sure the real list is much bigger.
Anyway there was a great article in the Age, detailing the recipe for this success. Here's a summary, and commentary
Last Friday I was lucky enough to meet Juan Mann, the guy behind the free hugs campaign that started in Sydney, but which has now spread around the world.
His is an amazing story, about a simple act which grew and grew until it has literally changed the world.
I challenge anyone to view his video (posted on youtube) without feeling refreshed and invigorated, and without walking away seeing the world in a better light. And that is priceless.
The Free Hugs campaign is an interesting story about what can happen when you directly and honestly address peoples' real needs, and communicate that solution clearly. “Free hugs” is a compelling proposition. It sells itself. More correctly, it gives itself away.
There are days when you turn around and see something so amazing that it really rocks your world. There are days when you realise that the future is already present.
This is definitely one of these moments. Check out the attached video and hyperlinks to see some really amazing technology currently being developed in Microsoft's labs.
I've posted a couple of articles extolling Open Office which - for its price - is definitely superior to Microsoft Office. Unfortunately I have recently switched from PC to Mac, and the Mac port of Open office is a bit clunky, because it hasn't been ported properly into the OS yet.
Luckily I've just discovered NeoOffice - http://www.neooffice.org/ - which is a version of Open Office that has been properly ported.
No more clunkiness. All the features that I need in an office suite. Full Microsoft compatibility. Still free.
Interestingly, I switched to Mac just as the new versions of Windows and Office came out. It's sort of passed me by as a result, but I have noticed that I don't think I've heard one piece of positive feedback about either yet. This is rather sad, since we need all the good software we can get, particularly from the dominant force in the industry. I hope things improve for them.
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