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The great US digital television migration starts on February 17, 2009

Do you have a TV antenna connection that plugs directly in to your TV or Media Center PC? If so, think about how you will prepare for a transition that is finally coming in the industry: on February 17, 2009, the US will make the transition to digital television, as analog TV channels will be cut off. See the article Will Box Shortage Mar DTV Transition?



“Digital-to-analog convertors that would keep old sets going are supposed to be available by January 1, 2008. But David Rehr, president of the National Association of Broadcasters, says the supply of set-top boxes may not meet the need.”


So if you are what is framed as an “over-the-air” television viewer (aka OTA), then you should be aware of the change. But if you’re one of the majority of US households that receives television programming from cable or satellite, then your analogue TV receiver won’t be impacted. Cable and satellite provide set top box convertors. And OTA HD programming is not impacted, so if you’ve hooked up a new HD TV receiver to an antenna, you won’t be impacted.


Other interesting TV facts from Nielsen Media: 



  • There are an average of 111.4 million TV homes in the United States for the 2006-07 TV season.

  • 98% of American households own a TV, and over 76% of American households own 2 or more TV’s (82% of U.S homes have more than one television set at home)

  • The average U.S. TV home has 2.5 people and 2.8 television sets

  • 28% of U.S. TV homes have digital cable

  • 64% of homes have wired cable hook-ups (down from 68% in 2000) and 23% have satellite or specialized antenna systems to receive television signals

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Accenture on a (sometimes misleading) positive perception of customer service

I spoke with a customer today relatedt to a technology deployment related to infrastructure and planning. At one point I was somewhat frustrated as I saw that we had room to improve on the customer’s experience with our products, and how we have opportunities to streamline our communications.


Fast forward to this evening after putting kids to bed and receiving a link from a friend to http://www.destinationcrm.com/. This week CRM magazine has an article on their site that examines how some high tech execs “tend to have a more positive perception of the customer service experience they deliver than what their customers actually experience.”


Referencing a new report out from Accenture, “Superior Customer Service Capabilities: Key Factors in the Journey to High Performance,” Coreen Bailor writes…   



“Consumers’ rising customer service expectations, coupled with factors like product commoditization, make leveraging customer service as a competitive differentiator even more crucial for companies across all industries, including technology firms. Even so, high-tech companies and consumers are far from being on the same page when it comes to their perceptions of customer service satisfaction…”


Really? Sure, she must be joking. 😉


But seriously, I’ve been impressed by how self-critical our customer support teams are; through their connections with our product teams they help us ensure that we understand where we are successful in supporting our customers and where we have room to improve.  


Brian Sprague of Accenture (and the report’s co-author) said that a cultural shift must occur in companies with product-centric mindsets…



“It’s something you can’t just do at the VP of service level. It has to be throughout the entire company, meaning that appropriate incentives need to be put in place, [you must have the] appropriate capabilities to decide what is the customer experience that you want to create, and then work throughout the entire organization to deliver that customer experience.” [my bold]


Absolutely right. Making sure that the entire is working to imrpove upon the customer experience is key, and an area where we all have room to improve (me, too).


Tags: Microsoft, loyalty, Customer Satisfaction, Customer Service.

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Seattle Times blog on Microsoft, and aligning around opportunities

In Brier Dudley’s blog today, the Seattle Times writer writes about how the company is taking a step in a next step beyond the Windows, given some of the latest moves (including the move of Bob Muglia’s Server & Tools org to MBD under Jeff Raikes) and how we will think of computer hardware and operating systems a decade in the future…



“Rob Helm speculated that Friday’s reorganization positioned Jeff Raikes to become Microsoft’s next chief executive someday.


“That’s interesting. It also seems pretty clear that Platforms boss Kevin Johnson’s duties were pared so he can focus on making the aQuantive merger work well.


“But doesn’t it seem like the broad-brush effect was to align Microsoft around its primary competitors?”


IMHO, you don’t align around competitors… you align around opportunities.


To me, it appears that the company is better aligned around great business opportunities, and helps to ensure that the various business teams are better connected, to help them make the most of those opportunities. And sure, there’s an aspect of providing better products and solutions to our customers and partners than those from the competition.

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ASCI customer satisfaction survey results online, for phones, computers and much more

On MSN Money Central news today, Qwest and Verizon rated highly when it comes to fixed-line telephone companies in the most recent American Customer Satisfaction Index (ASCI) customer satisfaction survey.



“The ASCI measures customer satisfaction on a 100-point scale in four telecommunications subsectors: fixed-line service, wireless service, cable and satellite television and cell phones. Qwest (NYSE: Q) and Verizon (NYSE: VZ) both scored 72 in the survey. Cox Radio Inc. (NYSE: CXR) and AT&T Inc. (NYSE: ATT) both scored 70. Comcast Corp. (NYSE: CCW) scored 67. Embarq Corp. (NYSE: EQ) scored 66.”


Google ranks at the top of internet search engines, Yahoo! (followed very closely by AOL and MSN) for Internet Portals,  and in Personal Computers Apple bested Dell by five points (closely followed by HP).


Tags: Microsoft, loyalty, Customer Satisfaction, Customer Service.

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Lucky Lindy would have made a great programme manager

On this day in 1927, Charles Lindbergh completed the first nonstop transatlantic flight, landing at Le Bourget airfield near Paris.


This from Wired’s Wired magazine’s today in tech:



Late in life, “Lucky Lindy” became an outspoken environmentalist, warning, among other things, of blindly embracing technology. “All the achievements of mankind have value only to the extent that they preserve and improve the quality of life,” he said. In a 1967 interview, he elaborated: “The human future depends on our ability to combine the knowledge of science with the wisdom of wildness.”


In the conception, preparation and planning for his flight, Lindbergh had to be a constant cheerleader for his unorthodox idea of making the first solo, nonstop transatlantic flight. Just goes to show that with a great idea, the right tools and tremendous determination — plus the vision that you can accomplish a task — you have a recipe for success. Passion, follow through and tenacity are also great traits. 😉


Much like Lindbergh, a young flier today is Barrington Irving, a 23-year old senior majoring in aerospace at Florida Memorial University, who concerned himself with the planning and building of an airplane built from scratch (with each individual piece donated by the manufacturers) to kick off an around the world flight that his site notes “will make him the first person of African descent and the youngest person ever to fly solo around the globe.”



“Barrington was just 15 but had found his passion. He started spending afternoons and weekends at the airport, washing planes for private aircraft owners in exchange for half-hour flights or money he could use for flying lessons. Every evening he practiced flying on his own using $40 Microsoft Flight Simulator software. Focused on the dream of becoming a pilot, he turned down college football scholarships and enrolled in a community college where his tuition was partly covered by a Florida Bright Future Scholarship based on his high marks in high school.”


And some people think that playing video games will net today’s youth no usable or valuable skills. Good for him.


You can follow Barrington’s flight on his blog at http://barringtonirving.spaces.live.com/ (a little behind schedule due to weather) and on his site at http://www.experienceaviation.org/.