At least I’m younger than Spunik.
Interesting Space.com article on Spaceflight technology’s next 50 years, as the race began 50 years ago with Sputnik 1 blasting into orbit.
Categories
Tag: articles
In the last issue of BusinessWeek there is an article on “The Ethics of Outsourcing Customer Service” by Bruce Weinstein.
“It’s a familiar scenario: A product you purchased recently has developed a problem, so you call the company’s toll-free number and are connected to a “customer service associate” in India or the Philippines. You describe your problem but have a hard time understanding what the company representative is saying. You try several more times to communicate why you are calling but cannot get information that you can comprehend. You ask to be transferred to someone in the U.S. and are then put on hold for what seems like an eternity. You hang up in frustration and vow never again to purchase anything from this company.
“More and more businesses are outsourcing not just manufacturing jobs but services ones too. On the face of it, this seems like a smart financial move: By slashing labor costs 25%, 50%, or more, companies that have had slim profit margins are now able to enrich the bottom line and keep shareholders happy.
“Outsourcing customer service, however, is not only unethical. It’s bad for business.”
For a moment, let’s also distinguish between overseas staffing and outsourcing internationally. Yes, I certainly have been on the receiving end of less-than-perfect customer service when calling a company, but this is not just a factor of outsourcing. Here’s an example of where it worked recently:
This past week we had a problem with a consumer electronic (a TV) so I called the manufacturer yesterday, on a weekend, expecting to get a message saying “call back as we’re off for the weekend.”
Guess what: someone answered, on a Saturday afternoon after lunch.
“Hi, this is John for Sharp Electronics. How can I help you?”
After giving all my information to John and detailing the problem, he said that I should call back the same number on Monday with my case number, and that a Sharp representative would have more information after looking at my case. Having read the above article, I asked: You don’t work for Sharp?”
“No, I am a representative for [Sharp] and staff the weekend lines to make sure that the company responds to your needs. We take customer calls, send them to resources on the web and if we need to, we take down their information so Sharp can work on it first thing on Monday.”
Very cool.
I recalled why I purchased devices from Sharp in the past and how this influenced our latest: the company is responsive.
[Follow up: Following my weekend call, I was on the phone with a rep on Monday morning who had already triaged the problem and had a set of things for me to try with the set. After going through the list, Sharp quickly arranged to dispatch a repairman who diagnosed the problem and authorized for a replacement to be shipped to me. In less than a week, I had a new set, and Sharp followed up to ensure that my needs had been met.]
(Disclaimer: I have worked closely with Sharp Electronics in the US and Japan during my career and always found the company to be very customer focused, innovative and hungry for my business.)
Sure, you’re sure to run into poor customer service experiences as a result of outsourcing, as I have with one large PC manufacturer, a peripheral company and household appliance company — these past issues are clearly in my memory. In two cases the service was from North American operators who clearly had no clue what was what or even the basic details of the product (or the company for that matter, mispronouncing the name of the stovetop manufacturer). And in another case, I couldn’t make out a word the operator was saying, due to the poor connection (as if I were calling the outback via a string and two tin cans) and the unintelligible accent.
I agree with the author above that “working on the front lines of customer service means, first and foremost, being able to understand what the customer needs and then meeting those needs efficiently.” In some cases, outsourcing works, and in others, it doesn’t. Companies that place a premium on meeting the needs of their customers will enjoy better extended relationships that will encourage greater word of mouth support, repurchase and as in my case, consumer loyalty. These are some of the reasons we’ve purchased and repurchased products from Dell, HP, Sharp, Sony and Toshiba… as well as Microsoft.
Tags: Microsoft, Customer Service, Customer Support.
An interesting article on BusinessWire (Sept 25, 2007), Survey Reveals Top 100 U.S. Online Retailers’ Customer Service Shortfalls, highlights how top retailers don’t live up to customer’s demands when it comes to providing “an exceptional customer experience.”
Seems that most dropped the ball and found that success could be as simple as answering their email, providing better self-help tools and returning customer calls…
“Overall, the Talisma audit revealed that online retailers are failing in three key areas:
1. One-third of email queries were ignored – Email is generally accepted as one of the most efficient communication tools. This seems to have been overlooked by many online retailers as 34% didn’t reply to customer emails.
2. Lack of Self-Help Tools – 97% of online retailers had no knowledge base to help prospective buyers make an informed decision based on product features and suitability, known issues, or customer service accessibility and policies.
3. Accuracy of information provided – only 51% of emails and 72% of phone calls answered provided accurate information.”
Gives me greater incentive to ensure that I am getting to my email backlog in a more timely manner (with apologies)
A copy of the report (along with a list of the online retailers surveyed) is available at http://www.talisma.com/tal_emails/us/retail/ret_us_form.asp.
Fall is upon us, but I’m still hopeful for more summer weather. Here are a few articles from the reading file for the commute this week (thru August 23rd).
As noted these are all (for the most part) available for download, making it easy to save for reading on mobile devices. I personally like the Sound Transit busses with wireless access.
Have a good week ahead.
SiliconValley.com – ‘Reverse brain drain’ threatens U.S. competitiveness, study says – Associated Press, 08/22/2007, SAN FRANCISCO – The percentage of patents filed by foreigners living in the U.S. has tripled in the past decade – yet the tight cap on permanent visas may force entrepreneurs back home to create rival companies in China…
Vindu’s View: Let’s talk about Silicon Valley’s challenges (SiliconValley.com) – By Vindu Goel, Mercury News, 08/22/2007. In Silicon Valley, we don’t need to play Second Life to get away from the reality. We already live in an alternate universe. People here do more than collect a paycheck – they obsessively invent new technologies …
Passing the Torch – Columns by PC Magazine – PC Magazine editor Jim Louderback leaves and says that he is frustrated with Windows Vista…. saved by 45 other people
ACSI: Flat Customer Satisfaction Suggests Continued Weak Consumer Spending –The American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) registers a marginal increase as customer satisfaction slows, according to a report released today from the University of Michigan’s National Quality Research Center.
Delving into the Mystery of Customer Satisfaction: A Toyota for the Retail Market? – Knowledge@Wharton – Aug 10, 2005, read more than 61,000 times. “…in retailing, there is no clear company to follow. There is no Toyota in retailing.” Researchers have begun two closely related projects to find out what drives success in the disparate world of retailing … saved by 1 other person
Beware of Dissatisfied Consumers: They Like to Blab (Knowledge@Wharton) – March 8, 2006. Wharton marketing professor Stephen J. Hoch, who suffered through this scenario first hand during a recent shopping trip, says customers are bound to talk about these kinds of experiences… saved by 1 other person
The Art and Science of Measuring CEO Performance (Knowledge@Wharton) – Aug 22, 2007. The long-term performance of a company’s stock may be the ultimate test of a CEO’s talents. But that’s not the only measurement used by boards of directors to gauge how well the boss is doing.
How to Fix Wal-Mart? Ask Its Managers (BusinessWeek) – by Pallavi Gogoi, August 21, 2007. Store managers from across the country—who know Wal-Mart’s customers best—have a few ideas to get the retailer back on track… saved by 5 other people
Wi-Fi on your Pocket PC (Jason Langridge’s WebLog – MR Mobile) – Pocket WiFi Radar will connect to open hotspots and automatically get your email or start any program you want. All of that in a cool animated radar screen. You may walk around and it will keep scanning untill it finds a free internet connection for you… saved by 1 other person
Make Vista Work for the Whole Family (extreme tech) – How To: Got a computer that’s shared by the whole family? Or a computer in an office that has to support more than one user? Here’s how to set up Windows Vista so that everybody’s happy.
Coupon Search Results for ‘Flat Panel TV Wall Mount’
Wired for customer satisfaction (Sioux City Journal) – Performing service after normal business hours is commonplace for Massey and Advanced Computer’s team of technicians. By Dave Dreeszen Journal business editor
The Allure Of New IT — Emerging Technology — InformationWeek – TransUnion Interactive’s willingness to try new technologies has paid off in many ways. By Scott Metzger, TransUnion Interactive’s CTO InformationWeek August 18, 2007 12:02 AM (From the August 20, 2007 issue)
VMware, XenSource, and The Future Of Virtualization — Virtualization — InformationWeek – Big moves by the two companies change the landscape for one of software’s hottest markets. By Charles Babcock InformationWeek August 18, 2007 12:02 AM (From the August 20, 2007 issue)
Facebook Could Challenge Google And Become The Remote Control For The Web – Mobile Blog – InformationWeek – Posted by Stephen Wellman, Aug 17, 2007 07:12 PM. Last month, I argued that Facebook posed a challenge to professional networking site LinkedIn. While I stand by that assessment, I think that in that post I didn’t go far enough.
Netflix Tries To Revive Customer Service – Digital Life Blog (InformationWeek) – posted by Barbara Krasnoff, Aug 20, 2007 10:08 AM. My mother likes to chat with customer service reps over the phone — that is, when she can actually work her way past the menus to a sentient human being.
Microsoft to Build the Next Version of Windows XP Embedded – With the help of its automated user feedback program? (Softpedia) – As the next version of Windows XP Embedded is in the works, Microsoft is considering relying heavily on user feedback for shaping the final product. End users would actually get the chance to improve the upcoming release of Windows XP Embedded …
Coding Horror: Thirteen Blog Clichés – I started out in early 2004 as a blog skeptic. But over the last four years, I’ve become a born-again believer. In that time, I’ve written almost a thousand blog entries, and I’ve read thousands upon thousands of blog entries… saved by 306 other people … on aug 20
Amazon leaks specs, delivery, and price for Canon’s EOS 40D – Engadget – “Hot damn kiddies. Amazon just posted the specs and delivery for Canon’s EOS 40D. Of course, it’s not official ’til it’s official but Amazon lists a September 20th availability for the true 30D successor. The specs? They’re all there: new 10.1 megapixel…”… saved by 13 other people … on aug 20
How would you change Windows Vista? – Engadget – So, what does Microsoft need to do to make Vista (and its price points) more palatable (short of re-releasing it based on the WinFS file system)? Loosen up the DRM restrictions? Toss the controversial WGA? Put all possible features in a single SKU… saved by 11 other people … on aug 20
Walt Mossberg tackles Apple’s iWork ’08 – Engadget – The Moss-man has gotten into a down-and-dirty review of Apple’s latest version of its Office-battling software suite iWork ’08 (which includes Pages, Keynote, and the new spreadsheet program Numbers) and delivers a one-two punch to the new package. … saved by 1 other person … on aug 20
Write Articles, Not Blog Postings (Jakob Nielsen’s Alertbox) – To demonstrate world-class expertise, avoid quickly written, shallow postings. Instead, invest your time in thorough, value-added content that attracts paying customers. Jakob Nielsen’s Alertbox, July 9, 2007… saved by 722 other people … on aug 20
Gerald Kanapathy’s Blog: Successful Blogging – Gerald Kanapathy’s Blog | August 8, 2007 10:15 PM | Comments (1) So I said a lot, but maybe it’s time for me to be specific. What does blogging actually do for your organization? … saved by 6 other people … on aug 20
MJ HEALTH & FITNESS: Get the Winner’s Edge – Olympic style all-sport workout – Looking for that added burst on the court or slopes? Steal this all-sport workout from the top U.S. hopefuls in Turin.
The Investment Guide – Forbes.com – Forbes.com staff, 05.19.05, 6:00 PM ET. So you’re 50 and you keep reading how far behind you are in accumulating enough assets for retirement. In this spring’s Investment Guide, we show you how you can best plan to store up gold for the golden years…
Picassos And Peace of Mind (Forbes.com) – By Carrie Coolidge, 06.06.05. Own a masterpiece? It may be the insurance that’s priceless.
Sensible Investing 2007 – HIP Scorecard – Human Impact + Profit – Social Investor (Fast Company) – A new way of looking at the human side of investing with the HIP (that’s Human Impact + Profit) Scorecard. For this analysis, Fast Company teamed up with two San Francisco-based firms, HIP Investor and SVT Group, to evaluate and rate publicly listed companies…
Tags: misc, articles, what I read.
The kids are asleep and I’m catching up on my Sunday reading, mail and a few bills. I noticed as I paid the cable bill online that I received a link to a Seattle Times editorial this weekend, tackling the challenge in DC around a network neutrality bill that Congress could pass later this year. (See also this companion piece that calls attention to issues around the current level of service.)
“Free the Internet …
“Democracy is meaningless without structure. It requires support and infrastructure to become a word capable of giving entire nations voice and freedom.”
The concept is that the Internet is, in the US, owned by the people. Given that the Internet was a started by DARPA and funded by the US government (read “taxpayers”), the basic framework of the Internet in the States (and now, around the world) is “free” — it’s essentially the last mile (or a couple of DSL to the CO) and the network management I pay for in a monthly fee to my cable and telco providers.
Now, I (along with several hundred million folks in this country) may own the airwaves, but I pay for the pipes to get television into our household. It’s the same story for a majority of people who live in this country (as well as many others), paying a premium so our kids can get their fill of Hannah Montana and the Discovery Channel.
The NCTA estimates that of the 111.3M television households in the States, 65.5M are basic cable subscribers: that’s almost 60%. About half of those households (33.5M) are cable broadband subscribers. And to keep the Internet flowing to and from my home, connecting me to the world, cable companies spent more than $12 billion last year on construction and upgrades.
Given all that investment, I would like to see my basic connection speeds rise in tandem with my monthly cable bill, especially when you compare access speed/price around the world. But even as milk and eggs get more expensive with each passing year, I see the same amount in the carton: why should the Internet be any different? As a consumer, I expect to see certain prices for other “free” bandwidth fall, such as telephony. We’ve seen competition in basic mobile phone offerings increase, and correspondingly costs drop year over year; of course, mobile carriers offer more and more value-added services to keep my monthly bills up.
Back to ‘net access. The US is not at the top of the stack rank when it comes to Internet access as compared with Asia, where I noted last year that you could get 100Mbps access for less than the average cost of 6Mbps in the States…
“Hong Kong’s City Telecom offers 100Mbps service for about US$25 a month… [and] for the same price as 1Gbit access in HK, you can have up to 30Mbps in New Jersey and other major markets. .”
.. and 100 Mbps FTTH for $36 a month in Japan. Population density certainly helps, but even in major North American downtown metropolitan areas you don’t see that sort of offer from your local ISP.
Counterpoint is this commentary from Randolph J. May in the The National Law Journal last year, Net Neutrality Would Violate the First Amendment Rights of ISPs. In it, May says…
“As a matter of policy, Congress should be very hesitant to pass a law in anticipation of conjectured harms that may never materialize. As the Internet continues to evolve, such a law almost certainly would turn out to be overly broad in application, restricting efficient business arrangements that otherwise would allow ISPs to make available services demanded by consumers at lower costs. Moreover, the vague terms of the mandates would be grist for the litigation mills for years to come.
AT&T (in their merger with SBC) agreed not to sell premium access Internet to customers for two years. But that’s not what concerns me as a customer: even past that short moratorium, IMHO ISP’s shouldn’t have the option to degrade any third-party service over my connection. With a multitude of offerings from cable and telco providers, I trust that I won’t see the equivalent of a gas or electric meter attached to the side of my cable hookup — data is data and should be treated equally.
There are ISP services and offerings that may help win my future business as a consumer, including IPTV, with network DVR and HDTV. And higher network bandwidth, especially as the boys spend more and more time on the net doing their homework 😉
More links of interest:
- Use the freepress link to send your letter to Congress and the Senate to tell them your opinion on Net Neutrality.
- Yoo & Wu Debate Net Neutrality – a “bloggy debate between info/law profs Christopher Yoo and Tim Wu about network neutrality.”
- Xeni Jardin covered last year how Google and Microsoft Pushed for ‘Net Neutrality’ Law.
Tags: net neutrality, consumers, ISP, Internet.