Monetizing IP Communications - Human Resources and IP Archivestag:blog.tmcnet.com,2011-06-16:/monetizing-ip-communications//612012-02-07T20:04:04Z1. "Focusing your life solely on making a buck shows a certain poverty of ambition..." Barack Obama .....
2. "One of the sad signs of our times is that we have demonized those who produce, subsidized those who refuse to produce, and canonized those who complain." By Thomas SowellNegative Plus a Negative Equal a Positivetag:blog.tmcnet.com,2012:/monetizing-ip-communications//61.487472012-02-07T19:43:56Z2012-02-07T20:04:04Z"Nobody doesn't like Sara Lee," says the Euro-American conglomerate that sells hundreds of different, well-loved, pre-packaged, sugary concoctions. This means that everyone likes Sara Lee. Maybe not, but that's a cool slogan. Sometimes a negative plus a negative equal a...Suzanne Bowenhttp://www.linkedin.com/in/suzannebowen
"Nobody doesn't like Sara Lee," says the Euro-American conglomerate that sells hundreds of different, well-loved, pre-packaged, sugary concoctions. This means that everyone likes Sara Lee. Maybe not, but that's a cool slogan. Sometimes a negative plus a negative equal a positive. Likewise, negative things happen to us online and offline in business, personal and social situations, whether in our social networks, on a business forum, or in our workplace. The way we handle these "things" can get a positive result as correct English grammar notes or a negative result as traditional mathematics states.
Ruth Bridger, a VP of sales and marketing, recently and admirably handled a tough situation for Xorcom. Some customers used Twitter and other social networks to share with the public some issues, but before the first negative remark was made, Ruth stated the truth of what had happened, how Xorcom was being quick and smart about fixing the problem, and the measures they were taking to be proactive for the future. Just two or three weeks after the catastrophes, I found the Xorcom meeting room at ITEXPO East full of no fewer than 50 - 60 current and potential clients and industry partners. They were actively engaged at all times in watching demonstrations and ... answering and asking questions about the Xorcom products and services.
I think back over my own life when I took an Introduction to Computers class at around age 17 at Pensacola Junior College. I had never used a computer before taking this class. I wanted to take Ethics but Introduction to Computers fit into my two fulltime job schedule better.
The professor shared a short lecture and demonstration during each session and then sent us to a Lab to apply what we had learned. The assistants in the Lab did not assist. I struggled for the first time during my "lifetime or organized schooling." I had always earned A's or B's from * first grade through my first Freshman college semester in subjects ranging from Spanish to Chemistry to Journalism. Though I followed the directions to enter the code that would result in a computer game called Sorry, it never worked. I was certain I would fail the class. I asked the professor for help. He said that I should pay more attention in class. My report card said I earned a "D." Panic!
My professor further said, "Suzanne, sweetheart, don't worry. You're just not cut out for computers."
I bought a Tandy 1000 from Radio Shack that had no hard drive. I had to boot it up each time with a 5 1/2 inch disk. Later after, graduating from University of West Florida with a B.A. in English and Social Sciences I got a job teaching middle school level students. Next, I wrote a grant in 1994 for a phone line in my classroom, so we could dial up to the Internet and discover something more than the world of Century, Florida which had a population of 1,400 people. We had a blast learning from and with people such as Pakistani software developer Syed Maroof and computer engineer Arshi Masood, South African banker Herman Dewitt, and German physical education teacher Inge Siepmann. Eventually this led to me switching careers from being an English teacher to co-founding (with Rehan Allahwala Ahmed) a dotcom startup Super Technologies, Inc. in 1999 with its first products of dialup voip Super Phone and being local and global via Virtual Phone Lines.
And ... from there, I am involved in exciting work with the clients, vendors, team members and industry partners of AstraQom and a few other companies! Who knows what negatives will automorph next? I'll choose the English grammar rule as the answer.
I shared this story and a few other stories with the couple dozen women who met to eat, sip hot liquids, inspire, debate, make friends, and develop business at ITEXPO East 2012 last week.
(* I am old enough to be among those who started school when kindergarten was not mandatory.)
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You People, 3 IP Communications Customer Service No-Nostag:blog.tmcnet.com,2012:/monetizing-ip-communications//61.482442012-01-11T15:46:04Z2012-01-26T00:14:28ZIP communications and wireless companies are not always a species that give customers what they want, when they want it, and how they want it.In reality, I think it is probably one of the reasons why maybe as many as...Suzanne Bowenhttp://www.linkedin.com/in/suzannebowen
IP communications and wireless companies are not always a species that give customers what they want, when they want it, and how they want it.
In reality, I think it is probably one of the reasons why maybe as many as * 43% of them do not live past four years in business. So, what are some of the mistakes that companies in our industry make in customer service?
1. No regular training in the best language to use in any given customer service situation. For example, what do the readers of this blog post think of the phrase, "You people," being used in written or oral communication with customers? Me? It denotes a rude individual on your company's team has penned his response to your customer. It connotes images of your staff member smacking gum with his feet propped on his desk, a metaphor of disgust for your customer.
2. Failure to even recognize incoming sales inquiries gives the impression of the obvious poor customer service that would follow should a "sign up" ever actually happen. This is my current business pet peeve. For example, I have filled a web form three times, emailed and called sales phone numbers several times of a certain European company to get started as their wholesale customer. All emails are unanswered. All phone calls are on voice-mail and no call back. I have even asked several of my friends who work for or own highly respected global telecommunications-related companies that have connections with this wholesale company as a customer or vendor ... to introduce me to the right people to start a sales dialogue. Nothing. Hmm.
3. If you have made a mistake in providing service to your customer, own up to it and do what you can quickly and truthfully to make up for it. For example, you overcharged, cancelled a part of the service, or moved to or added new IP addresses without informing and making sure as many customers as possible know in advance. I have seen where the last situation occurred, and when customers complained that their thousands of users were without service for more than 24 hours because of it, the company customer service representative said the customer should read the changes in the knowledge base more regularly. (Ouch!)
In Judith Hurwitz's book Smart or Lucky?, there is a simple but so true statement: "Companies that withstand the pressures of competition and changing technologies are those that ... solve customer problems ..."
(By the way, she is a speaker at ITEXPO Avaya DevConnect night February 2. I'll be there. Judith Hurwitz might be joining us at the Women in Wireless and Telecom Breakfast the same day at 8 AM. More details and RSVP location for the ladies in your business to participate are on Linkedin.)
Take note of the fact that even huge and highly successful companies such as AT&T have customer service problems. Consumers rank AT&T lowest in satisfaction in which Net Promoter Score compared them to the other big three national wireless carriers. Some say that is one of the many reasons that AT&T needed to merge with T-Mobile, and why AT&T has such high churn. At least AT&T has iPhone, right? (I'm using Credo Wireless right now on my business mobile and Mobility1.us on my personal mobile. I have used AT&T before, and I have no complaints about their service personally.)
In conclusion, please don't let your representatives talk like this to customers: "You people need to fill the web form first if you want to buy service from us. Oh, you bought and resold our services before? The calls were garbled sounding not because of our company's QoS, bandwidth, or other ISP/network issue as you say. You are the one who needs to fix something."
* Page 14: Figure VII.5. Sources: OECD.org, and Baldwin et al. (2000)
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Suzanne's Friend Searching for Mobile App Developer to Work Remotelytag:blog.tmcnet.com,2011:/monetizing-ip-communications//61.476952011-10-14T21:34:28Z2011-10-21T18:12:13Z(First, I am looking for someone who is in Chicago or driving distance who is honest, good with talking to people, but also technically literate especially in the area of security who is interested in a 3-4 day job. Please...Suzanne Bowenhttp://www.linkedin.com/in/suzannebowen
(First, I am looking for someone who is in Chicago or driving distance who is honest, good with talking to people, but also technically literate especially in the area of security who is interested in a 3-4 day job. Please contact me on Linkedin or Facebook if this fits you or someone you know. This is for something I need.) Resolved, thanks to industry friends!
There's a great opportunity for a MOBILE APP DEVELOPER who wants to work from anywhere (remotely). Contract or contract-to-hire. I have a friend who is CEO of a technical talent match company. Her SMB client is hiring but is willing to hire someone to work remotely, so location doesn't matter. Honesty, talent, ability to follow directions, and hardwork attitude are a must.
They're looking for a Mobile Developer - IPhone, Android, Blackberry - someone who has been building user-facing applications (desktop, web, and/or mobile) for at least five years and has been writing Android apps for at least a year.
They value people who can work on their own to get something done and out the door quickly. But they also want developers who know when to slow down, get input from other people on the team, and make sure that what they're building today will accelerate what they need to do tomorrow.
- Understand the Android UI guidelines but aren't limited by them - Have something to say about security, both on-device and off-device - Can talk knowledgeably in English about structured and unstructured data and how people interact with such data. - 3+ years mobile development with iOS and/or Java (Android/Blackberry) using mobile SDK's , Windows Mobile. - Ability to collaborate effectively in teams and to communicate technology issues to both technical and non-technical audiences - Be prepared to tell us about one mobile app that you really admire and one thing you think that app should have done differently. Also, must provide samples of your work either through an online store or provide sample of work-in-progress that we can view on our mobile devices.
Absolute requirements Include: - developed and gone through complete submission process to Android app store - iPhone development experience (submitted app to app store) can handle a port - experience porting from iPhone to android plus - implemented sharing to Twitter and Facebook in an android app - implemented image gallery that uses data from net (i.e json feed) - using location services on android - submitting a post request from an app to a URL - experience working on a project that they did not start (preexisting code base they had to read, learn, and add to)
Leave me a message on Linkedin or Facebook if you are a perfect match for this or you know someone who is.
