1000 Cranes Blog

Blurring the Lines Between Reality and the Computer World

I've written several blog postings about the changes that Second Life has brought to our society in the way we communicate.  We can create our own "avatars" or representations of ourselves in a different form.  And currently, we can enter into a different world and have relationships there.  Currently this is all done by keyboard and computer...what if you didn't need that keyboard anymore and could simply just walk into a room? 

Organic Motion has done just that.  The company is using motion sensing technology used for motion pictures for potential applications to the average consumer.  Using motion sensing equipment and specially placed cameras, people can now simply walk into a room and have their motions translated into motion on their computer. 

How do you see this technology affecting your work or home life? 

Do you think there should be any regulations regarding the use of this technology? 

 

The Power of the Wall...iPhone post

I'm currently investigating the requirements for billboard advertising as my role as the Toastmasters District 37 Public Relations Officer, and it reminded me of this picture I took when I was in LA.

You can't miss looking at these buildings advertising Grand Theft Auto. It's memorable and engaging. With billboard signs, fewer words are better and vivid, bold images stick with customers.

What kind of images resonate with your customers and why?

If you only had a few minutes to influence a customer, what would you do?

Want to do some cloning? Go to South Korea...

As some of you know, my undergraduate degree is from UC Berkeley in Genetics and Microbiology.  I tend to gravitate to the stories that feature enhancements and advances when it comes to genetic research. 

It seems interesting to me that I've been finding a lot of stories about cloning experiments taking place in South Korea.  You may remember my blog about the glow-in-the-dark cats and the cloning of "Toppies" or "Tomorrow's puppies," dogs who could sniff out drugs. 

Today, I found the following video of yet another cloned dog experiment where researchers in South Korea cloned a Japanese dog known for its ability to sniff cancer in patients. 

When there is a need, someone will fill it.  With all the controversy surrounding cloning and restrictions that are imposed in various countries, countries such as South Korea will continue to thrive in this industry.  Clearly there are ethical and moral considerations into cloning, and the cloning of humans will certainly always be taboo, but it seems that the Aldus Huxley, Brave New World days are here right now. 

What do you think are the ethical issues surrounding stem cell research and cloning techniques? 

Why do you think South Korea has become a leader in this field? 

Would you consider cloning your pet if it had a special ability and if so why? 

Beijing Implements Driving Restrictions Today

In an effort to clean up air quality prior to the Olympics on August 8th, Beijing has implemented a strict policy on vehicles that are allowed to drive on their roads.  Today, only vehicles with license plates with even numbers are allowed to be on the road, and tomorrow odd numbered cars will be permitted.

It's been remarkably effective in drastically improving traffic flow on the streets and reducing emissions, though it has posed a burden for ordinary citizens in juggling their schedules to accommodate the new policy.

Taxi drivers and other commercial vehicles are exempt from the restrictions which has made many of them extremely happy.  Without the excess traffic, they are able to quickly get to their destinations quickly.

In addition to the removal of cars off the road, the government has also required some factories to close to reduce the emissions.   The city of Tianjin alone has ordered 40 factories to close, and some factories as far as 100 kilometers away are shutting down in order to effectively reduce the pollution the athletes will face next month. 

It would be surprising to see if the US or other countries would be able to comply with such a policy if this level of pollution was an issue here.

If the government imposed a restriction like Beijing has on its citizens, what would you change in your lifestyle to accommodate it? 

Will Beijing's efforts make a lasting impact on the environment or is it only temporary because of this Olympic event?

 

Yancy's Closes in Downtown Raleigh

I was very sad to hear the news that Yancy's, a Cajun Blues Cafe, closed on Tuesday.  It has been undergoing some tough financial times after a February, Chapter 11 filing, it seemed inevitable that something like this was going to happen. 

A friend of mine introduced me to the restaurant, and it was a favorite of mine for meetings downtown.  Some friends and I had a holiday celebration last year in a private area.  Now we'll no longer be able to indulge in the fantastic food. 

According to a report in the Raleigh News and Observer, the restaurant had been taken over by Van Miles of Vango Foods in March 2008.  At the time, he had inherited $100,000 in taxes from the previous owners as well as several months of outstanding payroll obligations. 

Four months later, as a result of the bankruptcy filing and the lack of payment on the $25,000/month rent, the landlord locked up Yancy's during the lunch hour on Tuesday.   

Inspite of appearing to be operationally healthy to customers during the busy lunch hour, appearances can often be deceiving.   Yancy's kept up a front while it was fiscally bleeding.   

I can't imagine what it must be like to be one of the employees working there.  How can someone continue to work for several months without a paycheck?  Talk about devotion and loyalty!   

One of the nightmares that most business owners face is the financial stress that comes with paying it's bills.  When it comes to your own people, meeting payroll is one of the biggest concerns that causes many a sleepless night.  It's not clear if the owners felt any remorse in this case, but now not only is it questionable whether those employees will be paid, but now they also need to look for a new job.   

If you were a restaurant owner faced with several months back payroll, what would you do to try to meet those needs? 

What should Yancy's have done if it didn't have the finances to operate?

Should there be regulations on restaurants to notify their customers of their financial situations or would that just hurt their business more and prevent them from making a comeback?   

Individuality in the Cubicle Workplace

Uniformity and replication often make the workplace more productive.  When the cubicle was introduced as a work environment, the walls and workstations were deliberately made in a uniform fashion so they could be easily constructed and implemented in companies. 

In the classic movie "Office Space", there is a scene when one of the main characters decides to tear down his cubicle wall in order to have a view.  Funny enough, in some environments I worked in, these end cubicles became coveted real estate as employees would do a similar thing by popping out panels in order to see out the window. 

Gone are the days of the private office with the view.  Private offices today seem to be either windowless dens or glass enclosed fishbowls.  You either feel trapped or in the spotlight.   In the CNN article, "Cubicle Land -- How to Stand Out", several examples are given of employees who bring their favorite hobbies into the workplace or themes from favorite shows to make themselves feel more at home. 

So when faced with these work conditions, it seems that naturally people will want to express their individuality in some fashion...to make their work life somewhat more "homey".  But as one person's trash is another person's treasure.  Similarly, one person's art is another person's eye-sore. 

Companies and organizations are now faced with how to regulate these areas of expression.  Similar to dress codes implemented in the workplace, some organizations are setting up guidelines for decorations in their human resource manuals. 

Some would argue that the company or organization culture will provide guidance to what is appropriate.  In a sense it is almost peer pressure that causes people to either limit their behavior or expand upon it.    

What makes sense to keep a professional environment and yet give people an opportunity to express themselves creatively? 

Look around your own workspace, what kinds of things do you have decorating your environment?  Are there things that could be offensive or deemed "unprofessional?"

Are the decorations chosen considered "freedom of speech" or "freedom of expression" and if so, does it make sense for companies to control these? 

What's On Your Sustainability Management Scorecard?

In a recent article on ZDNet Asia, SAS recently announced a new tool called the "Sustainability Management Scorecard" which allows companies to measure their effectiveness toward the triple bottom line of fiscal, social and environmental returns through its decision support software. 

The SAS solution was launched in conjunction with the 2008 SAS Forum Malaysia, themed Intelligently Green, which featured speakers from World Wildlife Fund (WWF) Malaysia and local actress Maya Karin, who is also Ambassador of Environment for the country's Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.

From what I understand from the news report, its Sustainability Management Scorecard provides a platform that is integrated where companies can review strategies using this tool do determine causal relationships,  forecast scenarios and make key decisions regarding what strategies should be implemented. 

It is based on the SAS Enterprise Intelligence Platform which relies on  "triple bottom line indicators"

Thomas Spiller, SAS's senior director of international programs, noted that while most executives support green IT business strategies, few actually know how to prioritize and incorporate the strategies into their business operations.  Having a tool of this kind gives organizations a structured approach in implementing these strategies.

Strategic tools such as this one can help managers evaluate the current landscape to determine best future directions.  Hopefully, more tools such as this will be made accessible to smaller organizations and start-up businesses who are also considering ways to become more socially and environmentally responsible. 

What tools do you use to measure your effectiveness in your organization?

If a Sustainability Management Scorecard were available to you, would you start using it? 

How much would you be willing to pay to have such a tool? 

The Power of Referrals and Name Recognition

In the last month, we've received more inquiries into our business which I believe is due to the power of referrals and the name recognition of 1000 Cranes. 

In one case, we've partnered with a firm in Los Angeles in providing instructors for some of their grants training.  We have a partner consultant up in Jersey City, NJ working with their students for this week, and we recently assisted them with engagements in Seattle, WA and Raleigh, NC.  All of this work came from a simple request on our web form. 

Since we provide quality customized instruction, coaching and consulting services,  and even though this group never met us, they were ready get 1000 Cranes involved with their programs.  The recognition and reputation of the 1000 Cranes brand got their attention, and web search engines that picked up on our grant instruction led them to us! 

This week, we've received two inquiries from personal referrals.  When a friend recommends us, I believe that is one of the highest compliments we can receive.  That friend is putting their reputation on the line, and they know they want to give their friend the best advice.   

We haven't met either of these prospects, and yet they already trust us.  This is how valuable personal references can be. 

Here are some ideas to increase your referrals to your business:

1) Create the ultimate product or service that people will give rave reviews to their friends.  It doesn't matter how good your marketing is, if you don't have a good product or service people won't come back. 

2) Give useful items that help your customer.  There have been many times where I've given customers and prospects books that I think will help them with their planning efforts.  One of these, for example, is the Standards for Accountability Codebook which is something board members can immediately use and can be easily shipped in a 6x9 envelope. 

3) Create appealing high quality brands and trademarks and protect these. We invested in hiring Image Associates early in the development of our company to focus on graphic art for our brand positioning.  The colors, artwork, and placement were all provided through a professional service.  If your company comes across as looking unprofessional because you don't have quality images, your customers will also feel you don't spend the quality time with them as well. 

What are you doing to encourage referrals and name recognition with your organization?

Do you give away useful items to potential customers and reward customers who keep coming back? 

How are you positioning yourself to get into new market opportunities, and are you hiring the right professionals to help you get there? 

Can You Just Give Me a Price?...The Saga Continues

Remember back on June 27th when I posted a blog regarding my frustration about getting a price for webinar services from a BIG NAME company?  Well, the "customer services" representative, still can't give me a price two plus weeks later!   

Even after leaving detailed instructions in the chat session with the representative "Margaret" where she said a representative would get back to me, "Ben" claims he called me on July 1st (four days later), though he never left a message. 

He did reach out with a quick email on July 10th...14 days later!  "Can we talk later today or sometime this week? Please advise."   Sounds like his queue was getting too long, and he needed to close out some open tickets. 

Would have been nice to get a "Margaret sent me your chat information, and I'd like to talk with you about X services.  You mention that you are interested in doing some webinars, and our pricing is ____ for these services.  I can go through some more options if you have additional questions."   

So, Ben, since you asked, "Please advise."  Here you go, Ben...IMPROVE YOUR CUSTOMER SERVICE AND ANSWER THE QUESTION.   WHAT IS YOUR PRICING STRUCTURE? 

It shouldn't take two weeks to get a price from you  especially if you ask us to go through this discussion on a chat session with "Margaret".  Even if you didn't get the original chat session from Margaret, I sent the chat session to you, so what more information would you have needed?  At least ask me that in your email! 

Okay, so I send Ben a message back asking since it's taken so long, would he be willing to comp *something* to the nonprofit.  I know he works for BIG COMPANY that has programs such as this.  I even gave him some contact names at BIG COMPANY since I had worked there at one time.  Well, he clearly wasn't happy with that.  Here's his response:

"I agree that it is unfortunate that I am not allowed to waive fees or
policies solely at my discretion, although revenues for the company
would decline, I would be able to attain and develop a much larger
client base. I have in the past worked with non profit organizations to
get reductions in pricing, but have yet to see one sponsored. I
apologize that this is outside of my scope of both my duties and power.
I am not sure exactly what business value I would propose to my manager
to "have this case closed", considering services rendered would be free
of charge. The idea of trying to "win the business", seems quite
difficult, since the manner and criteria based on this, is us giving you
an account for free. I apologize for not being to accomadate you in this
account. I will forward this email string up to marketing, and try to
find the correct person to assist you in the future."

Clearly he doesn't get the point.  Isn't your job to give pricing???  Which is what I had originally asked for in the first place?  The only reason for asking for a comp is because it took so long for you to get back to us.  I even gave you names of people you could contact, but I guess the queue is getting too long, so no time for that.   

Needless to say, we'll see if this goes anywhere...looks like Ben will be forwarding this to yet another person in "marketing", so we'll see how the next person handles this.  Honestly, I doubt I'll get a price.  Maybe someone at BIG COMPANY will actually read the original chat session log, my two blog postings and come up with pricing.  Wouldn't that be nice?  :-)

How are you providing pricing to your customers and how long does it take for you to respond to them?  Are there items you can post on the web to help them make decisions?   

Do you have multiple layers of customer service reps that you're actually pushing your customer farther away from you as in this scenario?  What could Margaret or Ben have done to make this situation better? 

How long do you think is a reasonable amount of time to respond to a customer query on pricing?   

First Test Tube Baby Turns 30 This Month

Louise Brown is celebrating her 30th Birthday this month, and for most people celebrating your 30th birthday would be a milestone in and of itself. However, in Louise's case, she has the remarkable distinction of being the first test tube baby born. She was the first baby born using invitro fertilization, a technique that is now quite common today. Science and technology have a remarkable way of drastically changing our lives. What once seemed impossible is now possible, and Louise Brown is literally living proof of this. What changes do you see in your organization that are life-changing? It is said, "What the mind can believe, it can achieve."What can you imagine in your office or home life is possible? What are you doing to foster creative thought?