“With individuals, you can really see what people are made of when they get pressed or upset. On the corporate level, you can really see what a company is made of by their CS (Customer Service).”
Archive for category Insights
If you are like me, you’ve got a Hotmail/Live email account. Microsoft is doing a great job with the service, however I think they are having a hard time keeping up with the ingenuity of Google. Hostmail/Windows Live is really fast, got great virus protection, and allows you to save mail into folders.
With Hotmail unfortunately, you cannot use IMAP protocol to connect to the mail server. You have to use POP3 or HTTP, the later being a Microsoft only setup to use your Hotmail with Outlook or the phased out Outlook Express.
In Microsoft’s effort to keep up. It seems they are going to phase out this protocol and force people using Hotmail on Outlook to another platform.
This platform is the Microsoft Outlook Connector. If you can avoid it, I recommend that is what you do. We tested it on Outlook 2007 and Outlook 2003 in both English and Japanese.
It is a lame piece of software that slows down your machine. Outlook is already a memory hog, although I have got to say I am pretty used to it. Therefore, this slows things down even more.
Hope that information is helpful to you! Let us know if you have any comments.
This is an analysis on what Google’s new OS is all about. Google seems to be an amazing company, with great management, and vision.
Apple is probably the best computer supplier in the world. How does Google’s new business affect the boys at Apple? Here is the analysis.
Please remember that Google and Apple are a bit intertwined in that they share some board members.
I received an order of books and DVDs about two weeks ago from Amazon. One of the hardcover’s bindings was damaged. I sent in a return request as I expect to use the book a long time as it is my second copy. Their automated system asked me to return the book.
This morning, I received an email from Amazon saying keep the book or feel free to give it away, as we will send you another one no charge. Actually, I think about another company called CBD, their customer service is also excellent. I had similar issues in the past and they just sent a replacement copy. That is CS, customer service, at its best. Why? As a customer I was satisfied. I will go definitely go back to them and buy more.
In December, I bought a Tumi bag for work. It is my third bag from them. I remember, the first bag’s shoulder strap wore out and was looking a bit tacky and worn after about a year. I went to get a replacement, but was told I would be charged. I used the bag a bit longer and then decided to trash the bag. In the six months I’ve had the new bag, it’s ‘revolutionary’ zippers got caught on my suit pants twice. Unfortunately, the second time it ripped them as it got caught on the belt loop.
I was on the train for 30 minutes with a bag caught on my trousers. I got back to the office, to get someone to help me carefully remove the caught bag. All the way, with a Tumi bag stuck on my shoulder. (Now you know how those pack mules that go into the Grand Canyon feel). In the process, my suit got ripped as someone at the office tried to release me from the bit of this bag. I was very disappointed.
My PA (personal assistant) took the bag to the nearest Tumi store in Marunouchi. She explained the situation and explained that the boss was not too pleased with how easily the zippers caught on clothing. The store attendant said she was sorry to hear about it (this is common in Japanese) but clearly didn’t plan on doing anything about it. My PA said she needed to give me a report and wanted to know what Tumi would plan on doing about it as her boss concluded it was a design flaw that cost him a suit. The store attendant reluctantly promised she would get back to her.
Yesterday the woman called and said she and the store manager concluded that the problem occurred because of the “customer’s misuse of the product… “ What a great way to make your customer feel good.
Excuse me? I didn’t realize you could run windows on a Tumi bag or change the settings and damage the hardware. This is a bag with a shoulder strap you put over your shoulder.
I was literally “ripped off” by Tumi’s pathetic customer service person. You say, what do you mean? They could have done a number of things to make the customer feel good. But all they did was insult a repeat customer. The kicker is they said they would fix the bag with a new zipper that would not catch on clothing. Is that an admission of guilt or what?
Is Tumi a bad company? Absolutely not. I am sure they are a good company, otherwise they would not have made it this far. However the point is one of your CS people can not only kill your business, but if it becomes a prevalent attitude, they can destroy your brand.
Were they expected to pay $900 to replace a suit? No, not really. However, they dropped the ball as a customer service firm. While dropping it, they actually lost a repeat client in the meantime. They could have made a special arrangement for the purchase of another bag, given a brand new bag without these ‘revolutionary’ zippers, refunded the price of the bag , or any number of other things to keep their client.
Customer Service is essential to building your brand. It is not just about losing business. At this point they lost a fan. If your CS team is doing this to one customer, you can be assured they are doing it to others. That is why every customer facing person in your organization is so important to your business future. They can make or break you.
I know Coach Japan has an awesome customer service team that is clearly well managed. It looks like I better stick with someone I know and get my Coach briefcase out of the closet.
Flying high! OK, so the picture is unrelated to my post. But got a good shot from the 51st floor of a condomium building that is built on what used to be Tokyo Bay.
The real point is a new book I just heard about. This looks like an interesting book from Newt Gingrich a famous US Statesman.
I’ve not read the book yet, but I did get the general idea.
1) Dream Big
2) Work Hard
3) Learn Everyday (and work smart!)
4) Enjoy Life
5) Be True To Yourself
Health & Fitness
Jun 2
It has become really clear to me that to stay healthy and well, there is more than just exercise to think about.
The Big Three for Health & Fitness are
1) Exercise
2) Nutrition
3) Sleep
We’ve got to keep the balance to be a good contributor of our corporate team. Very good to keep this in mind.
Summary- Don’t lie about your career or experience.
Someone at our company recently noticed an online resume from a person who was doing computer support for us. His online profile is pasted below. We were all amazed at the great person he seems to be on paper.
A bunch of funny points were-
-we have never had anyone entitled “Senior SE” or “Developer” on our team
-we don’t have any blade servers in our Datacenters, nor at any of our partners
-his migrations to Exchange 2007 were close to executed (not planned) about as well as the Titanic’s maiden voyage.
-he maintained a MS CRM that he took down for 3 weeks, by which time the sales team was furious and had put in a better CRM system themselves. They soon after deemed him “Dr. Death” after he messed up their notebook PCs and didn’t want him touching anything of theirs.
-He started working here in January 2007 (not 2006). He was given his second performance warning on 1 July 2008 on his way to termination. Essentially, most of what he listed has already been rebuilt.
The list goes on and on. I am amazed to see someone outright lie about so much. Why is it that some people just don’t get it? We’ve got to realize some people will never change.
If you are managing a team, make sure it is your priority to focus on winners. If you have losers in your midst, relieve them as quickly as possible. In this particular case, we should have acted sooner but we really wanted to see this guy grow and develop into someone who could contribute to the company and even society. He was just a mess.
I am very excited about the great team we have. It takes time to read people but once you get it, you can build a great team. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t give people chances, we’ve just got to realize, some people just never get it. I am excited because AINEO is truly an elite engineering team getting stronger and stronger.
It is a great sign when quality people come back to your firm. We have welcomed back two great engineers this year and can see their contributions already.
QUOTED FROM www.linkedin.com
Senior Systems Engineer/Developer
( Information Technology and Services industry)
January 2006 – July 2008 (2 years 7 months)
Job Role:
Manage windows network environment
Introduction of new systems
Development of database applications
User support
Introduction of new systems
Development of database applications
User support
Main Activities and Achievements:
Developed fully functioning Microsoft CRM system (Dynamics)
Migrated mail server to Exchange 2007
Deploy fully hosted Exchange 2007 Environment (segregated GAL)
Cisco Per To Per VPN Global planning to 8 Sites
Network Upgrade into 2003 wireless Mail services
Virtualization Blade Servers Deployment
System Integration coordination ( Cisco IP VLANs)
Firewall Deployment ISA for Hosted Exchange and Web Servers
ASA Cisco Deployment (PPPoe, VPN, Firewall)
Project Management Office Moves
Database Integration (SQL Sever 2005, Oracle)
Project Management Build ups, Moves, Migration, System Planning
Cpanel Servers for Resellers
Migrated mail server to Exchange 2007
Deploy fully hosted Exchange 2007 Environment (segregated GAL)
Cisco Per To Per VPN Global planning to 8 Sites
Network Upgrade into 2003 wireless Mail services
Virtualization Blade Servers Deployment
System Integration coordination ( Cisco IP VLANs)
Firewall Deployment ISA for Hosted Exchange and Web Servers
ASA Cisco Deployment (PPPoe, VPN, Firewall)
Project Management Office Moves
Database Integration (SQL Sever 2005, Oracle)
Project Management Build ups, Moves, Migration, System Planning
Cpanel Servers for Resellers
This is some very good information for you to know if you are concerned about health and wellness. Quoted to below.
- Avoid placing hot food or liquids in plastic containers. Use glass, ceramic or stainless-steel containers instead. Heating plastics to high temperatures promotes the leaching of chemicals out of containers and into the food or liquid they hold. (Freezing liquids in plastic bottles, incidentally, poses no such risk. Contrary to recent online reports that claimed freezing water releases carcinogenic materials into water, freezing actually retards the release of chemicals.)
- When heating food in a microwave oven, use only cookware that is labeled “microwave safe.”
- Remove food from plastic wrapping before thawing or reheating in a microwave.
- Buy products in cardboard cartons instead of plastic containers.
- Check recycling codes on the bottom of store packages for clues about plastics components you may want to avoid: Recycling code 3 may indicate the product contains a type of phthalate known as DEHA. Recycling code 7 may mean the product contains BPA.
- Look for toys, baby bottles and containers claiming to be BPA-free. There’s been a recent explosion of such products, many of them priced higher than standard products. There is also a growing industry of third-party certifiers to test such claims. Gerber’s Clearview Bottles are BPA-free; a three-pack costs about $3 at Target.
- Reduce your use of canned food; eat fresh or frozen foods instead. Bisphenol A has been found in the lining of canned food tins.
- Reduce your use of polycarbonate and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) plastics, both of which contain BPA. Choose alternatives such as polyethylene plastic (also labeled PETE) and containers marked with recycling code 1, 2 (HDPE) and 4 (LDPE). Polypropylene (recycling code 5, or PP) is also considered a safe choice.
- If you use hard polycarbonate plastics (Nalgene bottles, baby bottles, sippy cups), do not heat them or use them for warm or hot liquids.
- Do not wash polycarbonate plastic containers in the dishwasher with harsh detergents.
- Look for phthalate-free toys or those approved by the European Union.
- Do not microwave or heat plastic wraps. Those that are labeled “microwave safe” should be placed loosely over containers. Make sure they do not touch the food.
- Choose personal-care products that do not contain synthetic fragrance. While the Food and Drug Administration requires the listing of ingredients on cosmetic products sold in retail stores, it does not require the listing of individual fragrance ingredients.
- Check the labels of nail polish. The FDA requires that phthalates be listed unless they are a fragrance ingredient. Phthalates are used in some nail polishes to reduce cracking.
Sources: National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Institute for Agricultural and Trade Policy, National Geographic Green Guide
Quotes from here
The basketball version of what is going on in education right now. (If
you’re not an educator, this may not make a lot of sense to you. But
send it to your friends who are in education.
They will love it!)
1. All teams must make the state playoffs and all MUST win the
championship.
If a team does not win the championship, they will be on probation until
they are the champions, and coaches will be held accountable. If after
two years they have not won the championship, their basketballs and
equipment will be taken away UNTIL they do win the championship.
2. All kids will be expected to have the same basketball skills at the
same time, even if they do not have the same conditions or opportunities
to practice on their own. NO exceptions will be made for lack of
interest in basketball, a desire to perform athletically, or genetic
abilities or disabilities of themselves or their parents.
ALL KIDS WILL PLAY BASKETBALL AT A PROFICIENT LEVEL!
3. Talented players will be asked to workout on their own, without
instruction.
This is because the coaches will be using all their instructional time
with the athletes who aren’t interested in basketball, have limited
athletic ability or whose parents don’t like basketball!
4. Games will be played year round, but statistics will only be kept in
the 4th, 8th, and 11th games. This will create a New Age of Sports where
every school is expected to have the same level of talent and all teams
will reach the same minimum goals. If no child gets ahead, then no child
gets left behind. If parents do not like this new law, they are
encouraged to vote for vouchers and support private schools that can
screen out the non-athletes and prevent their children from having to go
to school with bad basketball players.
Isn’t the presidential election amazing? I was recently at an event of international businessman with a British organization in Tokyo. The speaker from London spent a considerable amount of time discussing the US election and it impact on the world.
With the Democrats, we have a choice to continue the Clinton dynasty by voting for Hillary or voting for the younger guy (Obama) and hoping for the best. I think it has been nice to get to know the Bush and Clinton families for 16 years or presidents, but a change would be nice in my humble opinion.
On the Republican side, Mitt Romney has now quit thrown in the towel. Now, there is a much clearer difference between the candidates Mr. McCain, Mr. Huckabee, and Mr. Paul. Romney’s weakness really was probably his Mormonism. There are too many Christians in the US of varying levels of dedication. Getting them to vote for someone from the Mormon church was a very tough sell no doubt. Mr. Huckabee continues to rise as Mr. McCain doesn’t really seem to be much of a Republican according to the Republican majority evidently.
Many conservative commentators don’t see much of a difference between Hillary and McCain. Interesting interview with Ann Coulter on Good Morning America last week. Here comments were
“If Hillary is elected president, we’ll have a four-year disaster, with Republicans ferociously opposing her, followed by Republicans zooming back into power, as we did in 1980 and 1994, and 2000. (I also predict more Oval Office incidents with female interns.)
If McCain is elected president, we’ll have a four-year disaster, with the Republicans in Congress co-opted by “our” president, followed by 30 years of Democratic rule. ”
I don’t know if I agree with her comments and strategy, but it is interesting to watch the grass-roots rise of Mike Huckabee.
It is amazing how the whole world is watching US politics.