Beyond Blinking Lights and Acronyms

iPhone Enterprise Anxieties

About a year ago the corporate information technology (IT) world was filled with angst awaiting the roll-out of the new iPhone. If the pundits and the hype were to be believed, the day after the iPhone came out we'd find all the executives queued up outside our doors demanding that we get them this cool new iPhone and somehow figure out how to connect it to the corporate e-mail system too. At the time, I predicted that this would turn out to be much ado about nothing. Happily, I was spot on. From a corporate perspective the "cool" factor wasn't enough to overcome the issues of cost and the inability to connect with corporate e-mail systems.

Apple is now set to launch its 3G iPhone and is taking aim squarely at the corporate user, no doubt hoping to displace the corporate standard BlackBerry. The 3G, which stands for "third generation" and promises the latest in high-speed Internet access for your phone, has certainly edged closer to meeting corporate needs.

But is it enough? On July 11, when Apple starts shipping the iPhone, will we find hoards of colleagues at our door, demanding iPhones?

The biggest obstacle to the iPhone was e-mail. According to Apple's Web site, 3G provides "support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync and industry-standard corporate security standards allows IT professionals to seamlessly integrate iPhone into their corporate environments."

Taking Apple at its word, I'll give them credit for e-mail and check that box off. However, as Brian Caulfield points out in his article "Seven iPhone Disappointments", there are numerous other shortfalls compared to the BlackBerry that may keep people from switching.
Here's the big one for me: the fundamental approach that Apple and BlackBerry have taken. One puts consumers first; the other puts business executives first.

Apple is primarily a music player and phone that can now also do e-mail. BlackBerry has from the start focused primarily on providing the business user with an e-mail device that also works as a phone. A subtle difference perhaps, but it would appear to have a resulted in significantly different outcomes.

Should We Make Customers Pay For The Convenience of Doing Business With Us Over The Internet?

Yesterday, I took the family down to Minute Maid park to watch the Houston Astros play the Milwaukee Brewers.  It was a  great day.  The weather was beautiful, I got to spend some quality time with my family and enjoyed a great ball game.  The Astros won!  My daughter's favorite player, #9 Hunter Spence, hit a 2-run walk-off homer in the 12th the win it 8 to 6.  Oh Baby!

Like a lot of other things I buy, I bought the tickets over the Internet.  Buying over the Internet is nice.  I could buy them when I wanted, not just when the box office was open.  It was easy and fast and I could print my own tickets.  Without question buying tickets over the Internet was very convenient.

At the same time it is a good thing for the Astros too.  Making it easer for customers to do business with you is always a good way to promote increased sales.  It also reduces costs.  When customers print their own own tickets the Astros' printing expense is reduced.  Likewise the staffing costs for the will call and tickets sales windows are reduced.  The more people that buy over the Internet the lower the Astros' costs.

So although this would seem like the classic win-win situation there is one little catch.

Zappos: Integrating Systems and Business Processes

When you run across a company the truly integrates their systems with their business processes it can be an amazing experience.  Dealing with these companies borders on fun because they take the effort to make it easy and have anticipated your needs.  Zappos, an online retailer of shoes and other accessories, is one such company.  Or more appropriately as they describe themselves: "We are a service company that happens to sell ________.

• shoes
• and handbags
• and clothing
• and eyewear
• and watches
• and accessories
• (and eventually anything and everything)"

Since I'm a customer of Zappos I'm surprised that I hadn't written about this before.  Fortunately, Seth Godin's recent post, "Zappos wants you to return those shoes" reminded me so now is a good time to talk about them.

Zappos' service is all encompassing in how it is set up.  It includes: policy, processes, customer perspective, vision, attitude and systems.  Customer service for them isn't just putting a "Contact us" or "Customer Service" link on their web site.  Pete Blackshaw explain this in more detail in "Word-of-Mouth Marketing 101, à la Zappos.com"

Don't believe me?  Then check out these examples:

Book Review: "I’m on Facebook – Now What???"

My good friend from Jibberjobber (a great site for you job seekers by the way), Jason Alba has done it again.  He's followed up his book I’m On LinkedIn - Now What??? by co-authoring another great book on social networking.  He and Jesse Stay have partnered up to write I'm on Facebook­Now What???' . [Update February 17, 2008 their book is now available on Amazon.]

By teaming up Jason and Jesse bring a unique perspective to this book.  The book's website describes Jason as a "career management Evangelist".  Having known Jason for a while that is a very accurate description.  He recognizes that a good career doesn't just happen, it has to be managed.  Through his website, and both of these books he helps you do this by providing you with the tools you need.  Jesse rounds this out with technical expertise and experience using Facebook having developed popular Facebook applications.

In the book's Introduction they describe what is about as "helping you figure out how to derive professional, business and career benefits from participating in Facebook", and they deliver on this.  We in IT often use the terms "instruction manual" and "user guide" interchangeably.  However Jason and Jesse have written a user guide in the truest sense of the word.  They not only talk about the "how" of using Facebook but the "why" in regard to using it.  Like I'm on LinkedIn - Now What??? this book is refreshingly honest about Facebook.  They describe what works well and what doesn't and what you should look out for.  This book is much more than a technical manual, it is a true guide for getting what you need from Facebook.

Dumbest Internet Moment of 2007

Fortune Magazine recently announced their selection for the "101 Dumbest Moments in Business" for 2007.  Fortunately, for Macy's they've missed the cutoff for this year's competition.  Maybe they're counting on 101 dumber things to happen in the next year to keep them off that list too.  Nonetheless they've pulled what I think has to be one of the dumbest move in using the Internet as a sales tool.

A few days ago I went online to look for a particular Christmas gift.  I knew it was too late to buy it online and expect it to be delivered (at least without paying premium freight) in time for Christmas.  I simply wanted to see what various stores had and to check the availability.  One of those was Macy's and I was shocked to see this:

Even though it is politely worded and tries to make it sound like they are doing this to benefit the customer it is just dumb in so many ways:

Getting Control Of Your Email - Break The Addiction

"You've got mail" has become one of the more famous phrases of our times.  Email, it seems, has taken control of our lives.  If someone doesn't respond to an email we start thinking - what is wrong?  If they haven't checked our email in the last 10 or 15 minutes some people start to get very anxious .  Have you ever been tempted to email the person across the table absorbed in checking their Blackberry so you could get their attention back to a real face-to-face conversation?

In an earlier post I suggested one way to get your email addiction under control was to check your email only at regular intervals.  To help do this I suggested that you go into your email device settings and set them to "off" or "none".  By doing this you remove the constant reminder - a new email just came in - "look at me".  One of my favorite bloggers, Matt Moran, recently wrote in the ITtoolbox blog about a great refinement to this technique.  Matt has modified his email signature to include:

====================================
IMPORTANT NOTICE ON EMAIL & REACHING ME:
- as of 11/20/2007
As an exercise in effectiveness, I will begin checking email less regularly - once in the morning and once in the late afternoon.

If your message is critical, please call. If it is not critical, please be patient and I will get back with you.

The great thing about this is that by doing so he is starting to set the expectations of the people he communicates with.  Not only does this reduce the pressure to respond immediately it may also help reduce the "did you get my email?" emails.  It changes the whole tone of the conversation from frenzied to timely which is rather nice I would say.

No doubt you're thinking - what has all this have to do with me,  I'm not addicted to email.  Fortunately, I found some great indicators to see if you are addicted and also to ways to "cure" yourself.

Accomodating Those A**hole Censors

I recently spent some time re-editing a post because of the problems it was causing with Internet filtering programs.  Back in July I wrote a post, Take The Test: Are You An IT A**hole Or An IT Hero?  which is a somewhat tongue-in-cheek test based on Professor Bob Sutton's Work Matters blog which discusses his book "The No A**hole Rule: Building a Civilized Workplace and Surviving One That Isn't".

Actually, the problem is that in the original post I used "ss" instead of "**".  As a result I've learned that some Internet filtering programs are blocking my blog due to "offensive language".  When I wrote this I considered self-censoring it but after reading some of Professor Sutton's posts on how his book title was being handled in the media I decided to follow his lead and leave the "ss" in.  Those that know me do know that I do use strong language from time to time but I don't use it as a normal part of my conversation.  However, sometime using substitutes don't just convey the same meaning and intensity which is why I agree with Sutton on using the term.  For an interesting discussion on how Sutton has handled this see "The Decent Thing to Call My Book"

Apparently some IT administrators and/or web filtering providers don't agree and as a result this site was blocked.  Interestingly enough I've been told that when the package blocks my site for "offensive language" it lists the offensive terms which is ironic.  It kind of makes you wonder how you filter the filtering software.

While I do think that Internet filtering should be used in the corporate world I don't think it should be overused.  Here are some suggestions for using web filtering effectively.

The Internet and "The Tragedy of the Commons"

In my last post I talked about Adblock Plus a Firefox plugin that people are starting to use to block all adds on web sites.  They are doing to counter the annoyance of advertising on the Internet which is what ultimately "pays" for what we get from the Internet.  By blocking ads are we ultimately jeopardizing the future of the Internet?

The issue comes about when we have essentially free access to a resource.  The theory is that we all act in our self-interest even it is to the ultimate detriment of the resource.  This is known as the "Tragedy of the Commons" which takes its name from Garrett Hardin's 1968 essay although this has been discussed for quite a long time even back to Thucydides and Aristotle.  The classic example is the village commons (hence the name), a shared pasture where all may graze their animals.  With this free resource it is in everyone's best interest to add to their flock and graze as much as possible.  Ultimately this leads to overgrazing of the commons and the benefit is lost to all.

In a sense the Internet is the modern day commons.  It is for all intents and purposes "free" with the limitation being our ability to use it effectively.  The self interest actions we see include:

• Spammers bombarding us with unwanted emails
• Advertising every where and done in an annoying manner
• People using software to block advertising
• People using anti-spam software sometimes blocking the wanted with the unwanted

Mike Lee cites an recent example of his favorite cafe going out of business possibly due to the "overgrazing" of the free Internet access in his post "Don't Be a Cafe WiFi Moocher" (see also Free WiFi spawns cafe backlash ).

So what can be done to maintain the Internet as usable resource?

Adblock - Savior or Scourge?

There is an interesting little plugin available for the Firefox browser going around called Adblock Plus that has some pretty significant implications for your Internet experience.  This plugin erases all of the ads from web pages - stops them cold.  No more Google Adsense ad, no more annoying pop-ups.  Nirvana, right?  Well maybe not.  If you stop to think about the economics of the Internet this might not be a good thing.  After all it is all that advertising that drives all the "free" sites we love.  We all love Google but advertising is the price we pay to use it.

The NY Times quotes the developer of Adblock Plus as estimating that there about 2.5 million users of Adblock worldwide which is not yet enough to be a serious problem.  He goes on to estimate that it is growing at about 300,000 to 400,000 users per month.  I noted that a simple Technorati search of the term Adblock lists around 25 pages of blog references within the past seven days so it would appear that it is generating interest.

Apparently, for the time being Google is being quiet about all of this perhaps hoping it will not grow to be a significant problem.  However, this does pose a "Sophie's choice" dilemma for them.  As Nicholas Carr states:

The company [Google] is in a particularly dicey position. The broad adoption of ad-blocking software could devastate its business, yet an outright attempt to block the use of such programs would run counter to its often-expressed commitment to give users what they want. If web users decide they don't want to see ads, Google would face an extremely unpleasant dilemma. Either its business or its credibility would end up in tatters.

So what will happen?

“I’m on LinkedIn — Now What???” by Jason Alba

My good friend Jason Alba brings a very interesting perspective to managing your career.  Jason is the founder of the JibberJobber Career Toolset which is an excellent tool to help you manage and organize your career so that you can concentrate on your career rather than the organizational tasks.  The JibberJobber website and blog also provide some valuable information and advice.    What is interesting about all of this is that Jason didn't start JibberJobber as a "HR professional" or recruiter or career counselor.  He, like a lot of us found himself  "in transition" and seeing a need put his IT skills to work and started JibberJobber.  So unlike a lot of career advisors Jason has actually lived the career search travails and brings a real world perspective to his advice and to JibberJobber which is why I like it so much.

To add to this Jason has just published “I’m on LinkedIn — Now What???” that really helps you make the most of LinkedIn the social networking tool for your professional and career networking.  [Update February 17, 2008 - this is now on Amazon.] If you haven't joined LinkedIn to help manage your professional networking you need to (it's free although they do also offer additional services for a price) and you need to read Jason's book on how to best use use LinkedIn.

I like Jason's book for a number of reasons. Jason gives a refreshingly honest and balanced review of LinkedIn.  He'll tell you what is good about LinkedIn and what is not so good; how to use it and how it shouldn't be used.  Basically he not only tells you about what it is but also what it isn't.  He makes suggestions and supports them by telling you why he makes a particular recommendation.  I really appreciate that kind of information. 

Just as he does in JibberJobber Jason also provides a real world perspective of a person that actually uses the product to his book.  His tips are very logical and practical.  I especially like his suggestion on how to set up your profile.  I followed his straightforward instructions and it resulted in a more complete profile.  This book will really help you maximize the potential of LinkedIn by guiding you in how you set up your profile and how you use it.

Both JibberJobber and LinkedIn are useful tools for managing your career and now Jason has added a practical guide “I’m on LinkedIn — Now What???”.   These are 3 powerful tools - make the most of them.

If this topic was of interest, you might also like these:

• Dinner with Orville
• The New Leader's 100-Day Action Plan
• Why I Blog: 10 Reasons to Blog To Establish Your Personal Brand
• Or the posts in the "Career Management" category

Rebate Technology

As is often the case I bought a few things this past week.  And as is also often the case some of the purchase came with rebates.  I don't like rebates.  Don't get me wrong I like saving money which is part of rebates.  I just don't like the concept of rebates.  When you're shopping they quote the price as if you get the rebate which of course you don't cases unless you remember to cut out all the necessary tags, circle the price, mail it all in and wait a couple of months.  What a pain!  Somehow it seems a little be unethical to quote a price "after rebate" knowing full well many people won't get a rebate.

Rebate programs cost companies money to run.  Advertising are rebate processing and significant costs and you would think that companies would find it less expensive to just lower the price.  However, the dirty little secret of rebates is that people will buy based on the low "after rebate" quoted price but end up paying the full price in some cases.  Some people will lose the tags/receipts, some will fill out the paperwork incorrectly and some will simply forget.  And that is what the companies are counting on.

This week I experienced 3 forms of a rebate program, one of which was new to me:

Should We Stick To What We Know?

The Harris Country Toll Road Authority (HCTRA) operates the toll roads where I live (near Houston, TX) and they do a pretty good job of it.  They upgrade the roads quickly and construction is done relatively quickly.

Since I drive on the toll roads almost daily one of the great things that I like is the EZ Tag system.  This is a RFID tag that scans my account number automatically as I go through the toll booth and charges my account without having to stop at the mainline toll booths.  As a result I zip through at traffic speed (which in Houston varies from 2 mph to 70 mph).  There are a number of toll roads across the country that use this and if you drive with any frequency on them you know what a great advantage they are.

Recently HCTRA expanded the use of EZ Tags to allow me to pay for parking at IAH - Bush Intercontinental Airport.  There is no charge for this.  I just pull up to the entrance and instead of getting a ticket, a scanner reads my EZ Tag and opens the gate.  When I leave I go through another EZ Tag scanner and exit while the system automatically calculates the parking fee and adds it to my account.  At least that's the theory.  Unfortunately reality is much different.

An IT Question: Blocking Non-Business Internet Sites

One of the company Vice Presidents stops by your office and expresses concern that some of their people may be spending too much time on the Internet and wants to know if there is any thing you can do about it.  You mention that you do have a filtering program but it is set only to filter objectionable sites such as gambling, porn, etc.  You explain to that filtering non-offensive but seemingly non-business related sites may be counter-productive as it is often difficult for IT to determine which sites truly have no business application.  You go on to cite examples of the need to view sports, restaurant, job boards, real estate and other sites was business related.  The VP is not impressed and insists that you block all sites that are not obviously and directly related to your company's business.  You know other VPs do not have this concern.

How do you respond to this request to block Internet access to "non-business" sites?

"Help" photo by Cobber99

Got a question you'd like me to post for future discussion?  Email it to me using the "Email Mike" link in the left hand column.

If this topic was of interest, you might also like the other posts in the IT Question category.

Should Corporate IT Be Afraid of the iPhone?

The iPhone is coming!  The iPhone is coming!  Is this the modern day IT equivalent of the "The sky is falling! The sky is falling!"?  Personally, I don't think so.  It is however, a lot of hype and rhetoric which is what I assume Apple wanted all along.  The whole discussion is just more of the Macophiles vs. the Macophobes debate.  From what I've seen it really is cool but in the end it won't be that big of a deal for corporate IT.

From the Macophile side we are told resistance is futile.  Over at Apple 2.0 in their post  "The Coming Battle: Apple's iPhone vs. Corporate IT Departments" they argue "But what both these articles also concede is that resistance may be futile. Increasingly, it's users who drive the adoption of new technologies within corporations, not IT. And when the user is a VP or maybe even the CEO, all bets are off."  Their absolutely right although I'm guessing they maybe over estimating the CEO demand (wishful thinking perhaps?).  I haven't found a lot of articles or blog posts written by the Macophiles (maybe I'm looking in the wrong place) but if you read some of the comments in the articles below you'll get a sampling of the religious fervor surrounding this.  On Tuesday afternoon NPR did a story talking about people lining up at the Apple stores 3 days in advance to get an iPhone as soon as they become available.  It would appear that a number of people have "drunk the kool-aid" that Steve Jobs is pushing. 

From the Macophobes it is one horror story after another:

• NPR June 18th "the AT&T network itself may be too slow for many of the iPhone's most forward-looking features to run properly."
• Wall Street Journal June 19th "Companies Hang Up on Apple's iPhone"
• eWeek.com June 22nd Analysts: iPhone Has Neither Security nor Relevance
• eWeek.com June 22nd Enterprise Hurdles Await iPhone
• TechSpot.com June 22nd "Stay away from iPhone, says Gartner"
• InfoWorld June 22nd "iPhone: The device IT managers will love to hate"
• greg hughes - dot net June 23rd "Thinking about using iPhones at your company? Think again if you care about security."

Again, this all may be true but irrelevant.

The End of Spam?

Some good news.  The feds have indicted Robert Soloway for his alleged spam activities.  Jeffrey C. Sullivan, U.S. Attorney, Western District of Washington issued a news release stating:

“Spam is a scourge of the Internet, and Robert Soloway is one of its most prolific practitioners.  Our investigators dubbed him the “Spam King” because he is responsible for millions of spam emails.”

A quick Google search reveal a lot of articles regarding spam and Soloway.  Apparently he has been getting a lot of attention in this area for quite some time.  Sullivan's press release indicates that Soloway sent out "tens of millions" of email messages.

So if Soloway is stopped does that mean we will finally see an end to spam?