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e-Business

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Worms and Potato Chips

Packaging is one of those things that most of us probably don't think about a lot. That set of plastic, glass, paper, Styrofoam, cardboard, and poly-whatever that contains and protects things we buy. I think of packaging in two categories -- that which something is stored in and that which something is shipped in. I am sure that packaging experts have a much more sophisticated way of describing it but that is my simple way of categorizing it. I suppose we mostly take packaging for granted but I am beginning to think it is actually a profound topic.

I began thinking about packaging as something discrete some years ago. Strictly in the "something is contained in it" category. What initially got my attention was a cereal box that I found great difficulty in opening without destroying it and its subsequent ability to keep the cereal fresh. I have since taken it as a personal challenge to be able to open a cereal box with no resulting damage. This is a non-trivial challenge - maybe an art. If it is a science then I haven't found the instructions anywhere. One starts by using a sharp knife with a long blade. You carefully slide the knife under the tab in the center of the top of the cereal box. Then you slice the material to one side while applying a slight upward pressure via the tab. Repeat for the other side. I give being able to do this without damaging the box top about 75% odds at best. You are now almost a third of the way through the task at hand. Now that you have freed up one of the flaps you have to free the other flap by tearing it from the side flaps. Completing this without damage is also about 75% odds if you are quite careful. You are now two thirds of the way to the cereal. Last comes opening the bag inside the box which actually contains the cereal. This is often the hardest part. If you grasp the two sides of the bag and pull very very carefully you have about a 50% chance of opening the bag without tearing it. After opening the main part of the bag you need to open the corners of the bag so the cereal can flow smoothly into your cereal bowl. Putting the collective probabilities together gives you a 50-50 chance at best of having an open cereal box that pours the contents smoothly and can be closed to protect freshness. Some packaging!

I could go on about jars that require a hammer to open, pill bottles that can only be opened by children, fresh fruit containers that have to be squeezed until they break to open, etc. etc. etc. I suspect those who suffer from arthritis of the fingers could make my examples seem trivial.

I received an Open It for Christmas last year tat is used to open things that come packaged in blisters, clamshells, boxes, DVD cases, and numerous other things that are un-openable -- packaged with the vendor in mind -- and with no thought about how the consumer might open the package without injuring oneself. The Open It is made from hardened and plated precision alloy steel, has honed, angled, and offset jaws, and an ergo-comfortable handle. It has a built in retractable utility knife and an interchangeable Phillips & slotted screwdriver. (You can click here to get a complete product data sheet). If you have ever suffered "wrap rage", suffer no more. It really works. The only catch is that the Open It comes in one of those packages that you need an Open It to open it!

But there is a much bigger packaging issue becoming part of our lives. The issue initially struck me when I had received my very first order from net.grocer. I had ordered an assortment of salsa, condiments, and potato chips. An Australian newspaper wrote a front page story (business section) about how an Internet "visionary" had ordered potato chips on the Internet. The amazing part to me was not that the potato chips arrived unbroken but rather the packaging. I feel like I want to signal the future importance of "packaging" in the way the gentleman in "The Graduate" signaled the importance of "plastics" to Dustin Hoffman.

I opened the two large cardboard boxes and unpacked all the items. Everything exactly as ordered. I was quite pleased and proud of my e-commerce prowess (e-business hadn't been invented yet) in walking the talk and acquiring all of my favorite goodies (especially potato chips) online. I was reveling in my predictions about how everybody would buy everything on the Net. Then I got a lump in my stomach. I looked at these two large cardboard boxes on my kitchen floor. And, the piles of poly-whatever "worms" (many people call them "peanuts"; I call them "worms") that were all over the place. Some stuck to my hands, arms, and clothing. What was I to do? My wife would be home soon and have a lot of questions about my plans to clean up the mess I had created in the kitchen. All the glory I felt about acquiring Tabasco and potato chips would be nothing compared to the wrath she would unleash about the mess if I didn't get busy. No problem. I'll just clean it up. All I have to do is separate all the various packaging materials into their respective categories, burst the cardboard boxes, put the "worms" into a bag so they don't end up decorating our lawn, and then stow everything away in our recycling center. Shouldn't take me more than a half hour. Let's see -- how much time did I save with my Net Grocer purchase anyway? Surely I am still way ahead?

Then there is the purchase of something really simple -- say a cell phone battery. What is the ratio, on a volume basis, of the packaging material to the battery? 2 to 1? 5 to 1? 10 to 1? 100 to 1?And then there are the "worms".

So, what is the answer to all this? First of all, shopping on the Net is here to stay and should be. Retail online now exceeds $100 billion. It is more than great -- in spite of the packaging. You can shop when you want. Selection is wide and deep and shipping is generally good (especially with Amazon). At some point web sites will enable us to establish fulfillment models where we can set up a schedule for things we just want to show up outside the garage door on a scheduled basis. Paper towels, a case of oil, printer paper, stockings, and of course potato chips. I envision receiving an email at some point from a web merchant saying "Mr. Patrick, we have been shipping you two bags of potato chips per week for quite some time. We have calculated that you could save considerably on your shipping cost if you were to up that to 12 bags per month instead. Click here if you would like us to modify your fulfillment model as suggested." But then still, there are the "worms".

Hopefully marketing will come to the rescue. Good marketing involves paying attention to the "end to end process", e.g., not just assuming that the job is getting the package to the customer but going the next step and helping the customer unwrap the package, get rid of the packaging material and start enjoying the merchandise that was delivered. There have been many new business models on the Net and I am confident we will see successful marketers keep uncovering more and more ways of satisfying their customers, by looking at possible annoyances, and solving them. We also need some breakthroughs in the packaging area. As more and more arrive at the door via package delivery companies, what will we do with all the "worms"? As people buy more and more on the Net will they get turned off by all the packaging materials they have to deal with? There is room for leadership here and breakthroughs are possible. I used to be so frustrated with opening the half gallon orange juice cartons. Did I say opening? I meant mutilating. Then along came International Paper with a breakthrough idea -- the screw cap on the carton. Great! Now what we need is self destructing "worms" and instantly collapsible cardboard. National Starch & Chemical has a product called Eco-Foam which is a starch-based biodegradable packaging material. Metabolix uses microbial fermentation of sugars to create totally biodegradable alternatives to petroleum-based plastics. The ultimate will be "worms" that do not stick to your clothing and can be put down the drain without hurting the environment.

Note: This story was originally written as a Reflection on July 31, 1999 and then edited on May 28, 2008

On Demand, e-Business May 28, 2008 02:25 PM

Monday, April 28, 2008

Chocolate and Gum

In the story about the hospital SmartCard project, I made a reference to both Wrigley's Gum and M&M Mars candy. Little did I know that a few days later would come an announcement that Mars Inc. -- with some financial backing from billionaire Warren Buffett -- is buying The Wrigley Company, the one-hundred year-old powerhouse of chewing gum. The price tag for the acquisition is $23 billion and the merged companies will be the world's largest confectionery company.

Healthcare, e-Business April 28, 2008 02:42 PM

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

SOA Las Vegas

The conference in Las Vegas this past week was not like the ones Thomas J. Watson used to hold in Endicott where all the blue suit white shirt male attendees would sing songs about IBM's future. The master of ceremonies for the opening morning was Drew Carey and the "dinner music" was by The B-52's -- the new wave rock band not the Boeing B-52 Stratofortress. I don't think anyone wore a blue suit or a white shirt.

What attracted the 6,300 people to fly to Las Vegas and fill every hall, ballroom, salon, patio, and restaurant at the MGM Grand? IBM calls it "Smart SOA". I call it The Application Web.

Only the most brilliant technical people could come up with SOA as a name for something. Let's see, is it safe operating area, School of the Americas, Skies of Arcadia (a Nintendo game), Society of Actuaries, state of the art, or the Sarbanes-Oxley Act? Nope. The SOA that brought all these people together stands for "service oriented architecture". It is really important. The wikipedia has a comprehensive definition of SOA but basically it represents a new way for companies -- and hospitals, schools, and governments -- to enable their customers -- and suppliers, business partners, and employees -- to get things done on the web. Actually it is isn't new -- the idea has been around for decades -- but now it is really happening. It is so much a part of the vernacular at IBM that they just matter of factly talk about "so a".

In a nutshell, SOA will allow web sites to do much more than “click here to buy”. In fact web sites built with SOA will result in us standing in fewer lines in the physical world and have to endure fewer telephone call centers that want to control us. Fulfillment models at our favorite retailer’s web site will result in the staple goods we need just showing up outside the garage door when we need them. If businesses have the right attitude, SOA will enable them to get closer to the ultimate Internet -- to build a people-oriented and user-friendly experience that is tightly integrated with all the appropriate business processes of the company.

Over the last fifty years there has been an explosion of computer applications, but many of them were built in silos and were highly inflexible. In some cases companies thought decentralization was the answer so they allowed divisions and departments to do their own thing. The result was that many have a hodgepodge of incompatible systems that nobody is happy with. The web took things a big leap forward. At last there was a common way (the browser) for accessing and displaying information, even though the applications that run on the server -- that do the pricing, inventory lookups, shipping estimates, invoicing, etc. -- are still proprietary and usually tied to one particular IT vendor or system. The applications have also been very monolithic; i.e. in order to fulfill the expectations of customers on the web the application has to do the whole job. Soup to nuts; present the right price, confirm if the item is in stock, calculate shipping, and confirm the status of the order. Increasingly, customers want to get access directly into the supply chain and see exactly where their order stands. In short, applications have gotten larger and more complicated -- harder, not easier.

SOA -- arguably the biggest change in information technology in decades -- is poised to change the way applications are created and how they interoperate. Instead of building a monolithic application that takes a customer order, does credit checks, checks inventory, looks through the supply chain, arranges for payment, charges the customer, clears credit card transactions, etc., with SOA these various functions are built as separate "pieces". Think Legos. The individual programs are called "services" and they are called upon as needed. A sales tax calculation "service", for example, could be used by many different divisions of a company thereby eliminating redundancy. IBM has been practicing what it preaches in this regard. It has reduced the number of programs it uses to run the company from 16,000 to just a few thousand -- and declining.

great summary of IBM’s “Smart SOA” vision

Conferences, IBM, Internet Technology, On Demand, Travels, e-Business April 15, 2008 08:25 PM

Monday, December 17, 2007

Privacy City

One element of privacy on the Internet is "Opt in" versus "Opt out". When you register at a web site you will often see a small box to be checked giving you the “option” to be included or not included in subsequent emails making offers to you. Opt in means you proactively choose to be included. Opt out means you are included by default and you have to take action to be removed from the list of those who will automatically receive the emails. In some cases you have to read the words very carefully to determine which case is the default. This is part of Trust. Is the site really opening up to you and making it very clear what your options are, or are they making the words a bit fuzzy and hoping you won’t figure out what the default actually is?

Citibank introduced a service called c2it back in 2000 that enabled the sending and receiving of cash via email. You simply visited the c2it site, specified which of your checking, savings, or credit card accounts you wanted the money to come from, and entered an email address for someone you want to send the money to. That person would then receive an email, was asked to enroll in c2it, and then could accept the money from you directly into their checking, savings, or credit card account. This seemed like a potentially useful service to me when I learned about it and so I enrolled. Only after I enrolled did I find out that there were fees involved. Then I discovered that incoming amounts are not credited to your account for five to six days, which is longer than if I had received a check and deposited it myself. Then I discovered that there is no fee to receive into a Citibank credit card but there is a fee if it is another bank’s credit card. I am not saying the fees are unreasonable – the competition from PayPal and other services would determine that. C2it ceased operations in 2003. If you visit the c2it site you are told that you could contact c2it for a copy of your statement by writing a letter to "Customer Service Center" in Sioux Falls, South Dakota and provide them with your full name, e-mail address, phone number, and a copy of your social security card, driver's license, or a telephone bill, gas or electric bill or bank statement from the last 30 days. What would they do with all that information? Probably sell it to other companies. If you have any doubt of that, just read the Citibank Privacy Notice.

Fast forwarding seven years I would have been hopeful that Citibank would become a leader in gaining our trust. Unfortunately, not the case. Who might Citibank share your personal information with? The list includes affiliates among the family of companies controlled by Citigroup as well as non-affiliated third parties, such as financial services providers and non-financial organizations, such as companies engaged in direct marketing. I can't think of much that doesn't fall into one of those categories. What information is it that they might "share"? Your name, e-mail address, zip code, age and income range, information you provide on applications and other forms, information about your transactions with affiliated or nonaffiliated third parties, information received from a consumer reporting agency and information received about you from other sources. I can't think of much that is not included.

We are talking about a sweeping allowance to provide a broad and undefined amount of information about you with a broad and undefined audience. If you touch Citibank you will quickly start receiving marketing offers. Citigroup says "We may do this even if you ask us to limit disclosure of personal information about you". Not that it really matters, as they say, but how would you make a request to have your privacy respected? You would send them a "Privacy Choices Form" by U.S. mail. Mail? Yes, snail mail. This highly automated web savvy giant can transfer money in and out of any of your accounts in milliseconds but to have your privacy respected "please allow thirty days from our receipt of your privacy choices for them to become effective".

The issue is trust. It was easy to get the feeling that Citibank was not being forthcoming about their c2it offering. Citibank reminds us that it is "allowed by law to share with its affiliates any information about its transactions or experiences with you". Should the default be “check this box if you do not want this"? Seems to me that it should be opt in not opt out.

Brand used to be a feeling conjured up by how a company's product was physically packaged or how you imagined yourself using it. Increasingly brand is a feeling conjured up by your experience on that company's web site and from it's privacy policy. These tie directly to Trust. Companies that have a web site that provides an end-to-end positive experience and which enhances people’s quality of life by saving them time will gain enhanced brand equity. The converse will become obvious. Web sites already have a repository of huge amounts of personal data that represent the byproduct of not just our registrations but also our surfing habits, our purchases, and our interactions with others. In the near future our medical records will be on a web site somewhere and beyond that will come real time data streamed from pacemakers and other medical instruments that are attached to our bodies. All of this data can bring significant benefits to us but only if we are able to trust the holders of the data and have confidence that they will protect it and respect our preferences about how and when it can be used.

Epilogue: This is not a story picking on Citibank. They are one of the giants and they put things in our physical mailboxes on a regular basis, so they have no place to hide. Unfortunately, most privacy policies out there resemble what I have discussed here.

Other patrickWeb stories about Privacy and Trust

Internet Technology, PKI, Public Policy, e-Business December 17, 2007 05:33 PM

Friday, December 7, 2007

Customer Service

There have been many stories here over the years related to customer service. The Internet offers the potential for businesses, schools, governments, and hospitals to offer unparalleled customer service. More and more are doing so but there is a long way to go. When I wrote Net Attitude during the summer of 2001 I thought by now things would be different. This story will summarize two cases -- one great and one much less than great.

In order to end on a high note, I'll start with the not so great customer service from Symantec. Symantec is a great company and their technology protects millions of consumers and businesses daily with their anti-virus and firewall technologies. I use the Symantec Internet Security on some computers but on one of them I decided to try something different primarily because I find the renewal process tedious -- where it could be a mouse click or two, it turns out every year to be long chats with call centers to get a renewal. When the renewal charge showed up as an American Express card transaction I called the 877 number on the transaction. I got a recording saying to call a different number. I called that number and got a recording saying the number was no longer in use and that I should visit http://norton.com/support. I went to that link where it said I could get help with subscriptions, product activation, product download, returns, or rebates. Clicking on subscriptions took me to a customer service page with the same set of choices as the prior page. None of the choices were what I needed so I clicked on "contact us" which showed me option for "Instant Online Chat". I clicked "Chat Now" and then was asked to go through a set of steps to install Microsoft ActiveX technology, which I consider to be close to a virus. The Symantec support structure only works with the Internet Explorer browser, which I do not use. Being a consumer oriented company I am surprised Symantec would impose IE on people when the current browser statistics show that Firefox, Netscape, Safari, and Opera have reached 43% market share. I am sure one of Symantec's challenges is to get people to use their website instead of calling. Making the browser choice for consumers is not a good way to achieve that.

On the flip side of the coin is Amazon.The company started with a vision of great customer service a dozen years ago and continues to get better. A few months ago I bought a Linksys "Wireless-N Gigabit Security Router with VPN" from Amazon. After using it for awhile it became clear that it had a defect. I confirmed this with Linksys technical support. They said they could send me a reconditioned replacement or I could return the unit to the retailer. I chose the latter and followed the simple process online at Amazon's customer service page. The Amazon "Your Account" page has just about everything you can imagine -- return items, combine orders, track or cancel orders, and even change the payment method for an existing order. All of these functions are intuitive and easy to use. I chose "Return an item" and then was asked if it was a gift or if I had ordered it. I was then shown a list of all my orders (they can show you online order history going back more than ten years). Next was a selection of why the item was being returned. It was clear they are using artificial intelligence to then ask questions and take actions based on your responses. When I said the item was defective, an apology was presented, and with a mouse click a shipping label was ready to print, and they automatically notified UPS to pick up the package.

A confirming email asked if I was satisfied and I had to say no because I didn't want to send the router back until I received a new one. When I clicked on "no" in the email a web page showed various options for resolving my concern, one of which was "Click here to speak to a real person". I clicked the button and 1 second later my phone rang. I told the person my concern and he completely understood and communicated to me in a clear and helpful way. He immediately put the UPS pickup on hold and placed an order for a replacement router for overnight delivery. "Is there anything else I can do for you?". What could I say other than thanks. Amazon made just shy of $1 billion in profit last year. Sales were over $13 billion. Is it any wonder? The company has made a huge investment in customer service and has always made this a priority. They were criticized for not becoming profitable soon enough. Now the company is valued at just shy of $40 billion. Many companies talk about customer service but Amazon really delivers on it.

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On Demand, e-Business December 7, 2007 05:39 PM

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

eCommerce Videos

A video of Ira Magaziner's talk at last week's eCommerce celebration in Washington can be found here and a video of my wrap-up talk, which I called "The Future of the Internet", is here.

Conferences, Internet Technology, e-Business July 18, 2007 06:53 PM

Tuesday, July 17, 2007

Ten Years of eCommerce

Ken Wasch is a fellow alum (Economics and International Relations) from Lehigh University and a law graduate of SUNY Buffalo in New York. After spending eight years as a senior attorney for the U.S. Department of Energy working on petroleum price regulation, Ken saw the light and established the Software Publishers Association (1984) which is now the Software & Information Industry Association. I have known Ken for more than half of his twenty-two years in the industry, so when he called to ask me to participate in a conference to celebrate an important milestone for eCommerce, it was hard to resist.

A handful of us joined with Tim Berners-Lee to start the World Wide Web Consortium at MIT in December 1994. None of us at the time foresaw today's level or potential for eCommerce. Most of the focus at that time was on techniques for formatting web pages and on various other content related issues. Jim Clark, founder of Netscape, did see the eCommerce potential and he also realized one of the biggest inhibitors was the U.S. Government regulation of encryption, a key tool for making eCommerce secure. Jim and a handful of us started the Global Internet Project as a public policy group to gain more awareness about encryption and urge governments around the world to loosen the reigns. That effort was successful and use of encryption is no longer an inhibitor. (The inhibitor is insufficient Net Attitude to enable web sites to meet our needs).

There were many other complexities looming under the surface that could have dramatically stalled the growth of eCommerce. Collectively it was a hodgepodge of sticky issues -- like non-U.S. countires that objected to the U.S. control over key elements of the Internet infrastructure -- but the biggest issue was a lack of vision. There was no consistent framework for eCommerce that could enable businesses to move forward. One of the first of the Fortune 500 to put a stake in the ground was IBM Corporation where Lou Gerstner said in 1997 the web is not for surfing, it is for transactions -- later named e-Business. The gamble being taken by IBM and many others was that the Internet would become internationally politicized and potentially regulated to a standstill. Fortunately, there was a person in a high place in the government that would help solve many of the tough issues and enable President Clinton to announce a “Framework for Global Electronic Commerce” in the summer of 1997. It was a huge accomplishment for which we should all be eternally grateful. The person who lead the effort was Ira Magaziner, a top aide at the White House. Ira is best known for his efforts to create a major American healthcare program. His effort got attacked from every political direction and eventually fell. Unlike healthcare, the Internet was not well understood by politicians and they stayed out of the way as Ira raised and solved many of the key issues. He then traveled around the world enlightening key government leaders. The rest is history. At the conference last week Ira modestly said the event was "a good reminder of how far we have come and of how much opportunity still remains". Ken Wasch said “Electronic commerce has provided a significant engine for the growth of the global economy and has sparked the delivery of a multitude of innovative products and services.”

It was my privilege to serve on a panel moderated by Michael Mandel, chief economist of BusinessWeek. The other panelists were Stewart Baker, Assistant Secretary, Department of Homeland Security; Dan Burton, Senior Vice President, at Salesforce.com and former President of the Council on Competitiveness; Jamie Estrada, Assistant Secretary (Acting) at the U.S. Department of Commerce, and Ira Magaziner who is now Chairman of the Clinton Foundation. To set the stage for discussion, Michael announced the results of a poll of thought leaders in the industry in which they voted on the most significant "eCommerce Developments of the Last Decade". The results are so commonplace to all of us that it is hard to believe that they are ten years or so old. No surprise, Google (Sept. 1998) came out on top. Number two was when broadband penetration of US Internet users reached 50% (June 2004). Third was eBay Auctions (Launched Sept. 1997). Fourth was Amazon.com (went public in May 1997). Fifth was Google Ad Words (2000) which enabled key word advertising. Sixth -- Open Standards. Seven -- WiFi. Eight - User-Generated Content (YouTube 2005). Ninth was iTunes (2001) and last but not least, the BlackBerry (1999). See the SIIA press release for more details on the top ten.

It was my privilege to give the wrap-up talk which I called "The Future of the Internet". I asserted that the Internet has grown to it's infancy and that we have so far only seen five percent of what the Internet has in store for our business and personal lives. The examples used were things often written about here in patrickWeb. A video of Ira Magaziner's talk is here and my closing speech is here.

Other patrickWeb stories about Conferences

Conferences, IBM, Internet Technology, e-Business July 17, 2007 07:33 PM

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Three Percent

The Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce has announced that U.S. retail e-commerce sales for the fourth quarter of 2006 were $29.3 billion, an increase of 4.6 percent from the third quarter and 24.6% above the fourth quarter of 2005. In fact, the year to year growth has been more than 20% for every quarter since it has been tracked back five years or so ago. The impressive double-digit growth rate is more than triple the growth of retail sales overall. E-commerce has now reached 3% of total retail sales

Why isn't it 20% instead of 3% ? There are many reasons -- most of them are not technology related. Other than the major sites, many web businesses have lame web pages that ask you to re-enter a date because you forgot the dashes, or re-enter the date because no dashes are allowed, or enter your favorite color and then tell you it must be at least five characters in length (nix red, blue, gray, tan, pink), or make bold statements about how their e-business is there for you 24x7 and then displays a page that says "sorry, our web site is temporarily unavailable", or "you can't there from here" error messages . When it comes to concerns about security, identity theft, and privacy, I am optimistic that these issues will be adequately addressed. However, the ease of use issues require a shift in attitude to solve. I must confess that I thought this would be well understood after a decade of e-commerce but we clearly have a long way to go.

As eBay and Amazon continue to grow and show real profits to the world, business leaders are paying more attention. The free markets are driving competition and innovation is beginning to kick into high gear. We have barely scratched the surface of what is going to happen. It will never be 100% of retail but I can see it getting to 25% which will make it a trillion dollar business.

e-Business March 14, 2007 06:10 PM

Saturday, November 20, 2004

Two Percent - Chapter 5

The Census Bureau of the Department of Commerce has announced that their estimate of U.S. retail e-commerce sales for the third quarter of 2004 was $17.6 billion, an increase of 4.7 percent from the second quarter of 2004 and 21.5 percent from the third quarter of 2003. E-commerce sales in the third quarter accounted for 1.9 percent of total sales. This impressive double-digit growth rate is more than triple the growth of retail sales overall. Soon -- probably by the end of the current quarter -- e-commerce will be more than two percent of all retail sales.

Why isn't it 20% instead of 2% ? There are many reasons -- only some of them not technology related. The number of people with "always on" Internet connections is a factor. Ease of use and concerns about security, identity theft, and privacy also contribute. I am optimistic that these issues will be adequately addressed. As eBay and Amazon continue to grow and show real profits to the world, business leaders are paying more attention. The free markets will drive competition and then innovation will kick into high gear. We have barely scratched the surface of what is going to happen.

While e-commerce is important and will continue to grow rapidly, it is not the most important capability of the Internet for humankind. How about if linking millions of personal computers together and combining their unused capacity could lead to a cure for cancer or create a vaccine for SARS or smallpox? We know it could happen in years but a new breakthrough might accelerate the timetable dramaticlly. IBM's announcement of the World Community Grid earlier this week may turn out to be the most significant use of the Internet ever. Much more on this in an upcoming story.


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e-Business November 20, 2004 02:53 PM

Thursday, November 4, 2004

Airline Woes - 3

We all have experienced "airline woes", and like my fellow travelers, I continue to look forward to the day when I can write a story about how great airline web sites are. Hopefully, the story will also describe how well the airlines have integrated all of their information systems and processes so they present themselves as a single seamless interface to their customers. I have complete confidence it will happen, albeit a bit less confidence that all airlines will be able to afford to do what they need to do.

Airlines have a complicated business and are under enormous financial pressure. Even with the elegant and theoretically simplistic web services technology, there is a huge effort ahead to create a modern and seamless integration across the many systems and applications that airlines run. Progress is being made but you can see the legacy systems and vocabulary peeking through the facade. I was talking with an American Airlines agent the other day about some travel arrangements (unfortunately, I was not able to get the information I needed through aa.com). The agents continue to do a great job but they also make it clear that they do not have web access and any questions about the web site have to be directed to a different department at a different phone number (this is not unique to American Airlines). At the conclusion of the discussion, the agent said she would send me an email confirmation with all the details of my upcoming trip. Since my wife would be traveling with me this time, I asked the agent if she could copy my wife's email address. Sort of. The agent told me that they can only do one email at a time and no copies are possible. The email would take up to 24-48 hours. I could call back the next day and ask that another email for my wife be put "into the system".

You can tell that the airline is not using a completely modern-day email system. There are other clues. The "To:" line of the email says JOHN @ PATRICKWEB.COM. The email is likely being generated from the airline's mainframe system (which decades ago was predominantly UPPER CASE). Nothing wrong with mainframes, of course. To the contrary, it is great that they have integrated their powerful mainframe back end systems with the web front end. Some cosmetic changes are needed to clean things up so that the web users have confidence that the airline is speaking their language. Part of this is technical, and part is just plain attention to details and grammar. The email said "This is a  American Airlines/American Eagle itinerary notification only and does not constitute ticketing". Perhaps the sentence was made generic so that it could also say "This is a United Airlines.....". How about making it "This American Airlines/American Eagle itinerary is for notification only and does not constitute ticketing"? Sometimes the simple things -- like good grammar -- send us the right signals. It would be nice if the company marketing department, not just the IT staff, has read and approved web pages and email content for grammar, spelling, style, and appropriateness.

Not to pick on airlines, here is my all-time favorite page -- at a multi-billion dollar e-tailer web site that was offering gift "certificates online". I clicked, and here is what I got. "You would need to contact the store where you are wanting to get the gift certificate from. We currently do not offer the purchase Gift Certificates online. If you have any further questions or would like to offer feedback, please email us".

The airline industry is highly competitive and so every airline is working very hard to make their web presence effective. Although making great progress, airlines have a long way to go to become on demand businesses. What is an on-demand business? It is very simple to say, although it requires a huge amount of work to achieve. An on demand business is one that allows you to engage with them whenever you want from wherever you are with whatever kind of communications link you have and with whatever kind of device you may be using to do what you need to do with simplicity and productivity. Another way to say it is that an on demand business simplifies your life and saves you time. Again, it is easy to say and hard to do. I continue to say that we are just five percent of the way there. Not long ago I thought it was just two percent, so I do think the businesses of the world are making significant progress.

e-Business November 4, 2004 10:28 PM

Thursday, October 28, 2004

Four Percent: Feedback from readers

There was quite a bit of feedback about the Four Percent story. Bill Sell, Managing Partner at Advisor Communications in Framingham, Massachusetts said that he had been looking for a 27� television with a specific housing size to fit in a wall unit. For over a month he had been visiting "all sorts of stores" but usually finding the specific item he needed "out of stock" and, he added, "no interest on the part of the sales people to help find it". With his existing TV getting worse and the Red Sox game coming up, he decided to search online. In short order, he found the unit in stock at a Best Buy store 40 miles from the area where he had been doing his "physical" shopping. Bill ordered and paid for the TV online, got a map with driving directions from the Best Buy site and received a confirmation email saying that "his" TV was being pulled from inventory. He then received another email, this time from a service manager at the store saying that the TV was waiting for him with his "name on it".

The elapsed time from starting the search online and receiving all the communications: 10 minutes. Bill said, "No gas involved, and a complete surprise to me how easy this was". He drove to the store, picked up the TV, and was "out of the store in less than five minutes". "It's restored my faith in the e-commerce model – one where I didn't have to pay a huge shipping premium". Bill says, "Keep up the encouragement for the medium!". Ok, Bill, you can count it.

Alan Herrell is a web designer and "the head lemur". He questions the four percent assertion. Like Bill, Alan he has some personal experience, in case through his own business. Alan has a number of clients who use the Internet "to increase sales" but he believes that their results are not counted in the officially reported e-commerce. He cites two examples.

1. An auto wrecker has a web site that has a request form used to look for parts. The wrecker responds with a price including shipping. Using programs such as UPS Worldship, ("a real deal closer") allows the customer to know to the penny what the total purchase will cost. Once the agreement is reached the customer is contacted and credit card information is taken over the phone, the package is shipped and the purchaser not only gets the part and a receipt but, while it is in transit, the customer receives an email with the tracking number so they can track the shipment. Alan says, "While this may be a case of splitting hairs in terms of not using an e-commerce gateway, this is still an e-commerce transaction". The customer gets tracking from contact to delivery. The auto wrecker gets increased sales and "virtual elimination of fraud" by using the phone and email instead of credit card companies -- and their service charges.

2. Body shops and insurance companies are relying more and more upon electronic claims handling from assignment, through supplement, through final billing, with the only contact between the body shop and the insurance company being email.

In summary, Alan believes that e-commerce has a much higher share of the domestic product than is being counted, and it is "in the counting mechanism rather than in the technological barriers, or fears about identity theft" that are causing the undercount. "Nope, I think that e-commerce accounts for a far higher figure than 4%. More likely in the 10-13% range when you factor in "Internet-related methodologies". I think Alan makes some really excellent points. Hopefully, the methodology for collecting and reporting e-commerce activity will continue to improve.

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e-Business October 28, 2004 09:08 PM

Wednesday, August 18, 2004

On Demand - Unless Past Noon

The FedEx driver stopped by this morning and dropped off a package. We had a nice chat about the weather, the roads, and motorcycles. The Express envelope that was delivered contained an Express envelope for some materials I had to return to the Washington Speakers Bureau. The driver told me he would be passing back through the area at the end of the day and could pick up the envelope -- as long as I called by noon.

I decided to use the web site instead of calling. The site insisted that I could not request a pickup unless I was a registered user, so I went through the registration process, filled out a page of personal information. After submitting it, the site asked for my FedEx account number. I don't have one. I entered the WSB account number on the envelope and the system then said it must be an error because the address for that account number does not match the address I had entered. I gave up on the web site and called the FedEx 800 number. The customer service agent was very nice but she couldn't help me because her PC was "frozen". After being on hold for quite a while I called again. This time the customer service agent said she could help but that it was past the pickup cutoff time for today. I explained that the driver had told me that he goes right past my location at the end of every day and that he said he could pick it up. "I am sure he could", she said, "but the system will not allow me to make the request. It is past the cutoff."

Things like this are what prompted me to write "Net Attitude". Is the situation I encountered caused by technical issues? I would argue not. Surely there are technical issues and policy issues but the bigger issue is to meet the rising expectations for On Demand services. If a customer can call and request a pickup without having an account number, why can't they go to the web site and request a pickup without a customer number? Could the "system" send a message to the driver and ask if he could pick up the envelope? Could the customer service process been to tell the customer that the cutoff has been reached but that a wireless message will be sent to the closest driver and if he is able to pick up the envelope he will, otherwise he will pick it up tomorrow? Could the system send me an email to let me know if it would be picked up today or not?

FedEx is a brilliant and innovative company with huge systems resources. It is amazing what they do everyday, and being in the hotly competitive business they are in, they continue to get better and better. At the same time, as we all experience new and better services via the Internet, our expectations increase. On Demand is a big job for businesses, governments, hospitals, and schools. It means that the customer can get what they want, when they want it, any time, anywhere, using whatever device they choose to connect to the Internet.

e-Business August 18, 2004 01:29 PM

Sunday, August 1, 2004

Customer Service

Each and every one of us could write stories about less than perfect Customer Service. Recently, I wrote about a venture to find a GSM Provider that I could use with the Sony Ericsson P900. AT&T Wireless turned out to be the best in terms of coverage and, in spite of their ratings, their customer service has been pretty good. Cingular is a different story. I can accept that every provider is not going to have great coverage where I live, but good customer service is something that every provider should have.

The sales person was very nice. She captured all my information - name and address, ssn, driver's license number, date of birth, etc. -- using an online application. I was impressed (except for them insisting on so much personal information). I thought we were ready to insert the chip card , but then out came the paperwork. I had to fill out an application form with all the same information that they had already captured in their system! Go figure. Unfortunately, as I previously reported, I got home and found there was no signal. I immediately called the store and they said they could open accounts but they can't close them. I would have to call 1-866-CINGULAR. (read more)

e-Business August 1, 2004 10:57 PM

Monday, July 12, 2004

Five Percent: Epilogue

After 48 hours, the points have still not show up at Marriott Rewards, so they were correct when they said it would take 3-5 days (to move data from server to server). I do not mean to condemn Marriott -- it may be that American Express sent the data in a proprietary format that requires special processing on Marriott's part. (That is why we need web services standards).

Shortly after the attempted transaction I got the following email from American Express. It shows they are on their way, and committed, to becoming an on demand business. (read more)

e-Business July 12, 2004 09:57 PM

Saturday, July 10, 2004

Five Percent

In my book, Net Attitude, I said we were 2 percent of the way into the Internet; in other other words, we have only seen 2% of what the Internet has in store for our business and personal lives. More recently, I have been saying we are up to 5%. Now I am thinking of revising my estimate back to 2 percent. This is not a technical measurement. It has to do with expectations. Of all the things that could be done on the Internet to simplify our lives and save us time, how many of them are actually being made available to us? Five percent would be a generous estimate.

The banks, airlines, and hotel chains have made substantial progress compared to other industries, but when you look at all the things that you can do compared to what you can't do you can see that they have a long way to go. Tonight I attempted to order a Marriott Rewards certificate. The Marriott web site is dramatically better than it had been but no where on the homepage could I find "Redeem points" or "Order certificate". I did find it under a "learn more" link and then found a link to "Use Points". I then found this.....

"To use your Marriott Rewards points for a hotel stay at a participating Marriott hotel brand, please make a reservation and indicate that the reservation is for a Marriott Rewards redemption.  You will receive an email confirmation, and your hotel will be sent an E-Certificate for your redemption reservation." (It then points out that E-Certificates can only be used by you yourself -- not even an immediate family member).  "You can make your reservation online or by calling 1-800-MARRIOTT." Unfortunately, the reservation I had made was by phone because I couldn't find what I wanted on the web site. Therefore I had not received an email because you only get an email if you make the reservation online. I called and went through endless call center menu options. The result of this was that I was short 7,000 points and so I was told I needed to call another number. I called. They were closed. (read more)

e-Business July 10, 2004 10:35 AM

Sunday, May 16, 2004

Local Fulfillment - Part 3

Thanks to Wolfgang Jung at IBM Deutschland GmbHR for telling me about how REI Inc., the outdoor sporting goods retailer, is using IBM E-Commerce Software for local fulfillment. It is great to learn that there are more retailers doing this than I realized. According to a story in Internet Retailer, REI’s in-store pickup is producing far more online sales than had been expected. REI Inc. introduced in-store pickup as a free-shipping option for online orders last June and received $26 million in orders during the next six months.The in-store pick-up service became instantly popular even though there was no advertising for it. (read more)

e-Business May 16, 2004 07:07 AM

Wednesday, May 12, 2004

Local Fulfillment - Part 2

Thanks to readers David Singer and Ken Corneliusen for pointing out that Circuit City is already offering a form of local fulfillment. They call it the "Express In-Store Pickup option" and it lets you buy online and pick up your purchases at your local Circuit City store "almost immediately". Express In-store Pickup allows you to complete your purchase online and pick up your product at a local Circuit City store near where you live. Circuit City has obviously concluded that local fulfillment is good for the customer and also good for them. As a customer, you pay no shipping charges for your purchase, you have the flexibility of picking up your purchase at your convenience, and your purchase is immediately available for pickup after you have completed your purchase online and received your order confirmation page.

Looks like Circuit City has also thought through the entire process -- end-to-end. If you used a credit card for your purchase, only you or someone you authorized is able to pickup the merchandise. The Customer Service Counter will ask you for your order number (which is on the order confirmation page you printed from the Web site after your purchase), your photo identification (just like at the airport), the credit card you used to pay for the online purchase, and your signature acknowledging receipt of the product. All of this is perfectly reasonable and good business practice. (read more)

e-Business May 12, 2004 09:46 PM

Tuesday, May 11, 2004

Local Fulfillment

The digital photography revolution is well under way, as we all know. There is a myriad of solutions for taking pictures and for storing, organizing, retrieving, posting, sharing, and printing them. For grandmothers and great grandmothers the 4" x 6" glossy print is still the preferred medium for sharing and discussing pictures. I decided to make the leap and buy a Canon i960 Photo Printer. The IBM Infoprint Color 1354 is the workhouse for my printing needs, including brilliant color for web documents and presentations, but the i960 is nice for easily printing high quality 4" x 6" prints.

The Canon i960 Photo Printer has 3,720 precisely machined nozzles eject microscopic-sized droplets on glossy paper producing a stunning edge-to-edge 4" x 6" borderless print with the look and feel of a traditional photograph in roughly 35 seconds. The resolution of 4800 x 1200 dpi results in over 5.7 million droplets per square inch. The i960 replaced the Epson Stylus 2000P Photo printer. It prints very nicely also but is more oriented toward large color prints which I have not had many occasions to need. Like millions of others, when I have something I no longer need, I turn to eBay.

After the 7-day auction on eBay was completed, I received an email saying who the successful bidder was and that he lived in North Haven, Connecticut. Since this is less than an your from where I live, I sent an email to the buyer and offered him the option of picking up the printer if he wanted to save the shipping cost. We then made arrangements to meet near where I live. I packed up the Epson printer and fastened it on the back of the Ultra Classic Electra Glide and took a short ride to meet the buyer. The man from North Haven picking up his printer is an example of online e-commerce combined with local fulfillment. It is a much bigger idea than what was represented by this transaction. (read more)

e-Business May 11, 2004 09:57 PM

Tuesday, May 4, 2004

Virtually Real and Really Virtual

Last week, IBM announced a new technology solution called the virtualization engine. VE, as it will undoubtedly get called, turns a real datacenter into a virtual datacenter. This is a really big deal. CEO's, CIO's, and CFO's will surely like VE because virtual datacenters require fewer people, offer more reliability, and are much less costly to operate. Sounds good, but what is a datacenter and what is a virtual datacenter?

When you visit the web site of a company and click on something, a server in a datacenter somewhere gets the job of finding the web page or process you requested and delivering it to your browser over the Internet. A simple protocol called http (hyper text transfer protocol) describes exactly how the process works. With one user on the Internet and one server at the other end serving one web page it is quite trivial. With millions of users around the world visiting the web site at unpredictable times and making unpredictable requests for millions of documents, processes and transactions, it can become a nightmare for the people who are managing the datacenter. (read more)

e-Business May 4, 2004 03:18 PM

Sunday, February 22, 2004

Two Percent And Growing Fast

In my book, Net Attitude, I said we were 2% of the way into what the Internet has in store for our business and personal lives. In current speeches I have been saying 5%. There are various metrics one could look at to get an idea of the Internet's penetration. The WordPOPClock projection is that the world's population on March 1 will be 6.35 billion. The world's Internet users at any point in time is somewhere around 5% of that number. More important than the numbers are the things you can and can't yet do using the Internet. I believe that 95% of the desirable things that could be done on the Internet are not yet being done.

One of those things is purchasing of goods and services. It is getting easier every day but we have a long way to go. For 2003, online retail spending, excluding travel and auctions, grew 22% over 2002 to $52 billion. Including travel, the total was $93 billion, up 27% over 2002. These are impressive numbers and I expect we will continue to see double digit growth for quite some time. However, let's put it in perspective with the "offline" world. Walmart just announced their sales for the last quarter -- $74.9 billion. That equates to $832.2 million per day or $34.7million per hour. In two days, Walmart (one company) sales exceeded the sales of all companies online for 2003. (read more)

e-Business February 22, 2004 01:15 PM

Friday, December 5, 2003

UPS On Demand

I have written some stories about e-business on demand extolling the virtues and acknowledging that we have a long way to go to get there. Today I witnessed a good example of the potential. I had a business document that needed to be overnighted so I went to myups.com and made a request for a pickup at my side door. Five minutes later a big brown truck pulled in the driveway and a young man went to the side door and picked up the envelope. UPS is committed to building an infrastructure to make them a truly on demand e-business. E-business On Demand is very profound but my simple definition of it is that it enables all constituencies of an organization to access any business process they need whenever they need it from wherever they are using whatever kind of device with which they are connected to the Internet. Easy to say. Much to do.

Other patrickWeb stories about e-business

e-Business December 5, 2003 02:23 PM

Thursday, October 16, 2003

Airline Woes

I look forward to the day when I can write a story about how great airline websites are. It is true that airlines have a complicated business and are under enormous financial pressures -- that is why I have tried to be understanding about some of the frustrating experiences that I have had. My level of sympathy dropped yesterday when I received a letter from American Airlines saying my Admirals Club membership was coming up for renewal. It didn't bother me that they now charge $10 per baggage tag instead of giving you a free set every year. People don't need a new set every year -- and some people belong to more than one airline club and get more than one set per year. Giving away fancy luggage tags annually was a bad business policy all along. I don't even mind the new $50 late registration fee. Some people probably let their membership lapse and then renew it the next time they need to visit a club, thereby saving money for the intervening period. It is not unreasonable for the airline to impose a fee in this case. What I do mind is the method of renewal.  (read more)

e-Business October 16, 2003 06:30 PM

Friday, October 10, 2003

WD-40 and eBill

WD-40 is celebrating their 50th year. I am not sure how many people know about WD-40. Probably millions have seen the brand but not actually used it. If you like to tinker around in your garage or basement, you likely know
WD-40 well, as I do. In 1953, three technicians had the vision that a product could be created to prevent rust and degrease mechanical parts -- WD stands for "Water Displacement". I don't know what the 40 stands for. They have a great Web site at www.wd40.com and it shows how *any* product can have a useful website if they put their mind to it. Then there is the SBC website.  (read more)

SBC Communications is a different story. I am sure they want to be an on demand e-business but they have a very long way to go. Part of the problem is genetic. Their website says "if you need to make a payment immediately, please call us". You can't take "call" out of a phone company. The website goes on to say "To pay online, you must enroll in the SBC eBill service". The process to enroll is actually straightforward and efficient. Then it tells you "Once you've activated, either online or offline, you're done. You will receive an enrollment confirmation email in two to five days . After that, you will be able to view, print, and pay your bill in approximately 1-2 months, depending on your billing cycle. This is the tip-off that there are a lot of systems that are not yet integrated. They aren't alone.

e-Business October 10, 2003 10:38 PM

Friday, October 3, 2003

Frequent Penalty Program

It seems as though I am having difficulty with every airline website. They have such a complicated business and are under such enormous financial pressures that it is hard to be too critical. They are actually making great progress -- albeit a long way to go to become on demand e-businesses. What is an on-demand e-business? Very simple. A business that allows you to engage with them whenever you want from wherever you are with whatever kind of communications link you have and to do what you need to do with simplicity and productivity. Another way to say it is that an on demand e-business simplifies your life and saves you time. Easy to say. Hard to do. I continue to say that we are just five percent of the way there. After my latest experience with United Airlines, I wonder if that is an overstatement.   (read more)

e-Business October 3, 2003 01:57 PM

Tuesday, September 9, 2003

Stamps On Demand

I often correspond with my former IBM colleagues by email and instant messaging, but today I made a visit in person to the Somers, New York facility. It was a beautiful day with puffy white clouds and blue sky -- I couldn't ask for better motorcycling conditions. The subject of the two meetings was on demand. This is such an exciting concept, and I believe that it represents the beginning of the next major wave of opportunity in the networked world. I expressed my thoughts about this in a prior posting but will be writing much more about it over time. I took the long way home and passed through some New York communities I had not taken notice of before including Amawalk, Granite Springs, and Lincolnville (could not find a link). After I got home, I had an interaction with stamps.com which was anything but on demand.  (read more)

e-Business September 9, 2003 10:37 PM

Wednesday, July 9, 2003

Cable Distribution

Today was the day to get some home automation projects wrapped up. There is a lot to write about on the subject of home automation, but that will be for another day. This story is about the impact of the Internet on manufacturing and distribution. Completion of the home automation project required a very special cable -- DB9 Serial with some wiring modifications on one end and RJ-11 on the other end. The cable is not the center of the story (for those interested in details about the cable, click here). The story is about how to procure this arcane cable. I was going to go to Radio Shack, buy a blank DB9 connector and make the cable myself but when I realized how long it would take to get to the store, do the splicing, test it out, and probably do some re-work, I decided to look on the web and see if I could find the cable and get overnight delivery. (read more)

Home Automation, e-Business July 9, 2003 06:48 PM

Thursday, June 12, 2003

Promotional Purposes

I have written several times in the gadgets section about the virtues of ExxonMobil's Speedpass. I was one of the earliest users and continue to find it a time-saver. Unfortunately, today I saw the dark side of SpeedPass. The last few times I have attempted to use it, both with my car and motorcycles, it has not worked and I had to either pay cash or use a credit card the old way. Normally, the gas station attendant is not aware of what the problem is, but this morning the owner of the local Mobil station happened to be in and he knew the problem -- the credit card affiliated with my Speedpass had expired. (read more)

e-Business June 12, 2003 04:15 PM

Sunday, June 8, 2003

A Knovel Ride

The motorcycle ride up Interstate 81 through Pennsylvania and on to Binghamton, New York was delightful although I did not expect to be using Widder electric gloves and vest in June. The ride to Norwich, New York later in the day was much warmer. More on the motorcycle rides (and rain) later. The purpose of the trip was to visit Knovel Corporation, a company for which I serve as a director. I wanted to meet the employees and learn more about what Knovel does and how it does it. I was astounded at how much the team has accomplished and the sophistication behind how Knovel works. (read more)

e-Business June 8, 2003 03:49 PM

Thursday, June 5, 2003

Continental Opera

It seems as though I am having difficulty with every airline website. They have such a complicated business and are under such enormous financial pressures that it is hard to be too critical. They are actually making great progress -- albeit a long way to go to become on demand e-businesses. This afternoon I spent an hour making two simple reservations at Continental Airlines. I am not 100% sure that the problem was theirs -- it may have been my browser. A month or two ago I started using Opera 7.0 as my primary browser. It has a lot of really nice features. What I like most is that there is a single instance of the browser -- each browsing session appears under a separate tab. If you close the browser and restart it , it remembers all the pages you had been looking at before and puts you right back to where you were before. Upon installation you are asked if you want to allow "pop-ups". If you say no then you don't get any pop-up advertisements -- none. Even though I occassionally run into a web site that doesn't work properly with Opera, overall it is well worth using.

e-Business June 5, 2003 10:27 PM

Sunday, June 1, 2003

Airline Web Sites

Many of us have expressed frustration over airline web sites -- they really have a lot of challenges. However, I would like to share a very positive experience with one of them. In order to enable the MileageManager service to provide a consolidated view of all my mileage with the various airline and hotel programs, it is necessary to give them a proxy. This is done by giving them your profile or user ID or email address and your PIN or password. It would be nice if they all used accepted my Verisign digital certificate, but that is another story (stay tuned). In the case of Northwest Airlines, I didn't have any login information so I visited their web site. My eye immediately spotted a "chat" button. I clicked on it and entered my question. (read more)

e-Business June 1, 2003 04:43 PM

Thursday, May 29, 2003

How Big Blue Is Turning Geeks Into Gold

Fortune Magazine just ran an interesting story about IBM called How Big Blue Is Turning Geeks Into Gold. It is a good read. I have been privileged to work with many people in IBM Research over the years and have learned much from them. It is heartening to read about how customers are learning from them.

e-Business May 29, 2003 10:16 PM

Travel Woes - Feedback

As expected, there has been much feedback about the American Airlines information updates and coordination. The tone of all of it was "I can top that one!". Chris Herot told me about his experience at Boston's Logan Airport waiting for an AA flight to London which was delayed due to weather.  While he was waiting in the Admirals Club, he noticed that the monitors continued to display the original departure time, as did the web site and the 800 number. Meanwhile, the staff at the desk said that the flight was not leaving for at least an hour.  When the scheduled departure time passed, the monitors listed the flight as departed!  Fifteen minutes later he called the 800 number and they insisted the flight was in the air. Apparently, if no one intervenes, the computer marks a flight as departed when its scheduled time passes.  An hour or so later, the flight did depart, but there was still no indication of the updated or actual departure time on the airport monitors. I am sure American is aware of the integration problem and hopefully they are working on standards-based web services protocols to enable the disparate systems to communicate with each other.

e-Business May 29, 2003 09:36 PM

Monday, May 26, 2003

Travel Woes

All things considered, we are very fortunate to have a transportation system that is highly reliable and gets us to where we want to go in an amazingly short time. The travel industry is a complex one and there is a huge legacy of process, management systems, and technology that makes it difficult to be as flexible and nimble as we all would like. Having offered that perspective, it is still at times incredible what we put up with. (read more)

e-Business May 26, 2003 04:51 PM

Wednesday, May 21, 2003

Firetruck

Everything was on schedule as the Boeing 757 taxied toward the runway at the John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana. All of a sudden there was a loud crashing sound and the airplane shuttered. Apparently the fire truck driver had gone for lunch and left the emergency brake off. The giant yellow truck rolled across the tarmac and smashed into the plane. No one was hurt, thankfully. A few inches to the left and the truck would have hit one of the engines or worse yet the wing fuel tank. The American Airlines crew and ground staff handled the emergency very professionally. After a safety team had walked through the plane to make sure everyone was ok, all passengers disembarked down a portable stairway and we then walked across the tarmac and up some outdoor stairs back into the terminal. Diaster was avoided but then I witnessed another problem. (read more)

e-Business May 21, 2003 12:10 PM

Friday, May 16, 2003

Netflix - Master Of Inventory

Netflix has an amazing system for managing their DVD rental inventory. I watched a Netflix DVD this past weekend. On Tuesday I put the DVD in the pre-stamped, pre-addressed mailer and took it to the post office around noon. I received an email from "Netflix Receiving" time stamped 11:27 AM the next day that they had received it. This was not FedEx or Airborne. It was normal USPS mail. I don't know how they do it. There must be some kind of special relationship that enables this amazing speed. At 6:44 PM I received an email from "Netflix Shipping" that the next DVD in my queue had been shipped. "Shipped" actually means that their system had updated my record to show that I had returned the prior DVD, determined which selection was next in my queue, located the nearest distribution center to where I live, addressed the mailer to me, delivered the DVD to the USPS, updated my queue to reflect the remaining choices, and then sent me an email. The DVD arrived in my physical mailbox at 2:00 PM the next day. They have an amazing distribution system.

Disclosure: I have a very small investment in Netflix.

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e-Business May 16, 2003 02:48 PM

Wednesday, May 14, 2003

On Demand

In the height of the "dot com" frenzy a class of companies emerged called Application Service Providers (ASP). The ASPs claimed to solve all known business problems by providing applications over the Internet. Solutions covered a wide range of activities from integration of the supply chain to a complete implementation of "office" functionality - spreadsheet, word processor, data base, presentation capability, etc. The value proposition was that you no longer had to buy Microsoft Office – you could just use that functionality via a server over the Internet. The problem was that it didn’t really solve a problem.

 

Although I continue to be enthusiastic about the vast potential of the Internet, I felt at the time that the ASP model was premature -- primarily because there were not enough people with always on, high quality, reliable, connections to the net. (network computers suffered from the same problem). On top of the network issue was the fact that the ASP solutions introduced were of questionable value and the result was that the ASP model essentially disappeared. What goes around, comes around – the ASP is back. The successful ones will be e-businesses on demand. (read more)

e-Business May 14, 2003 10:20 AM

Thursday, April 3, 2003

e-tirement update

When I "retired" fifteen months ago after 35 years at IBM, my friends and colleagues held an "e-tirement" party. I'll never forget it. What is "e-tirement? Not sure there is a formal definition -- I guess it is mostly continuing to do what I have been doing for quite a few years -- writing about, speaking about and participating in the world of Internet technology. I don't play golf or tennis and I never had any thoughts about heading to "the beach". I have been fortunate to be able to take a couple of nice trips (more on those in another post) but overall e-tirement have been busier than ever. patrickWeb has a section listing recent press coverage and my upcoming presentations. This posting contains some of the highlights. (read more)

e-Business April 3, 2003 09:20 AM

Sunday, March 9, 2003

Saving Time At aa.com

I went to aa.com last night to check in and print out a boarding pass for a flight I am taking this morning. This offered the potential for non-trivial time saving. It took 45 minutes on the phone with the help desk to get it done! The travel agent had entered INF somewhere in the record to signiffy that there was additional information. American Airlines took INF to mean "infant" and they don't allow you to print a boarding pass for an infant. So much for time saving. Airline web sites have come a long way but they have a much longer way to go.

e-Business March 9, 2003 05:50 AM

Sunday, February 23, 2003

Customer Retention

Everyday we get more reminders that we are just a few percent of the way into what the Internet has in store for our business and personal lives. A friend in IBM UK Ltd., just wrote and told me about his experience in applying to re-mortgage his home. The bank, which I will call UKBank Ltd. here, offered an online application process. After filling out the application, my friend received an email that said, "Thank you for submitting your recent online application. >From the information on the application, I understand you are an existing account holder. Therefore you would need to make the application via our Customer Retention department.The contact number for the Retention team is 0825 7021347 and they are available Monday-Friday 8.30am-6.00pm. Sorry for any inconvenience caused and thank you again for your interest". They didn't even pass the details on to their "customer retention" department to call my friend. In other words, it is up to the customer to call the customer retention people so that they can be "retained" as a customer! (read more)

e-Business February 23, 2003 02:08 PM

Monday, February 10, 2003

Integration - But, Don't Forget To Call

We are really making progress in the world of e-business. Maybe I'll update my talk about The Future Of The Internet and say we are 3% of the way there instead of 2%. A board meeting this month will take me toNew York City and I decided to go to Tavern On The Green afterward. I haven't been there for quite a few years and thought it was time to try it out again. I am sure it will be a pleasant experience as it was in the past. I headed on over to their web site and was not surprised to see it was comprehensive -- pictures, menus, history, and even online reservations. (read more)

e-Business February 10, 2003 04:09 PM

Tuesday, January 28, 2003

Frequent Guest Programs

Hotel chains have made progress with integrating their systems since I first wrote about my frquent guest experience in Net Attitude -- but they have a long way to go. Today I called Hilton Hotels to reserve a room for an upcoming wedding in the mid-west. I called rather than using the web site because the wedding party had blocked some rooms at the hotel and I wanted to make sure I used a room from their block. The web site does not have the ability to specify that. No criticism on that point -- that is a fringe feature and there are obvius security issues in doing it. I can envision how this could be done securely with authentication provided by the wedding planners and it would be nice, but there are so many basic things to be done first. Hilton has made great progress since the last time I looked and their commitment to an efficient and responsive e-business is evident. However, they have much to do. (read more)

e-Business January 28, 2003 04:35 PM

Wednesday, January 8, 2003

On The Way

I am on my way to Honolulu for the Global Internet Project meeting. The focus of the meeting will be spam. I also plan to complete a piece on my thoughts about "The Future of Advertising" which I will post on Friday.

e-Business January 8, 2003 10:54 PM

Monday, December 23, 2002

Buying Something Can Be Really Difficult

I continue to believe that we are only "two percent" of the way into what the Internet has in store for us and each day I get another confirmation of this. Some of my colleagues from the industry remind me that the global Internet population is already up to seven percent and that more than fifty percent of the U.S. population is online. Yes, the number of users is growing rapidly and the technology is racing ahead. However, the major challenge remains fulfilling the promise of e-business -- and in ways that can simplify our lives. If there is one thing that all of us need more of it is time to do the things we want to do. E-business has the potential to free up more time for us, but in my opinion the number of things that e-businesses are actually doing to simplify our lives is only two percent of what they could be doing. My latest examples stem from what should have been two very simple purchases. (read more)

e-Business December 23, 2002 05:50 PM

Monday, December 9, 2002

Boards -- knovel

Serving on boards, both corporate and non-profit, is a very rewarding experience. Not financially -- but in the sense that you have been able to help with a new idea, or to share an experience that can be helpful. I am privileged to have many affiliations including a number of boards. (read more)

e-Business December 9, 2002 10:02 PM

Tuesday, November 26, 2002

Clothing By Amazon

I suspect a lot of people were skeptical upon hearing that the world's largest bookstore would now be selling clothing. What does Amazon know about clothes? I don't know how many people at Amazon know clothing but they acquired hundreds of partners who are experts. Combing those partnerships with Amazon's incredible service and it may add up to a powerhouse in the clothing business. The first few days of their beta test brought some amazing results. (read more)

e-Business November 26, 2002 05:30 PM

Amazon Then And Now

Seven years ago, in the Fall of 1995, I made a presentation to a group of CEOs about the Internet. I showed them various web sites that I was fascinated with at the time, mostly related to engineering, scientific, government and academic projects. Probably the most exciting site to me at the time was The Visible Human Project. The word e-business had not yet been coined by IBM and there were not many exciting business web sites. One that seemed quite novel though was a site called Amazon.com. I asked for a show of hands from those who had heard of Amazon. Not a single hand went up. (read more)

e-Business November 26, 2002 04:50 PM

Thursday, November 14, 2002

Lou and Lou

I just watched Lou Gerstner in his interview with Lou Dobbs. The Lou's are both great guys in many ways. Lou Gerstner talked about the challenges in turning IBM around over the period starting in 1993. His new book, "Who Says Elephants Can't Dance?", is superb. Lou Dobbs added the book to The Dobbs List and of course I added it to my list of book favorites. There are some additional comments about Lou earlier in this weblog. Now that I have read the book, my enthusiasm for it is even greater. Lou wrote the way he is; straight, focused and thoughtful. The book reads exactly the way he talks and acts. It is a really good read. You can find the book at the patrickWeb store.

e-Business November 14, 2002 07:30 PM

Sunday, November 3, 2002

Speedpass - gas, burgers, and more!

Got to add 35 miles to the motorcycle log this partly sunny Sunday afternoon. It wasn't as sunny as forecasted but still a very nice day. I am not much of a naturalist but the leaves in New England this time of year are beautiful. My ride took me to Home Depot and Stu Leonard's to pick up a few necessities and then across I-84 and down Route 7. The last stop on the way home was at the Mobil station to get some gas. For some reason, my Speedpass didn't work. After getting home I went to their web site to see if there was information on what to do about the problem and their web site didn't work either. No excuse for a major outfit like this to have their site down -- but I'll forgive them this time. I called and the customer service representative was very nice. She told me that the expected life of a Speedpass car tag is two to three years. I have had mine since May 1998 -- one of my early gadgets -- so it is likely that it is time for replacement.

In spite of my problem today, I think Speedpass is a really great thing. It definitely saves time when getting gas -- especially when on a motorcycle. Speedpass works using an RF (radio frequency) signal similar to WiFi. The system has an antenna and a transponder. There are two types of transponders -- one that attaches to your rear windshield and one that you can attach to a key ring. The transponder delivers a serial number to the Speedpass system and then a database lookup tells them which credit card you specified at enrollment. Your charges show up just like any other charges to your card.

The potential of Speedpass seems extraordinary to me. (read more)

e-Business November 3, 2002 05:12 PM

Saturday, October 26, 2002

Dinners In The Bag

So many web sites are frustrating -- two percent solutions. I have written about many of them both here in the weblog and also in my book, Net attitude. It is so refreshing to visit a web site that is intuitive, easy to use, meets your needs, and does so quickly -- without wasting your time. There are actually quite a few of them, and it is not just Amazon and eBay. I have often cited stamps.com and myups.com but a few nights ago I had the joy of experiencing a lesser known web site that did all the right things. (read more)

e-Business October 26, 2002 08:00 PM

Wednesday, October 23, 2002

Design Management Institute

he Design Management Institute conducts four professional education conferences each year for senior management in the various design disciplines, strategic planning and marketing, who are interested in staying current on design issues, trends and best practices. This week's conference was held in Chatham on Cape Cod. It was a pleasure for me to be invited to give a talk about The Future of the Internet. The Chatham Bars Inn was a beautiful place to spend a day. I arrived on Tuesday evening in time for the DMI annual clam bake and not only got to enjoy some great clams and lobster but more importantly got to meet Earl Powell, DMI's president, and many of the conference attendees. It was a friendly and very interesting group of people. (read more)

e-Business October 23, 2002 01:30 PM

Monday, October 21, 2002

Health Care Integration

I just read a piece in CIO Magazine entitled "Health-Care Integration May Be an Expensive Prescription". The story talks about a bill proposed by Senator Edward Kennedy which would require that hospitals, doctors' offices and insurance companies develop systems for sharing administrative and patient data. The story says that experts in health-care IT "are leery" of backing the proposal without "proof of its ROI". I don't belittle the importance of ROI overall -- spending money without a ROI is foolish.

On the other hand some things seem so obvious. Did companies do a ROI analysis to decide to buy a fax machine? Would a company without a web site have to do a ROI to invest in one? I believe we are about two percent of the way into what the Internet has to offer. When we get to esoteric applications then it will be time to sharpen the pencil and discriminate between investment opportunities based on ROI. I am not suggesting that prioritization isn't important at this stage too but there are some things that businesses should be racing to do regardless of the ROI calculation. We are not even to the early stage of addressing the basics. (read more)

e-Business October 21, 2002 01:09 PM

Wednesday, October 9, 2002

New Book By Lou Gerstner

I was very fortunate to be at IBM for thirty-five years. Every one of those years was exciting and rewarding but the last eight were by far the best. Those were the years when Lou Gerstner was Chairman and CEO. A number of books refer to him on the cover or the highlights and countless others cite him as an example of a great CEO. In my own book I quoted from a few of Lou's speeches about the crucial importance of privacy in the world of e-business. He has been a visionary thinker and leader on this key issue. I have not seen his new book, Who Says Elephants Can't Dance, but I look forward to it as I am sure many are. (read more)

e-Business October 9, 2002 04:41 PM

Sunday, September 29, 2002

Inside-Out

A friend of mine received an order confirmation from Ticketmaster recently that contained the following...

"Thanks for purchasing your tickets with Ticketmaster. Your confirmation number for this purchase is 5-20471/NY4. You might want to print or save this email for future reference. Don't wait on the phones--buy your tickets online & speed through the ticket buying process!"

The email went to say "Register & receive all the membership benefits"  and then it presented the follwing URL...

"http://ntr.ticketmaster.com:80/ssp/?C=90003_1&R=12&U=FREDERICK%40
SMITHWICKWEB.COMM=2&B=2.0&S=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.ticketmaster.com
%2Fcgi%2Foutsider.plx%3FCAMEFROM%3DFLO_PhoneConfirm%26GOTO%3D
https%3A%2F%2Fticketing.ticketmaster.com%2Fcgi%2FMyAccount%2FMyAccount.asp" 

"Got any other questions about your Ticketmaster purchase? We're here to help!" (read more)

e-Business September 29, 2002 03:23 PM

Monday, September 16, 2002

Two Percent - case 2

I continue to say we are only two percent of the way into what the Internet has in store for us. It isn't the technology -- its the gap between expectations and results. What we expect and what we get. You would think by now that major e-businesses would have pretty slick ways to satisfy our expectations yet even the simplest of things seem to elude them. Today I received a reminder in the mail to renew a software package that I use. Not from a fly by night software and services company but one that is valued at more than $10 billion. The renewal notice said I could renew this particular software by fax, phone, mail, or online. Have it your way -- this is good. I entered the link in my browser and the renewal form popped up immediately. I thought this was going to be a snap. No so. (read more)

e-Business September 16, 2002 03:44 PM

Friday, September 13, 2002

Fall Internet World

Fall Internet World is coming up in less than three weeks and I am honored to being one of the keynote speakers. I'll be talking about "The Future of the Internet" on Tuesday, October 1, 11:00 AM – 11:45 AM . There will be a short press meeting afterwards and then the conference book store will be hosting a book signing for Net Attitude. You can be sure that part of the talk will be about WiFi.

e-Business September 13, 2002 10:32 AM

Thursday, September 12, 2002

No Radio, No TV, No Computers, No Fax

I have been in need of a keyboard platform for quite some time so I put the Logitech cordless keyboard in a saddlebag and took a motorcycle ride to Jefferson Business Interiors in Stamford, Connecticut. A diagonal model with easy rider arm and tru-gel wrist rest turned out to be just what I was looking for. The manager at Jefferson's offered a small discount and free shipping of the item, which had to be special ordered. I then noticed his colleague put a form into an IBM typewriter! (read more)

 

e-Business September 12, 2002 10:26 AM

Tuesday, September 3, 2002

CEOs Need To Walk In Customers' Shoes

Stephanie Stahl wrote an Editor's Note in Information Week (Aug. 26, 2002) called "CEOs Need To Walk In Customers' Shoes". She says, "Maybe it's just one of the many trade-offs for living where you want to live, but I know so many people who still don't have access to high-speed cable lines or DSL...." One technology CEO told her that he thinks it's important to understand and operate within the limits that others around him have. And since the telecom companies have dubbed the connection to the consumer the last mile instead of the first mile, there's not a lot they can do about it right now, right? Stephanie adds, "John Patrick doesn't buy it". (read more)

e-Business September 3, 2002 10:59 AM

Tuesday, August 27, 2002

The Hygrometer search

I previously wrote a story about my frustration in buying a thermometer/hygrometer online. One reader sent me an email telling me about a Canadian company that might have what I am looking for. I sent an email to the person he referred me to and received a quick reply which included some picutres and descriptive information about their products. At the end of the email reply it said "If you would like to purchase one, please feel free to call our inside sales desk at 1-800-XXX-YYYY ext. XYZ for a store nearest you.". Maybe a new kind of "link". Just call and you get driving directions. I really did like the product so I called. It was 5:30 PM and I got a message that said "We are closed. Please call back during our normal business hours...." (read more)

e-Business August 27, 2002 06:03 PM

Thursday, August 22, 2002

Two Percent

I was looking for a particular kind of digital thermometer and found it in a printed catalog I had received from Wine and All That Jazz. Item # in hand, I went to their web site to order it. There was no place on the site to order by item number so I did a search on the item number. The search yielded the item name and description but with no link to buy it! (read more)

e-Business August 22, 2002 10:32 AM

Saturday, July 31, 1999

Worms and Potato Chips

July 31, 1999 (see updated version from May 28, 2008)

Packaging is one of those things that most of us probably don't think about a lot. That set of plastic, glass, paper, Styrofoam, cardboard, and polywhatever that contains and protects things we buy. I think of packaging in two categories -- that which something is stored in and that which something is shipped in. I am sure that packaging experts have a much more sophisticated way of describing it but that is my simple way of categorizing it. I suppose we mostly take packaging for granted but I am beginning to think it is actually a profound topic.

I began thinking about packaging as something discrete some years ago. Strictly in the "something is contained in it" category. What initially got my attention was a cereal box that I found great difficulty in opening without destroying it and its subsequent ability to keep the cereal fresh. I have since taken it as a personal challenge to be able to open a cereal box with no resulting damage. This is a nontrivial challenge - maybe an art. If it is a science then I haven't found the instructions anywhere. One starts by using a sharp knife with a long blade. You carefully slide the knife under the tab in the center of the top of the cereal box. Then you slice the material to one side while applying a slight upward pressure via the tab. Repeat for the other side. I give being able to do this without damaging the box top about 75% odds. You are now almost a third of the way through the task at hand. Now that you have freed up one of the flaps you have to free the other flap by tearing it from the side flaps. Completing this without damage is also about 75% odds if you are quite careful. You are now two thirds of the way to the cereal. Last comes opening the bag inside the box which actually contains the cereal. This is often the hardest part. If you grasp the two sides of the bag and pull very very carefully you have about a 50% chance of opening the bag without tearing it. After opening the main part of the bag you need to open the corners of the bag so the cereal can flow smoothly into your cereal bowl. Putting the collective probabilities together gives you a 50-50 chance at best of having an open cereal box that pours the contents smoothly and can be closed to protect freshness. Some packaging!

I could go on about jars that require a hammer to open, pill bottles that can only be opened by children, fresh fruit containers that have to be squeezed until they break to open, etc. etc. etc. I suspect those who suffer from arthritis of the fingers could make my examples seem trivial. But there is a much bigger packaging issue on the horizon.

The issue initially struck me when I had received my very first order from net.grocer (www.netgrocer.com). I ordered an assortment of salsa, condiments, and potato chips (I can never remember whether there is an E in potato either). An Australian newspaper wrote a front page story (business section) about how an Internet "visionary" had ordered potato chips on the Internet. The amazing part to me was not that the potato chips arrived unbroken but rather the packaging. I feel like I want to signal the future importance of "packaging" in the way the gentleman in "The Graduate" signalled the importance of "plastics" to Dustin Hoffman.

I opened the two large cardboard boxes and unpacked all the items. Everything exactly as ordered. I was quite pleased and proud of my e-commerce prowess (e-business hadn't been invented yet) in walking the talk and acquiring all of my favorite goodies (especially potato chips). I was revelling in my predictions about how everybody would buy everything on the Net. Then I got a lump in my stomach. I looked at these two large cardboard boxes on my kitchen floor. And, the piles of polywhatever "worms" (many people call them "peanuts"; I call them "worms") that were all over the place. Some stuck to my hands, arms, and clothing. What was I to do? My wife would be home soon and she have a lot of questions about my plans to clean up the mess I had created in the kitchen. All the glory I felt about acquiring Tabasco and potato chips would be nothing compared to the wrath she would unleash about the mess if I didn't get busy. No problem. I'll just clean it up. All I have to do is separate all the various packaging materials into their respective categories, burst the cardboard boxes, put the "worms" into a bag so they don't end up decorating our lawn, and then stow everything away in our recycling center. Shouldn't take me more than a half hour. Let's see -- how much time did I save with my Net purchase anyway? Surely I am still way ahead.

Then there is the purchase of something really simple -- say a cell phone. What is the ratio, on a volume basis, of the packaging material to the cell phone? 2 to 1? 5 to 1? 10 to 1? And then there are the "worms".

So, what is the answer to all this? I don't claim to have all the answers but here is the view of one fellow traveler. First of all, shopping on the Net is here to stay and should be. It is more than great -- in spite of the packaging. You can shop when you want. It is "Power to the People". I am confident that we will soon see the demise of web pages which say "Call us during our normal business hours of 9-5 Monday to Friday" or "Call 800-123-4567" when you are in Europe and can't call an 800 #, or "Print this form and fax it to us". Beyond that web sites will surely soon enable us to establish fulfillment models where we can set up a schedule for things we just want to show up outside the garage door on a scheduled basis. Paper towels, a case of oil, printer paper, stockings, and of course potato chips. I envision receiving an email at some point from a web merchant saying "Mr. Patrick, we have been shipping you two bags of potato chips per week for quite some time. We have calculated that you could save considerably on your shipping cost if you were to up that to 12 bags per month instead. Click here if you would like us to modify your fulfillment model as suggested." But then still, there are the "worms".

Hopefully marketing will come to the rescue. Good marketing involves paying attention to the "end to end process", e.g., not just assuming that the job is getting the package to the customer but going the next step and helping the customer unwrap the package, get rid of the packaging material and start enjoying the merchandise that was delivered. There have been many new business models on the Net and I am confident we will see successful marketers keep uncovering more and more ways of satisfying their customers, by looking at possible annoyances, and solving them. We also need some breakthroughs in the packaging area. The fact is that more and more of what we buy and consume will just show up outside the garage door via package delivery companies. What will we do with all the "worms"? As people buy more and more on the Net will they get turned off by all the packaging materials they have to deal with? There is room for leadership here and breakthroughs are possible. I used to be so frustrated with opening the half gallon orange juice cartons. Did I say opening? I meant mutilating. Then along came International Paper with a breakthrough idea -- the screw cap on the carton. Great! Now what we need is self destructing "worms" and instantly collapsable cardboard. I am no packaging expert but I am sure there are many creative people in that discipline who will figure this out. I hope so. The "worms" are really annoying.

Epilogue: The Glass is Half Full

In fact there are some very interesting things going on in the packaging arena. EcoFoam ( www.eco-foam.com ) has an alternative to Styrofoam "peanuts" that need only be requested when ordering from a supplier. When you're at this site, make sure to look under "loosefill." Another company that is attempting environmental as well as consumer-friendly void fill is Metabolix ( www.metabolix.com ). This company is developing dissolvable plastics made from two of our most easily attainable and renewable sources: Carbon Dioxide and Water! Look under "Technology Profile".

For materials other than starch peanuts, corporations like Sealed Air provide packaging solutions such as air cushions made from LDPE plastic, which only have to be deflated and can then be reused or recycled. Using these pouches, one mail-order fulfillment company (Heartland America) has increased packaging/shipping efficiency processes by 50%, and, in combination with a 3M-Matic case-taper, has saved $30,000 in labor last year. This usually reflects a reduction in cost to consumers in addition to the ease of use and disposal they experience with this system. (Packaging World, 04/99)

A second company that has discovered benefit in using alternative packaging materials is Bone Appetit, maker of gourmet pet treats. This manufacturer uses Sylvacurl (recyclable, biodegradable and reusable wood shavings) provided by Eastview Enterprises for bedding in gift baskets and void fill in corrugated shippers. Bone Appetit initially "chose Sylvacurl primarily for environmental reasons" citing, "our customers wouldn't buy our product because we used EPS foam." The company has decided to stick to the decision after enjoying its savings of 15% over previous packing materials, parchment and EPS. (Packaging World, 01/99)

These are a few examples of technological innovation combined with customer service and consideration that are being introduced to the market and seem to have generally been well received. The next wave of engineers will prove to have more concern for environmental issues and packaging convenience as they move into the global market through on-line vending. Kudos, Mr.Patrick, for the challenge... We accept.

Acknowledgements: I would like to thank Brian Carpenter, Bill Sweeney, and Irving Wladawsky-Berger for their comments on my first draft of this Reflection. A special thanks goes to Sarah James, a package engineering intern at Nestle, for contributing the content of the Epilogue.

On Demand, e-Business July 31, 1999 03:10 PM