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On Demand

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Worms and Potato Chips

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

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".

Web 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.

The SOA services do not all have to be developed or acquired internally. Thanks to the Internet, services can be "rented" from others. For example, suppose that a company called American Specialties Inc. (ASI) specializes in selling American goods for delivery mostly outside of America. They want to create an application to sell their products on the web. The trickiest part of the application is determining the best way to ship the product to ensure it gets there when the customer wants it and at the lowest cost. ASI doesn't’t have the skills to write this particular part of the application and they haven’t bee able to find a vendor with a software package that can do it and which is compatible with the rest of ASI’s software.

It turns out that there is another company called Rates and Costs Inc. (RCI), which specializes in the calculation of optimum routes and the associated costs for shipment to places anywhere in the world. RCI offers the calculation as a service on the web and it is the exact function ASI needs to incorporate into their web application. Since RCI follows the SOA standards, ASI is able to see the specifications for RCI’s service – what inputs are required and what output does it produce. RCI could have created their calculation service using any IT platform they choose -- the standards assure that things can work together.

The programmer at ASI likes RCI’s program because it performs exactly the right function that ASI needs and the software has already been written and tested! ASI follows the SOA standards to incorporate RCI’s service into their web application. Whenever a user goes to ASI’s web page and needs shipment route and cost information, a link is made behind the scenes to RCI’s web server to get the information. ASI’s customers don’t know, nor will they care, that part of the job is being done by RCI’s server; not ASI’s server. ASI makes an arrangement to pay RCI each time one of ASI’s customers uses the RCI web service.

Creating programs by linking to other programs without regard to what programming language was used to create the others’ programs represents a whole new paradigm. It is one of the information technology industry’s holy grails. Standards organizations, such as Oasis, have been attempting for years to create a “neutral” programming environment. The UNIX vendors – HP, DEC, Sun, IBM, Data General, and others – formed various organizations, councils and consortia over the years attempting to bring things together. Progress was made but none of these initiatives achieved real openness and true compatibility across the information technology industry -- until SOA. It is not really new but it is time. Open Internet standards and SOA tools are making it happen.

SOA will make it possible for the web to evolve from a web of content to a web of content and applications. SOA will enable server-to-server interaction in addition to browser to server interactions. Servers will negotiate with other servers and even complete transactions by themselves with no direct human intervention. These interactions will replace the paper forms and faxes that flow back and forth from company to company today.

E-business evolved to on demand and on demand has evolved to business and IT "alignment". At this stage many enterprises have bought in to the concept but are struggling with how to get there. This is why many web sites don't fully meet our needs -- they are dependent on many independent applications that the enterprise has had for decades and so far have been unable to integrate them. SOA is the new model -- it offers the first comprehensive, standards based way to get the job done. Adoption of SOA will enable the interoperability within the many functions and departments of enterprises and between enterprises that has been a decades long dream. History has shown that adoption of standards leads to an explosion of usage and that will surely be the case with SOA. The SOA standards will enable entire industries to be brought together. Virtual corporations comprised of a federation of smaller ones will enable “hyper competition” on a global scale.

How does "Web 2.0" fit into all this? Like a ball and glove. Quite the hot topic in tech circles and among venture capitalists, Web 2.0 is basically a style, a model, an approach, and a philosophy wrapped together. It includes a "lightweight" programming model that is more like web page development than traditional programming. A key element of 2.0 is the blog feed -- a way to allow people to look at a web page but also subscribe to it. Another element is AJAX, a technique built on a collection of Internet standards that produces a rich user experience -- kayak.com is a good example -- with pages that don't "reload", they just change while you are looking at them. Another characteristic of Web 2.0 is that it is a perpetual beta -- users are treated as co-developers. At the conference, IBM announced WebSphere sMash which may turn out to be a really key tool for the evolution toward Web 3.0. Jerry Cuomo, IBM Fellow and CTO for IBM WebSphere, described a broad vision for how "smashups" will extend the web in a major way. The idea is to make it simple to combine content from multiple web sites. For example a travel agency may want to combine the best deals from airlines and hotels along with comments and discussion from tourists all in one "seamless" site. The smashup tool is based on a community project called "Project Zero" that has been underway for a number of months and is now ready to go mainstream.

All things considered, IBM really has it's act together with regard to SOA. Every software and services executive at the company is well versed on it and has it baked into their business and development plans. The promise is great and with tens of thousands of software engineers and top management support I think it is fair to expect IBM to continue to deliver on their vision. They have already made dozens of acquisitions to fill in the white spaces and customers are signing up and getting results. There were hundreds of customers and business partners there in Las Vegas to tell their success stories. Nothing is more creditable than having someone else tell your story for you.

great summary of IBM’s “Smart SOA” vision

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

Monday, March 3, 2008

Luggage Back Too

Luggage There is much to write about Africa and Internet technology, but I can not resist sharing about our luggage. We waited in line along with many others to provide information about the size and color of the missing bags. The agent entered the information and gave us a printout that was clearly from a decades-old system. We were told to give a call after twenty-four hours. I called after 26 hours and was told there was no update and that it could take up to five days. The reasoning was that there may not be room in the next few flights for "extra" baggage -- the classic case of taking care of the new customers rather than upset them by helping customers who have already been disappointed. After continuing to get "there is no new information" I thought to myself that tracking luggage would be a great application for the web. I wondered if the airline had thought about it.

I visited South African Airways (flysaa.com) and at the bottom of the "After your trip" page was a link for "Lost/damaged luggage". Could it be? II entered the file reference number from the printout and voila! Information about each of the four bags was displayed along with the status. As the day went on the status changed from "No information available" to "Arrived at airport" to "Delivery process underway". It took thirty-six hours to get the luggage but I was impressed with how South African Airways had integrated a very old application with a user-friendly web front end. Apparently the people at the airport are not aware of it. The airline could certainly take some anxiety away and offload an extremely busy call center by informing their customers about the web application and including the url on the printout. The ideal solution would be to have the application automatically generate an SMS text message to your mobile phone every hour with the status.

The pictures are uploaded to the gallery and the stories will start soon.

Index of stories and pictures from South Africa 2008

Internet Technology, Mobile, On Demand, Travels March 3, 2008 04:58 PM

Saturday, January 12, 2008

Backup To The Rescue

Scream The ThinkPad T60p had been acting strangely for a few weeks and I had a hunch it was going to crash. Unfortunately, it did. I called Lenovo support at 6PM Monday night and they determined that the problem was the "motherboard" needed replaced. The shipping carton arrived on Tuesday, they received the ThinkPad in Memphis on Wednesday and I received the repaired unit on Thursday morning. Nothing short of remarkable customer service. That is the good news.

The bad news is that I continue to learn more about the nuances of backup and "recovery". I should not still be learning after all these years. I suspect I am not alone. There are a number of stories about "backup" here in the blog. I don't claim to be the master of backup but I do take it very seriously. The moral of this story is to take recovery as seriously as backup. This story is a little bit more technical than usual stories but I hope it is helpful. If you are interested, please read on.

Internet Technology, Media, On Demand, Personal Computing January 12, 2008 11:36 AM

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.

Other patrickWeb stories about On Demand

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

Sunday, November 25, 2007

In The Clouds

Cloud There is something about clouds that brings the term into our daily lives. We say "it is a cloudy day", or "there is not a cloud in the sky", or if we feel especially elated or happy we might say "I feel like I am on cloud nine". Now days many are talking about "cloud computing".

In the early days of the Internet we thought of it as a discrete collection of specialized computers called routers which moved packets of ones and zeroes between origin and destination, plus other computers called servers which contained emails and web pages, and the networking infrastructure including telephone wires, modems, and various networking devices such as hubs and switches that loosely tied everything together. Users of the Internet today that are not aware of the technical history -- which is the vast majority of the world's billion + users -- know the Internet for it's most popular application, the World Wide Web. In a sense, the web is a "place" that contains all of the information and applications that we want to use.

In more recent years the larger web application providers, such as Amazon, eBay, Google, Yahoo!, and others have begun to refer to their infrastructure as "clouds". If you create a spreadsheet at Google Docs and then save it, where is it actually saved? In the Google "cloud". We don't know where it really is -- it is just "there" at http://docs.google.com --- in the "cloud". There are many millions of servers on the Internet but to most people there may as well just be one. That is the beauty of the Internet -- you don't have to know what the infrastructure is.

Even startup companies these days often do not bother with the details of their Internet infrastructure. Many of them use the Amazon cloud. The Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (aka Amazon EC2) is a web service that provides "resizable" compute capacity in the cloud. For storage, many companies use the Amazon Simple Storage Service (aka Amazon S3) to enable storage in the cloud. The advent of cloud computing has made it possible for startup companies to get from new business idea to a full implementation of their idea in weeks instead of months.

Great for smaller companies but what the really big companies like GE, Goldman Sachs, Walmart, Bank of America, BP, or Toyota? How about when they have a new web-based idea? How do they deploy it? Generally speaking it takes a lot of detailed planning. The project manager has to specify exactly what resource is needed -- a very specific computing capacity and well defined storage. In many cases it is difficult to be precise when an idea is new. They could use Google or Amazon but chances are they would prefer to have their own cloud. The large companies of the world have vast computing resources and skills and they also have a desire to keep things inside their own tent for various security and intellectual property reasons. Enter IBM and their new plans for "Blue Cloud".

“Blue Cloud” is a series of cloud computing offerings that will allow corporate data centers to operate more like the Internet startup companies by enabling computing across a distributed, globally accessible fabric of resources, rather than today's predominantly local machines or remote server farms. Blue Cloud technology will make it possible to have the computing resource and storage be specified in "virtual" terms and the cloud will do the provisioning in an automated manner using virtual resources. Underneath the cloud there are real resources but the cloud computing environment manages them in an autonomic way. That means that the cloud responds somewhat like the human body. When we cold we shiver to warm up. When we get hot we sweat to cool down. In a similar fashion, the Blue Cloud will automatically add computing resources and storage on demand and when something breaks the cloud will provide alternate paths to keep things running. The project is based on open standards and open source software supported by IBM's hardware, software, and services businesses. More than 200 IBM researchers have been assigned to the project and the company expects it's first Blue Cloud offerings to be available to customers in the spring of 2008. The Vietnamese Ministry of Science and Technology announced a cloud computing project with IBM this month and many more are expected..

Blue Cloud will not replace the computing infrastructure of the world's enterprises any time soon but over time, this new approach to IT should dramatically reduce the complexity and costs of managing new Internet projects. Ultimately, most computing may be done in the clouds and billions of people will be interacting with data and applications with handheld devices that will be more powerful than the supercomputers of just a few years ago.

IBM, Internet Technology, On Demand November 25, 2007 10:49 AM

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Postal Parking - Redux

Mailbox The story about the shortage of parking at the U.S. Post Office in Ridgefield brought some reaction, as expected. Some people feel the electronic alternative is nice if you have time to learn how to do it. Fair reaction but it strikes me that even more time is spent in line to park and even longer in the other line waiting for service inside. I also feel there are much better uses for public capital than building post office parking lots.

Robert Braathe at galaconcierge.com points out that the Backus Avenue post office near the Danbury Fair Mall has 20 parking spots and is very convenient. They have an automated machine and a lobby that is open 24/7. Robert says "I only ship through the automated machine and on off peak hours".

Robert also pointed out that there is something worse than waiting in line for parking and service at the post office -- waiting in line "behind people who still write checks in the grocery store or department store". Quite a few people might agree with him, especially when a person buys a handful of items in the grocery store and then takes their time to fumble around to find a check book, write a check, and then make a detailed entry in their check register. People in line behind them give up their time and the check writer gives up cashflow, points, and rebates on their credit card.

Other patrickWeb stories about On Demand

On Demand August 22, 2007 10:01 AM

Wednesday, August 8, 2007

Postal Parking

Mailbox In the town where I live people don't like the shortage of parking at the U.S. Post Office and so a proposal was born to tear down a nearby house and create an expanded parking lot. A debate has now arisen over the merits of tearing down the house, whether it is historic or not, and what alternative uses could be made of the house. To me, the focus is on the wrong issue. Why are so many people compelled to drive to the Post Office in the first place?

For the foreseeable immediate future, there will be a need for postal offices but of all the things that people go there for, many of the needs could be fulfilled by alternative means. I suspect nearly all the people who visit the post office have a computer, an Internet connection and a printer. Both the U.S. Postal Service and Stamps.com offer very easy to use online postal services. You can print your own labels and your own postage, including Priority Mail and even international shipping. You can add delivery confirmation which can then be tracked at usps.com and you can request emails whenever status of package changes. You can also buy all the labels, boxes, and tape online. A simple food scale can provide the weight. For larger packages you can stand on the bathroom scale with and without your package and with some quick arithmetic you get the package weight. After preparing your package you make a request at USPS.com and the package will be picked up at your front porch. For a feee you can even have it picked up on demand. If you do a lot of shipping you can get a nice digital scale and a Zebra thermal printer that makes the 4" x 6" labels you see on your inbound packages. If you put your mind to it you can avoid 90% of your trips to the post office. If we all avoided even a much lesser percentage of trips, I am sure we would not need a new parking lot. I have been using online postage for more than five years and have been more than satisfied with it.

There is also more that the post office could do to alleviate the parking problem. Two weeks ago I sold my Palm Treo 700P phone (replaced by the iPhone) on eBay. On the day the package was to be shipped I was in New York City for a board meeting. I took the package along but wasn't watching the time and suddenly I realized it was just past five PM. The bellman at the hotel told me about the 24x7 post office at 421 8th Avenue. The cavernous building had machines resembling ATM banking machines but with a scale. You place your package on the scale, swipe your credit card, and follow the instructions on the screen. After the postage is printed out you place your package in a bin and you are finished. 24x7. Although not all 24x7 there are many automated postal centers in Connecticut with extended hours. (There is even an Automated Postal Center at an Albertson's supermarket in Las Vegas). If there is a will, there is a way to put one of these automated machines in the Ridgefield post office building.

Between usps.com, stamps.com, and an automated postal machine Ridgefield should be able to easily avoid building another parking lot. Long before our tax dollars would be amortized for the life of parking lot, most people will do most transactions online. The technology is available now. Just think how good you will feel putting a stamped and ready to go package on your front porch and then do something else you want to do instead of driving downtown and waiting for a parking place.

On Demand August 8, 2007 01:15 PM

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Reminders

It seems that the term "On Demand" is not being used as much in advertising as it had been, however the concept is certainly still valid. On demand is closely tied to customer service and we have a long way to go before customer service fully meets our expectations. The concept is simple -- give customers what they need, when they need it, with whatever kind of device they may be using to connect to the Internet. I have had two instances of on demand shortfalls today.Both had to do with "reminders".

Something I purchased this morning had a special discount if I paid the bill in full before December 18. Their system, however, is unable to track this so it would be up to me to remember to call back before the due date and supply my credit card number. The second instance was an insurance matter. No transactions were available via their web site. I spoke to an agent and we agreed on a certain transaction to be effective January 14. The person said they would enter it into their "system" -- hard to imagine a system in the twenty-first century not having web transactions -- and everything would happen from there. An hour later, I received a voicemail message saying that the system was unable to handle a date that far "out" and that I should call them back right around the middle of December. So the bottom line was that their system can't remember something sixty days away and the responsibility was delegated to me, the customer. Fortunately, Quicken can remember things I enter even if they are years away.

The only good news here is for IBM. These examples show how far behind many companies are and how badly they need the latest technologies to integrate their systems and extend them to the web. The bad news is that it all starts with a Net Attitude and there are signs that there are quite a few businesses that haven't adopted that yet.

Other patrickWeb On Demand stories

On Demand November 15, 2006 03:16 PM

Monday, October 16, 2006

The Future of Advertising

The title may sound presumptuous since I am not an advertising expert. However, from a consumer point of view, I suspect my views may be shared by many of my friends, colleagues, and readers. Let's start with television and then consider the web. There are very big differences.

The convergence of the PC and TV has been exaggerated -- so far. Yes, there are some interesting ways to watch TV on your PC or surf the web on your TV but, at least for the immediate future, the PC is something we use at our desk or lap and the TV is more of an entertainment center. (Note: when not in the home, the handheld will be come dominant -- that is another story). High definition TV is great for enjoying a DVD or a HD broadcast. The PC is the place I go to do email, do some research, make purchases, read or write, and read the news. Isn't the TV our main for source for news? Increasingly not.

On days that I am not traveling to board meetings or conferences, I like to exercise. The recumbent bike and elliptical cross-trainer make good perches from which to watch cable TV news. If I am not watching a previously recorded news program -- and I do record several per day -- it is hard to get any news. The official data will show somewhere between 15 and 20 minutes per hour as being advertising. During the day it is closer to 20. That means one out of three minutes is advertising. You can flip between a half dozen news shows and find no news. If you subtract the news channel self-promotions, details on the latest deranged family member who has done something horrible, tabloid stories, and news about the news, then what you have left is a small fraction of an hour -- some critics say slightly less than five minutes per hour of real news. Some people say CNN means "contains no news" and that when FOX says "your station for news" they really mean "your station for advertising". For years, Netflix has been my way to watch movies, but the other night I was watching a movie where there was no digital video recorder or DVD player. The movie was interrupted every ten minutes with 10-12 advertisements.

The advertisements are mostly insulting to one's intelligence. There are no insights into anything and they grate on people's nerves. Honestly, I have to say that most of the ads are obnoxious -- as bad as spam. The shotgun blast ads aren't fraudulent but they add no value to our lives. Zero. Do we need broadcast television to tell us the latest interest rate at ditech.com or to be reminded four times per hour that Scottrade is "all about value" or to be constantly told to ask our doctor about this pill or that pill? The bottom line is that most of us don't rely on the TV as a source of ideas for things we need. There may be some people that actually enjoy advertisements. That is ok, but the rest of us want to "opt out".

Digital video recorders such as TiVo are a step in the right direction. If you want to watch a 7:00 PM news program, you can record it and then start watching it at 7:20 and not miss a thing. When it comes to movies, some people say they use the ads for biological and nourishment breaks, but do we need that every ten minutes? Yes, the premium cable movie channels are expensive, but millions of people would rather pay the monthly fee and be able to watch a movie from beginning to end without irrelevant ads droning at them. The most watched TV show ever is "The Sopranos". I am not commenting on the content of the program -- just on the business model. Although it's available in only a third of American homes, approximately 10 million viewers per week actually paid to watch it. There was no advertising. This is why the percentage of time people spend in front of TV's watching DVD's and subscription based programming will continue to climb.

Meanwhile the Internet is giving us what we want -- control over what we watch and when we watch it. Youtube is the tip of the iceberg. Search based advertising is booming because it is relevant to what we are searching for. It puts us in control. I have been using Weather Underground (the first Internet weather service) since 1995. The thing I like the most is that members -- at a cost of $10 per year -- get no ads. No banners, dancing bears, flashing action bars, or pop-ups that cover the weather. A weather site that has just weather. What a concept. When it comes to news, my source for years has been Google News. The headlines are based on what people are reading. Sometimes a top story is from the New York Times, sometimes it is from Al Jazeera, or a newspaper site in Houston, Philadelphia, or many other places. I feel like I am getting a wide variety of coverage and opinions and not just what the "local" paper has to say.

The Internet has always been about "Power to the People" and the people are sending lots of signals about advertising. They don't like it. They want "options, preferences, no ads" built into their viewing experience. Meanwhile, content executives are looking for even more ways to get in our face, send text messages to our mobile phones, and get into our instant messages and blogs. They have the future of advertising all wrong. Companies have to market their goods and services, but the model has to change. Sponsoring sports events and getting products used by actors in movies are fine but most important is to build great web sites and customer support that surpass our expectations. That is where the investments should be made. The result will be that bloggers and good old fashioned word of mouth will spread the word about how great the company is. Companies that continue to spam us with their ads are going to get a very bad reputation and the media companies that run them are going to lose their readers and viewers.

Internet Technology, Media, On Demand, People October 16, 2006 06:13 PM

Saturday, August 26, 2006

For Your Protection

Bank Ten years ago Bill Gates said that U.S. banks were "dinosaurs". Most of us at IBM thought at the time that this was a harsh comment for an IT industry executive to make about it's customers. However, at this stage, I have to admit that I am quite disappointed with the progress made in the banking industry. Yes, there is a lot of online banking but there still remains a huge amount of paper, faxes, forms, and hassles.

One of the areas that is overdue and ripe for automation is the bank "wire". Whether you have the money, borrow the money, or are receiving the money, it is often convenient to move the money using an electronic funds transfer -- otherwise known as a "wire". A bank wire moves money from your bank account to a car dealer's bank account, a home equity loan account to pay off a bank loan or for a real estate closing, or from your bank account to a son or daughter's checking account for college expenses. Paypal has made moving money really simple -- a few mouse clicks to send or receive payment from an eBay auction. In the world of banking, it seems the goal is to make moving money as hard as possible.

A recent real estate closing convinced me that my bank (a large national one) is truly behind the times. Like the majority of their peers, they seem unable to adapt to the Internet. There are regulatory compliance issues but I am convinced these serve more as a crutch -- an excuse -- to not change faster. Here are the instructions provided to customers who want to make a wire transfer.

In order to make a wire transfer the customer must get "All Wire Forms and necessary paperwork" to the "Risk Management Area" by 3 PM the day prior to the day of the transfer. The overnight package must include "original signatures" and a "copy of a valid driver’s license". If you get through all the hoops the wire goes out the on the third day of the process. But before it goes, and for "further protection", the bank calls and asks a bunch of security questions and the amount of the last check drawn on the account "prior to completing your wire transfer". If you happen to be traveling and can't take their call, the wire does not happen.

You can buy or sell merchandise and trade stocks online but when it comes to moving money, the process is incredibly cumberssome. Is the bureacracy really "for your protection". I don't think so. It is culture and unwillingness to change. Is a really secure electronic funds transfer online possible? Of course. There are numerous technologies available to implement encryption and authentication, including biometric identification such as on the Lenovo ThinkPads. Even the IRS has implemented a secure approach for e-filing tax returns. Tens of millions of people use it. It works.

To add insult to injury I received a letter in the mail the other day from one of the largest banks in the world. "It is our policy to reconfirm the following wire instructions" which they have on file in case they are needed. The letter contained my name, address, phone number, the ABA routing number for the bank, and my bank account number. The letter opened with "For your protection". So for my protection the bank sent a letter through the postal system with their name emblazoned on the envelope containing a lot of valuable information that an identity theft would love to get their hands on. A major source of identity information comes from thieves going through physical mailboxes looking for letters from banks. People have to buy shredders because of their banks. Do the banks have privacy policies? Yes, and most of them say in essence, we have your information and we will use it to develop new business and we will share it with our partners. If you want to "opt out" you have to write them a letter. For their protection.

Epilogue: Ten years ago, some predicted that "local" banks would be gone by now. Today they are flourishing. People know their local banker and if they need a wire, they just call and it gets done. Authentication gets done because the people know each other.

On Demand August 26, 2006 01:21 PM

Wednesday, May 10, 2006

Five Percent

Cactus At a speech in New Orleans on Monday I said we were just five percent of the way into the Internet -- that of all the things that could simplify our lives and save us time, only five percent of them are here so far. New companies such as Pandora are pressing the envelope to do great things but unfortunately many existing companies have not kept pace with expectations.

This morning I checked on the status of a medical prescription at Express Scripts, my "online" pharmacy. The web site had an order number but did not show the name of the medication. Clicking on "check status" gave a line that said "In pharmacy" -- since May 6. No information available. Sending an email to them is hopeless -- I have done it before -- they respond to the email by telling you to call if you need information. I called and was told they had received the prescription on May 3 and it then takes them three days to enter it into the system. Four days later they determined that it needs "prior authorization" and so they faxed a form to the doctor requesting that he fax a form to the insurance company who would then need to fax a form to customer service who would then notify the pharmacy it is ok to ship the medication. The pharmacy and customer service are the same company. There is no feedback to the customer at any point. Meanwhile everyone is calling everyone and the doctor's office is so overloaded with calls about prescriptions that you can't get through to them. This is the status of online pharmacy. Five percent would be an overstatement.

Then I made a reservation at Marriott.com. At the end of the form was a "comments" box and I entered some things that I thought would be helpful. Upon hitting the submit button I got an error message saying "Comments too long". The form only accepts 45 characters -- a ridiculous limitation in these days of inexpensive storage. Well designed online forms that limit the text input tell you how many characters you have remaining. Not this one -- there is no indication given of how many characters have actually been entered and the text box actually has four lines of 64 characters each. You just keep shortening and entering submit until it is satisfied. What could they be thinking? The confirming email arrived quickly but because they had embedded some javascript in the email to make it look pretty, it could not be printed. Travel sites generally are getting better but they still do a lot of dumb things.

The point that top management of these and many other companies are missing is that the perception of their company and their brand is no longer based on their past history or even the reputation of their products and services. The way we see them is the way we see their web sites. Unfortunately, a lot of things we see are not pretty. Increasingly our loyalties will shift to the companies who make our lives simpler and save us time instead of frustrating us. Many are trying hard but they have a long way to go.

On Demand May 10, 2006 05:47 PM

Thursday, March 2, 2006

Phone Service

Chris Herot, from Lexington, Massachusetts, wrote in response to the prior post about the telephone services offered at the Stamford Marriott. He agrees there is a "declining number of people will pay those outrageous charges by raising the price for the few suckers who remain". He provided an example where upon checking out of a hotel recently he was confronted with a charge for more than $10 for a two minute phone call. He said the front desk sheepishly acknowledged it was a rip-off. They cheerfully removed the charge from his bill.

On a positive note, the more enlightened hotels are starting to offer a bundle of services people will pay for. The Marriott "Wired-for-Business" connectivity offer which enables guests to "Work smarter with unlimited..." in-room high-speed Internet access plus local and long distance phone calls for $9.95 per day is not a bad deal unless -- you have your own EV-DO service and a good mobile phone plan. There is also some innovation going on In the directory assistance area where 800-FREE-411 is providing a nice alternative to the old-fashioned 411 system.

But what about customer service? This week received two telephone company bills -- both had significant errors -- caused by outdated backend batch-oriented systems. One took 21 minutes to resolve, the other one 49 minutes. Some would say that telephone customer service is an oxymoron, but I have noticed a significant difference in recent months in terms of attitude. Although I have had issues with Comcast, Verizon, and Cingular, the customer service representatives act like they care. Unlike the past, they apologize for service problems, they thank you for your business, they identify with the problems you have, and they sincerely work to get them resolved. At Verizon, the reps are empowered to offer on the spot credits to resolve issues. Competition seems to be driving these companies to start caring about their customers. You can lock customers in with contracts but you can't make them happy unless the service reps show good attitude. I see a real shift in a positive direction. If we can keep the regulators and lobbyists in Washington from reducing competition we can expect to see service and pricing get better and better.

On Demand March 2, 2006 03:37 PM

Thursday, January 26, 2006

Hotel Not On Demand

Hotel Some people don't agree with me that we are only 5% of the way into what we can ultimately expect from the Internet, but everyday I see examples that convince me that it is true. Tonight I visited Hilton Hotels online and tried to reserve a room. I got the following user-friendly message....

We're sorry but we are unable to process your login. You may book your reservations without login. Be sure to provide your HHonors account number on the Guest Information form.

I know I have an account and I know the password. I tried various options and finally gave up and called. After multiple "please pay attention because our menus have recently changed" routines I got to a person. She was very nice and informed me that the "servers are down for maintenance every Thursday evening from 9-11 PM". I could try again after 11PM or try again in the morning. What amazed me most was that this person thought that was ok. She has been convinced by the company that this is just how it is. Don't they realize that for two hours customers will just click on "anotherhotel.com"? And don't they realize in California the "maintenance" is closing out customers from 6-8 PM? And that in many parts of Asia, is prime morning time? What could they be thinking? Certainly not about customers and on demand.