What the Next President Should Say
2. I've decided though to take the risk, and to be as direct as possible with the American people. I know that the pundits will have a field day, but I think it important that we begin this dialog and that I let the chips fall where they may.
3. I believe there may be a fundamental problem in our economy, one that if left uncorrected, will lead to a continued decline in our power and status. More...
India Report: The Not So Mighty Dollar
BIZSCI IN
BRIEF
With continued weakness in the U.S. dollar
and increases in India labor costs due to greater talent
competition and wage expectations, I expected to see changes in the
shift of U.S. service work to India. Indeed, during a recent trip
to India, I did see clear evidence of a slowdown in U.S.
outsourcing growth. But based upon confidential estimates from in
country contacts, the U.S. outsourcing market is still growing
(albeit at a slower rate), and any slowdown in U.S. growth will be
more than covered by anticipated growth from Europe, Asia, South
America and Africa.
In chatting with the car driver about
prices in India, he calculated that the dollar, approaching three
to a hundred rupee, buys just a kilogram of the cheap shorter grain
rice. Calculating further, he indicated the same dollar buys just a
few cups of the prized long grain balsamati used for many local
dishes.
Customer Solutions Profit Form Updated
I've significantly enhanced the description of this profit form, adding new examples and new sections including:
Applies To
Use This When
Action Plan
P&L Impact
Link to Customer Solutions Profit Form
BizSci Answers: Building an Internet Strategy
BIZSCI IN
BRIEF
For most companies, the Internet should not
be viewed as a strategy on to itself, but an important component in
a total market communications strategy. To improve your Internet
strategy, first prioritize the products you want to sell to
important market segments. Next, determine where you need to
improve your Internet assets to make it easiest for segments to
both find and buy your products. This is only the first phase of an
overall profit strategy that includes Profit Forms analysis and constant
optimization of the product-segment mix. WJones
Question
I am
researching
options for developing and growing my company's
website. Experience has
provided me with plenty of opinions on what to do, but I am
interested in formalizing to a greater degree my approach and am
curious about options for utilizing existing plans or tools for
defining Internet strategy.
In the BizSci Spotlight: Airline Service (part 2)
BIZSCI IN
BRIEF
Southwest and JetBlue constantly work to
understand the expectations of their customers, then quickly make
their businesses a menu for meeting those expectations. As a
result, they have been able to focus their service models,
generating higher customer satisfaction with simpler, more
efficient business design.
Finally, a Flight That Meets Expectations
Of course I was sad to leave Grande Lakes Orlando. It's a beautiful property and I had completely missed every opportunity to enjoy it for three days as I attempted to prepare a budget and meet with suppliers.
Just before checking out, I realized I had booked a slow connection through Raleigh when there was a better direct flight to Baltimore. I had arranged the trip late and too quickly picked the first flight after my last conference session. Now I realized my seven p.m. flight would land only minutes before a later direct flight. So, an hour before check-out, I began to consider the possibility of a warm dinner (and even a dip in the pool) and changed my flight. Fortunately I had flown Southwest and was charged only a small fare difference (max fare was just $70 more). Changing the flight and checking-in online (from my room) was fast and uneventful. I saved my boarding pass as a PDF and e-mailed it to myself. I then put on a swimsuit, grabbed my conference dinner ticket and made optimal use of my momentary time windfall.
Ninety minutes later, dry and fed, I checked out of the Ritz. I had expected to use a PC or printer near the front desk to print my boarding pass, but the system was locked. There was no access to webmail or direct access to the printer. Unfortunately, the hotel and I had been out of sync all day (a first). Earlier that day, the cleaning staff had mistakenly disposed of all my personal toiletries and then hid my wireless headset in a drawer. After discovery, I had to make two calls and wait two hours simply to get a replacement toothbrush & shaving kit from the front desk. Cutting my losses, I skipped a five minute walk to the business center and jumped in a car for the airport.
Attempting to circumvent a stand in the Southwest ticket line, I sought help from a kiosk agent with a brief attempt to explain that I had printed but did not have a boarding pass. The kiosk agent didn't understand my situation (or so I thought) and pointed me to a kiosk as if I hadn't checked in yet. Knowing that it is easier to show than to explain. I inserted my credit card expecting a quick check-in failure and a Go Directly to Counter Agent card. Instead a virtual button appeared on the screen titled "Re-Print Boarding Pass". As soon as I touched it, the boarding pass fluttered into my hands. I looked up to see the nicest, "we know our stuff" expression on the kiosk agent's face.
That brings me to today's topic.
There may be just two U.S. domestic airlines that really get domestic passenger aviation: Southwest and JetBlue. More...
In the BizSci Spotlight: Airline Service (part 1)
BIZSCI IN
BRIEF
Many U.S. domestic air carriers still
struggle to stay one step ahead of bankruptcy, despite the examples
of standouts like Southwest and JetBlue. These airlines have yet to
fix holes in their service infrastructures that result in frequent
unmet customer expectations. Until these airlines inventory all
customer expectations and ensure they are met at each customer
touch point (ticket counter, web, call center, gate, and aircraft),
their businesses will continue to suffer.
What's
Broken?
It's 11:30 pm. After a two hour delay, I had
finally boarded a commuter plane at Atlanta's Hartsfield
International en route to Dulles and home. Instead of taking off,
it seemed that something was very wrong. Although the passengers
had been asked to take their seats, fifteen minutes had passed with
no one to close the door. Worse still, the flight attendants looked
like anxious parents at a child's birthday party hoping it
really was a good idea to reserve a clown just returning
from rehab.
Lemmings Can Stay Seated
A meticulously
dressed business woman in the isle seat to my right was more than
concerned about the delay. She first asked and then demanded to
know what was going on. I paused my iPod long enough to determine
she was not armed, and continued listening to an audio rendition of
Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged. Twenty minutes later, I noticed
the passenger had returned, her black pumps slightly wobbly and her
matching skirt slightly wrinkled. She was quietly saying something
with an expression that begged attention, so I paused my wireless
headset again. With a tenor that could have been a sob if her tear
ducts were working, she quietly heaved,
"They said I have to leave the plane. ..... Was I
threatening?"
A woman behind her, seemingly fully occupied with the tag team
effort to subdue a two-year old lifted her head and offered, "Yes,
you were rude."
The Entertainment Arrives
Before the
passenger was removed, she had been successful with short words to
gain an attendant's assistance in "allowing" her to remove her
seat-belt and pose a question to a person in-charge. She had then
walked to front of the plane, unfortunately finding the person in
charge was the same efficiently listening attendant. Incredulous
that there was no pilot or co-pilot AND that she was
expected to sit indefinitely without explanation, I surmised that
she began making quiet demands ... first that someone call to find
out what the !*_k happened to the pilots and then that someone tell
the passengers when the !*_k they would be departing.
I didn't hear her directly, but the next two announcements told the
story. Three minutes after she left her seat came the first
announcement,
"This is the flight attendent. As I am sure you have noticed our
departure is delayed. Unfortunately, our pilots have not yet
boarded the plane, but they should be arriving shortly. Thank you
for your patience."
Five minutes later came the second announcement,
"I am pleased to announce that our pilots have arrived! After a
short pre-flight checklist, our plane will depart
momentarily."
Based upon the short time between the arrival of the pilots and the
ejection of the passenger, it seems the pilots must have been
greeted by the same senior attendant, requesting authorization to
immediately remove a disorderly passenger.
The Inherent Efficiency of Growth
What's the best way to create a more efficient IT organization?
- Implement ITIL?
- Outsource?
- Better align IT goals with business strategy?
- Integrate enterprise processes using web services?
- Focus on growing the skills of your resource pool.
What if there was a better way to provide more services per dollar, one that had nothing to do with your ability to execute as an organization? I am talking about business growth, and the impact running an IT organization at a belt tightening Gap (Limited Brands) vs, heading a similar organization at a rapidly growing Nordstrom.
My analysis provides a surprising and very disheartening result if you are CIO at a company with weak or negative growth. IT departments in growth companies have a significant cost advantage.
Thus if you are right now heads down figuring out how to give your low growth company a cost advantage so it can ... "catch-up" with the industry leaders, you might want to read this article, ... because your job just got a bit tougher. More...
The Best CEOs.
Profit Forms
More...