Cool “blox” for your blog. Laszlo is doing really interesting stuff for blogs. Instead of doing an entire system like Blogger or TypePad they are making little “blox” that you put on your blog's sidebar. They can be a photo block, a sound block, a link block, or a Weather block. Hey, where's the search… Continue reading Cool “blox” for your blog
Month: November 2004
U.K. government hit with another large computer failure
U.K. government hit with another large computer failure. As many as 80,000 civil servants at the U.K.'s Department of Work and Pensions had to deal with what is being described as the biggest computer crash in government history on Monday. [Computerworld News] [Privacy Digest: Privacy News (Civil Rights, Encryption, Free Speech, Cryptography)]
Mergers and customer dissatisfaction
In
general, customers get a raw deal when companies merge. That's the
conclusion of a Business Week article with the provocative title “Why
Customers Hate Mergers” (12/6/2004). The article is based on a
University of Michigan/Business Week study that tracked customer
satisfaction (or rather dissatisfaction) in a number of major mergers
over the past five or six years, including Bank One's purchase of First
Chicago Bank, Unilever's acquisition of BestFoods, and BP's takeover of
Amoco.. In the majority of cases surveyed, the customers were
disgruntled, even years later.
As the article puts it:
The frustration is worse with mergers in industries whose
services have the most direct influence on the quality of Americans'
daily lives. Oil companies, cable-TV outfits, and retail stores saw
their satisfaction ratings plunge between 5.3% and 7.4% on average
And
the effects can prove to be long-lasting. Five years after SBC
Communications Inc. bought Ameritech Corp. for $70 billion in 1999, its
customers still say they were less satisfied than before the merger.
The reason is simple. Mergers tend to cost a lot of new debt, and
cost-cutting measures are the order of the day. One of the first things
that go out the window is customer service, rarely perceived as
important as direct profit centers. When companies talk about reducing
wateful overhead through a merger, customer service is a major part of
that overhead.
And the confusion, complex integration of infrastructure including
computer systems, and low morale that often follows inevitable layoffs,
these make it all the harder to serve existing customers. In industries
like banking, the expectation is that over 10% of customers will leave
after a merger, based on their frustration. Even in industries like
cable TV, unhappy customers look for alternatives like satellite TV.
Victims of bad telephone service have fewer alternatives.
While
companies always claim they are making the acquisition to benefit their
clients, in most cases, the reality is quite otherwise. [Oligopoly Watch
In general, customers get a raw deal when companies merge. That's the conclusion of a Business Week article with the provocative title “Why Customers Hate Mergers” (12/6/2004). The article is based on a University of Michigan/Business Week study that tracked customer satisfaction (or rather dissatisfaction) in a number of major mergers over the past five or six years, including Bank One's purchase of First Chicago Bank, Unilever's acquisition of BestFoods, and BP's takeover of Amoco.. In the majority of cases surveyed, the customers were disgruntled, even years later.
As the article puts it:
The frustration is worse with mergers in industries whose services have the most direct influence on the quality of Americans' daily lives. Oil companies, cable-TV outfits, and retail stores saw their satisfaction ratings plunge between 5.3% and 7.4% on average And the effects can prove to be long-lasting. Five years after SBC Communications Inc. bought Ameritech Corp. for $70 billion in 1999, its customers still say they were less satisfied than before the merger.
While companies always claim they are making the acquisition to benefit their clients, in most cases, the reality is quite otherwise. [Oligopoly Watch
Mergers and customer dissatisfaction In general, customers get a raw deal when companies merge. That's the conclusion of a Business Week article with the provocative title “Why Customers Hate Mergers” (12/6/2004). The article is based on a University of Michigan/Business Week study that tracked customer satisfaction (or rather dissatisfaction) in a number of major mergers… Continue reading
Mergers and customer dissatisfaction
In
general, customers get a raw deal when companies merge. That's the
conclusion of a Business Week article with the provocative title “Why
Customers Hate Mergers” (12/6/2004). The article is based on a
University of Michigan/Business Week study that tracked customer
satisfaction (or rather dissatisfaction) in a number of major mergers
over the past five or six years, including Bank One's purchase of First
Chicago Bank, Unilever's acquisition of BestFoods, and BP's takeover of
Amoco.. In the majority of cases surveyed, the customers were
disgruntled, even years later.
As the article puts it:
The frustration is worse with mergers in industries whose
services have the most direct influence on the quality of Americans'
daily lives. Oil companies, cable-TV outfits, and retail stores saw
their satisfaction ratings plunge between 5.3% and 7.4% on average And
the effects can prove to be long-lasting. Five years after SBC
Communications Inc. bought Ameritech Corp. for $70 billion in 1999, its
customers still say they were less satisfied than before the merger.
The reason is simple. Mergers tend to cost a lot of new debt, and
cost-cutting measures are the order of the day. One of the first things
that go out the window is customer service, rarely perceived as
important as direct profit centers. When companies talk about reducing
wateful overhead through a merger, customer service is a major part of
that overhead.
And the confusion, complex integration of infrastructure including
computer systems, and low morale that often follows inevitable layoffs,
these make it all the harder to serve existing customers. In industries
like banking, the expectation is that over 10% of customers will leave
after a merger, based on their frustration. Even in industries like
cable TV, unhappy customers look for alternatives like satellite TV.
Victims of bad telephone service have fewer alternatives.
While
companies always claim they are making the acquisition to benefit their
clients, in most cases, the reality is quite otherwise. [Oligopoly Watch
how to manage smart people, not rocket science
how to manage smart people, not rocket science. Not quite on-topic but definitely an article I wish every boss I ever worked with had read: How to manage smart people. The following phrase is one of my favorite tools as a manager: What do you need from me in order to kick ass on this… Continue reading how to manage smart people, not rocket science
Integrated Collaboration: what users really want
Integrated Collaboration: what users really want. My colleague, Michael Sampson, has just published the first part of his two-part white paper: Collaboration Software Clients: Email, IM, Presence, RSS & Collaborative Workspaces Should Be Integrated for Business Communication. In his paper, Michael returns to “first principles,” as he discusses the types of software-facilitated interactions the information… Continue reading Integrated Collaboration: what users really want
Social categorization
Social categorization. The ability to develop and share a common taxonomy / classification / ontology is a very fundamental knowledge practice that leverages knowledge creation, communication, promotes meaning and enables sense-making. Tools to do this are far and few right now but likely to be moving toward center stage in the near future as: Social… Continue reading Social categorization
Relationships, not Information
Relationships, not Information. Ever since reading his insightful weekly columns on Hotwired's too-good-for-its-own-good site Packet, I've been a fan of Michael Schrage, and the insight he brings to issues of business, economics, technology, information, and society. An old essay of his, “The Relationship Revolution,” has been recently reposted, and ought to be required reading for… Continue reading Relationships, not Information
My workstation OS: Debian
My workstation OS: Debian. “What do you want from a desktop operating system? The real criteria are stability, package management, hardware compatibility, and the people behind the software, the community. For its superiority in those areas, I made Debian my workstation OS.” Read the article at NewsForge. [Meerkat: An Open Wire Service]
OpenOffice.org 1.1.3 Released with KDE/GNOME Support
OpenOffice.org 1.1.3 Released with KDE/GNOME Support. Novell hacker Jan Holesovsky has announced a build of OpenOffice.org that has both KDE and GNOME support. When launched within KDE, KDE support is activated, similarly when launched within GNOME, GNOME support is activated. Jan's next project will be to plan for OOo 2.0. [Meerkat: An Open Wire Service]
Top Ten Tips to Tackle Tech
Top Ten Tips to Tackle Tech. Aaron has a great list of tips for making sure your tech works at your library. I can not stress #4 enough. If you want to provide public access computing and you don't have time or money to train the entire public on your weird banjaxed system, make the… Continue reading Top Ten Tips to Tackle Tech