Archive for the 'Customer Experience' category

CIOs/Technologists and Twitter

Aug 07 2010 Published by danaedwards under Business, Customer Experience, Science and Technology

It occurred to me today that I follow very few CIOs or CIO-types on Twitter. I also realized that I don’d understand why that is the case. I am a business technologist and they are business technologists so are there differences between us? Well, of course there are differences but I am not talking about the obvious demographics. I am thinking about the differences in purposes of using Twitter, intent of using Twitter or understanding of social media in general. Most importantly, I am not convinced we all understand the opportunity of tools such as Twitter.  At this point, I will give the early disclaimer that I don’t claim to know the “right” use of Twitter or even the best practices. I just know that I use it, I don’t follow many other CIOs and other CIO types don’t follow me. In fact, I don’t claim to be a corporate CIO just a broad minded technologist out to better the business I support.

My core thought is that senior technologists don’t use Twitter because they don’t know why they should. So, here are my first thoughts on CIOs and Twitter …

  • PEOPLE: The next wave of the workforce is on Twitter and it is a greatly diverse population. It took me a while to realize that I wasnt exactly a Senior, a Boomer, an X, or a Y. I was a mix of all four given my set of diverse, life experiences. After a year on Twitter, I have met both online and in person several thousand people that fit all sorts of backgrounds. I find that I engage in more, different types of conversations. There are management consultants, deep technologists, moms, dads, athletes, newscasters, etc who are all on my follower and following lists. Twitter has contributed greatly to my understanding of different ages, professions, interests. All of that rolled into one has helped me understand different people, how to work more effectively, and what trends are occurring in people’s lives.
  • IDEA EXCHANGE: Twitter is a next generation technology and hot bed for learning about new technology. How should Twitter be used in the workplace if at all? Well, the answer is that it should and that the use of it should vary company to company. Twitter is not all we should be thinking about as technologists. I give as an example the recent collapse of Google Wave. That’s technology that conceptually should bring people together. At the end of the day (and the end of Google Wave), it was technology that nobody understood or cared to learn about. I recently held a few discussions via Twitter all sorts of people on the topic of Google Wave. I was able to quickly discern that nobody understood it and nobody wanted to put the energy to determining how to use it with the exception of one person who used it well. Of course, the example that person gave was that they used Google Wave for design documents and job postings which is about the the only way I have heard of anyone doing anything with GW. There are also technologies that are becoming more popular such as Flipboard which most of the Twitter population heard of and was using a month before it hit blogs and magazines. My view is that Twitter is a great way to learn about the latest technology first, digest how others are using it, discuss with others how your company might use it, and then contribute back other ideas. Another option would be to just read the same old magazines and blogs which will get you a load of the same old ideas.
  • CUSTOMER REACH: Twitter is a free way to reach to your customers one on one in a time effective way. I work for a company in the recent past received a significant portion of negative press. This negative press empowered people to become more vocal on Twitter on topics such as pricing, technology availability, customer service and even the same topics on the competition. I didn’t and don’t typically interact directly with them. However, I do send Tweeps to our customer service desk and I do listen to the ideas and bring them back to the business leadership table. Interacting with current and future customers on a personal level is very exciting and informative.
  • FUN: A technologist should use Twitter because it is fun. Not everything on Twitter is serious or “social media” related. Sometimes people take on the personality of something goofy such as the famous Cookie Puss cake from Carvel. Ever wonder what the online rivalry between Cookie Puss and Fudgie the Whale would be like online? Well, why not find out by following them?  If you are a Star Wars fan and wonder what Darth Vader would have to say on Twitter, you can find that out too. While you won’t learn much from following those, it will provide comic relief in your day. There are countless other personalities you can follow – ESPN’s Pardon the Interruption, Mark Cuban, Martha Stewart, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.

I look forward to interacting with you on Twitter. You don’t have to be a CIO, technologist, social media expert, computer person, etc … you just have to be able to interact and form thoughts in 140 characters. :)

Feel free to peak in on what I have to say on Twitter – either on the right hand side of this website or at http://twitter.com/danaedwards. I follow just about everybody back and I enjoy the conversations.

-Dana

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    US Airways Flight 1667 – Jacksonville to Charlotte

    Apr 22 2010 Published by danaedwards under Business, Customer Experience

    The flight took off on time! There is a gentleman in seat 4B who is about to puke. I feel bad for him but then again his eyes were bloodshot when he walked by my seat. I bet he had a rough night.

    Smooth sailing … Nice job US Air. Thank you for a good flight. The only odd thing that occurred is that the flight attendant again pointed at the “emergency lights” and there were none on the floor. What’s up with that?

    - Dana

    One response so far

    US Airways Flight 1251 – Charlotte to Jacksonville – April 20

    Apr 20 2010 Published by danaedwards under Business, Customer Experience

    Well, US Airways is still my favorite airline and I refuse to give up on them. Today, I am traveling from Charlotte to Jacksonville and of course I am flying US Airways. The flight number is 1251. I was looking forward to this flight being the beginning of a good streak. No luck on that front.

    It’s 10:22 as I sit on the plane in seat 14D. Unfortunately, it should be 10:07 but this is not a Hot Tub Time Machine. This is US Air and we were late boarding by 15 minutes. This may not seem like a big deal but I have a packed schedule in Jacksonville. I am eager to get there and get started. Kudos to US Air for announcing the late boarding and then following up with a notification at exactly the time they said they would provide an update. Any way you look at it, we boarded late.

    So, we boarded late because of a “maintenance issue”. I am very happy that they chose to fix it first because I don’t think the technology to do maintenance in the air exists yet. The slightly worrisome thing about the flight is that after I was seated and before the captain announced his greeting there was an alarm that lasted around 5 – 10 seconds. What the heck was that and was it related to the maintenance issue? I guess I will never know.

    The captain reinforced that we should listen to the flight attendants so I decided to do so. His exact words were “… No

    matter how many times you have flown, it is always good to listen to their important information …” Uh, ok. In my mind, I was thinking they would do the normal “1L 1R” and “Fasten your belt tight around the waist by pulling the end” talks. Guess what? They did! Then, I got a chuckle out of it. The attendant then did the emergency lights exit row part and pointed to the ground to the “lights”. Well, I didn’t see any lights but I did see a string (see pic below). I poltilely asked the attendant, “That?” He chuckled. Needless to say, a chuckle was not the response I was expecting. I still wonder to myself at 10:35 if he will pick it up or is he in the back laughing with the other attendants about it the smarty pants passenger in 14D. What I do know is that if the plane crashes, I will pick up the string and be safe. Phew …

    The ambience has greatly improved. The intermittent 1-3 second long beeping noise has stopped. Thankfully, when I get fixated on something I count, catalog, and generally obsess even more on it. So, at 10:41, we have experienced sixteen 1-3 second beeps. I have got to listen to music at this point so I don’t hear the beep anymore.

    Oh my! We have an update in the safety features of the plane! We now have a cap of some sort to guide us to the exit. Perhaps, I can create a tool of some sort from the string and the cap to bale water out of the plane if we crash in the water. That might take a while. Oh, I know … I will use the cap as a thimble as I repair the inevitable hole in my shirt that will occur after we crash and the string / cap combo guides me to the exit. Of course, first, I will tie the string around my finger to remember to follow it to the exit because the singular aisle in the plane is sure to be confusing in case of an accident. String and Cap Safety Friends – I love you for making me feel safe.

    Ironically, “Signs” just came on my iPhone. I think a sign on the floor like an arrow might provide more guidance than the string. But what do I know?

    Ok. Time to land. I wonder if my luggage is ok. We’ll see.

    - Dana

    3 responses so far

    US Airways Flight 1015 from Dallas to CLt

    Apr 03 2010 Published by danaedwards under Business, Customer Experience

    This past week I had the pleasure of traveling to Dallas, TX for work to visit with my team. I am pretty sure that it is true that everything is bigger in Texas.

    As usual, I very dedicated to US Air and I took US Air out and back from Dallas. I am beginning to wonder why I maintain loyalty to US Airways due to the miss rate for customer service issues. That said, I am bit stubborn and wont give up on them. What I will do is start making these issues more publics for everyone to read. Hopefully US Air will read it and address this for everyone else and my future trips.

    My US Air story starts last year. In years past I flew much more and likely had similar stories but now that I fly less it is easier for good and bad experiences to stand out. My tracking of experiences starts 3 flights ago when I was flying from Minnesota to Charlotte. If you follow me on Facebook or Twitter, you will remember this as the “Thanks, Wendy” Experience. See pictures or my Facebook page for details. The picture to the far left is her at work for the flight after the flight I was supposed to take. This particular flight was headed to Philadelphia. I wonder to this day if I could have flown to Philadelphia and then caught a flight to Charlotte. If I was “Wendy”, I would have at least offered this to the aggravated flier – in this case, me. The second picture is her doing something with the flight I was supposed to take. I couldn’t hear what she was saying but nonetheless she was working on the flight I was supposed to take. Did I mention yet that alot of this story occured while the plane was still just sitting there? If I didnt, here is picture of it just sitting there. It sure looks nice, doesn’t it?

    My Dallas to Charlotte experience was minor compared to being instructed by Wendy incorrectly as to when / where to be for my flight. Nonetheless, it was annoying and should have never happened.

    The experience starts with the boarding process. As many of my family and readers know, I have very bad leg and back issues. We experienced multiple delays in beginning the boarding process and we were never told why. As we sat on the plane, there were four people who were double booked for their seats and that made for some interesting sub-experiences. A couple of people were borderline hostile. I can’t say that I blame them after waiting a bit to get on the place only to find that I didn’t have a seat would have made me upset too. While we were waiting for the boarding mess to be sorted out, we were greeted with an extreme heat which made many people sweat and complain about it. I was able to will myself through it but I can tell you that I wasn’t particularly happy when the individual next to me dripped sweat on me. Eventually, the air came on but it was after a good 20-30 minutes of not fun heat.

    The funnest event of Dallas to Charlotte Flight 1015 was with the drinks. While it is minor, it was annoying and just showed me that the attendant didn’t really care about her customers. She came by and asked me what I wanted. My reply was clear, “A cup of ice please.” If you know me, you know that it was loud, clear and in no uncertain terms but polite. The waitress came back with a cup of water. I asked politely for a cup of ice to which she responded, “Oh yes, my apologies…I will be right back with that.” She took the water back and I was hopeful for a cup of ice. What occurred next was a bit bizarre, she brought drinks for everyone else all around me and never came back to ask me about anything. After we began experiencing turbulence, I realized that it would never come. Oh well. Like always, here are my pictures…first one is my neighbor’s glass which is used and empty and the next two are pics of the offending attendant.

    I know I know … some of you might be saying that it is minor and I should ignore it. I think the important part is that 2 of 3 flights for which I expected a reasonable value exchange – money for service – didn’t go so well.

    I’d love to hear your comments and stories. I fly to Jacksonville, FL on Tuesday the 20th and I will update the post accordingly or perhaps start a whole new one.

    - Dana

    No responses yet

    Hendrick BMW – Great Service

    Nov 27 2009 Published by danaedwards under Business, Customer Experience

    If you’ve been around me for some period longer than 30 minutes in the last 4 or 5 years, we probably engaged in a conversation about what kind of car I should purchase. This was probably followed by or included one of my lame jokes about how cars should be black given how all except two have been black and one I didn’t really have a choice. The conversation was typically a pro / con discussion about lifestyle, job, the high cost of cars these days, how I wanted a truck and several other dimensions. Well, the other day I woke up and decided I was buying a car regardless of how long it took.

    With the help of Jill, kbb.com, and last minute Twitter advice from @cp2 and @canook_65, we purchased a BMW 550i. Side note – I still have no idea how to interpret the arcane model numbers that BMW uses. Last minute, @cp2 and @canook_65 talked me out of buying a Jeep primarily due to them being generally average. After lunch, I drove to Hendrick BMW and bought the 550 from Jeff Shinn (jeff.shinn@hendrickauto.com – not yet on Twitter but hopefully soon) and Jhoda Edquist (@jhodabmwcpo) who were both absolutely awesome to work with. Jeff did a great job with the initial explanations and Jhoda did a great job putting up with my kids climbing all over the store and explained the benefits / programs really well. I highly suggest working with either of them. if you are in the market for a BMW. The end to end transaction was fast and painless.

    Now comes more praise for Hendrick. While switching lanes on Graham, I ran through a pothole the size of the grand canyon. I was quite upset and worried that I had ruined my BMW forever or that it was going to cost me several thousand dollars. Immediately after hitting the hole, I dialed up customer support on the BMW hotline in the car. They set up an appointment for me the next day!

    The next day I drove the car down to the service area. While there, I treated myself to a complimentary donut, some complimentary freshly brewed Starbucks coffee and a surprisingly great atmosphere in the wait area. It was quiet except for the TV. It was clean which is rare in Charlotte for a service area and the manager (Rob Moore) was super cool and explained everything to me so I knew I was getting ripped off.

    About two hours later, I got my car back and it was perfect. Hendrick replaced the tire and rim without any questions based on the Road Hazard agreement, washed the car, and I was on my way. This was a perfect service experience!!!

    So, I’ve decided that I like everything about Hendrick BMW and the BMW company after the purchase experience, the driving experience, and the service experience. Thanks for all of this Hendrick / BMW!!!

    - Dana

    One response so far