antti.vilpponen.net

Australia is one step closer to a totalitarian society with the announcement from the Government that their filtering test on the Internet was successful. While I do think there are many websites around that nobody should visit, it’s not appropriate to start controlling where people are able to surf. That’s similar to stating who’s allowed to publish certain kind of newspapers.

Senator Conroy has stated that the blocking can be done with 100 percent accuracy. The only problem in this equation is that who gets to decide what’s being blocked? In their test, they managed to blacklist poker sites, YouTube links, Wikipedia entries, euthanasia sites as well as religious sites – including Christian ones. There was even a Queensland dentist being blocked and if this project is taken further, no one will find out who’s being blocked in the future.

It’s really sad to see Australia take steps toward this direction.

There’s something I’ve been thinking about regarding online banking that just doesn’t make any sense. It’s the logic that they have copied from their offices to the interface of their website. You can see it in the image on the right. The bank in the example is Nordea by the way.

The logic is that why on earth do I have to choose whether I’m a personal customer or corporate customer. This is the logic that you have to apply in regular street level offices, because you have specific people serving specific needs. However, this does not need to be the case in online banking. Why is this?

Everyone’s heading to the their own dashboard based on their customer id. When I enter mine, the bank knows that I’m Antti Vilpponen and he is a customer in the consumer banking business. When I sign in with my company bank id the bank knows that it’s a company signing in. Why make it difficult for the person to choose the way the desk where they want to be serviced at when there isn’t one?

Just a simple example and the world is full of these.

We were talking today about a certain company at a client meeting with a colleague when he said that ultimately their business is customer service – keep the systems working and customers happy. Some how that got rolling around in my head until I got home and realised, all companies – no matter the business – should see theirselves in the customer service business.

All companies who are doing business look to improve the condition of their customer, whether B2C or B2B, in the end. Right?

In the middle, they might be creating a product or a service that might make the lives of the customer better. However, in the end, if you go further – the company is engaging in customer service. If you think of business this way, you really shouldn’t be selling but constantly looking to help new people.

If you think of running a business from this point of view – you really start to see how you should be operating, whether online or offline. Also, some functions of your company are really undervalued, such as customer service. I’d even go as far to say that if you think of any less than this of your business for your customers – you are underestimating them.

(Photo via Flickr: The Department CC-licensed)

“Our global online service”, they say. Why do companies keep promoting their services as global when they are talking about online services and applications? I think it just shows your shortcomings in understanding the internet as a network as it ALWAYS is global (unless you work to limit it) and not a medium where you broadcast to from the comfort of your own office.

Anyone else come across anything similar or is it just me?

One of the best online education video resources I’ve found to date: The Stanford Educators Corner. A huge array of videos from world acknowledged speakers.

Strongly suggested.