Wednesday March 28, 2007
One Last Response to Comment - I Promise!
OK, I can see already that we are on to something here. And that my
"no responses to comments" attitude can be put to rest, at least for a
while. I have received another very interesting comment from Corporate
Pirates (very interesting choice of alias!) which, in short, states the
following: customer service is demanded by people who do not pay the
check, when people are given a choice between customer service and
price, the unanimously choose lower prices over good service.
Corporate Pirates gives examples from the airline industry: Southwest
airlines is the example of supposedly poor service, but lower prices.
American and United are examples for the opposite.
Truth is, at first glance I thought that there was something to it. If
I was given the choice of low price or good service and quality -
wouldn't I choose the price over service? That is if I, personally,
was picking up the tab. And then I realized, I respectfully disagree.
Hear me out.
First, Southwest has excellent service AND low prices. In fact,
Southwest was on the list of 25 top ranking customer service champions
(). What makes the difference at Southwest is NOT that they have given
up on customer service for lower prices. It's because they have found
ways to lower their operating costs significantly. To give a couple of
examples: they only use Boeing 737. This choice of one type airliner
lowers their maintenance costs significantly. They fly out of
secondary airports - again lowering the operating costs. The crew is
multi-tasking. I once saw a pilot handing me my luggage, and then I
realized - this is GOOD service AND low cost! Last but not least: they
hold the industry record for preparing an airplane which has just
landed for takeoff. In that, they get more flights from an airplane
then any other airline in the world. By the way, United and American
are poor service AND high prices.
Moving on. Service is not only the frequency with which the flight
attendants smile at you. It is also how much can you trust that what
you are getting is not going to harm you, or worse. In other words,
if you are guaranteed that everything always goes well, you may choose
prices over quality. But what if something goes wrong? If you were
given the choice of price vs. quality, what would you do? Go with the
cheaper airline, with questionable airplane maintenance? With less
pilot training? I don't think so. What you pay for under the umbrella
of "service" is much more than that: it's safety, quality, security.
Continuing on the same thought. We were addressing airlines. What
about the rest? Would you choose lower priced medicine? Education? I
think not.
So while I do think that customer select their service provider based
on multiple categories - price, quality, service, and more. Indeed,
service and quality are tangibles for which people are willing to pay.
So maybe we should change the bottom line: the customer must be
satisfied on a variety of categories: price, quality, service to name a
few. Companies who know how to offer the best of all shall win the
heart and the wallet of their potential customers.
Taking it to the business I am in. I have been working in the
enterprise storage area for many years. Currently I work for Sun
Microsystems, as a development director for the Solaris operating
system. Suppose for a second that you are the manager of a corporate
data center, for a large, global, financial firm. Suppose further,
that your data center must support hundreds of thousands of
transactions every minute, 24/7, coming in from every remote corner of
the globe. Suppose, that if your systems are not available for what
ever reason, you suffer a loss of $20M, every hour. Would you choose
the no name, no backing, storage controller? Or would you go with Sun?
Posted at 08:37AM Mar 28, 2007 by Amiram Hayardeny in Personal | Comments[0]
Sunday March 25, 2007
Competition - Response to Comment
I usually don't respond to comments, but this one certainly deserved a
response. UX-admin raised an age old question, and an excellent one
too: what if there are no options? What if there is no competition?
No choices? Obviously, the observation is correct. You cannot be an
educated consumer if no options exist. In fact, the very concepts of
open markets and free trade are based on the fact that the markets are
just that: open and free. What UX-admin is talking about is monopoly.
In many cases, a monopoly is government owned, but not always.
Sometimes, a monopoly was successful in wiping out all smaller
competitors, to be left alone and squeeze the choice-less consumers.
Indeed, the "regulator" has a critical role in the elimination of
monopolies. In many countries, a monopoly, once declared, is required
to take significant steps in its own elimination - AT&T and to a
certain extent Microsoft are recent examples. Monopoly is a consumer
nightmare. The reason is simple: once there is no competition, the
product or service can be sold at the highest possible price.
Competition is the best price moderation in existence.
So my not so great answer to UX-admin is that free markets are built
from the bottom up. Surely, in some aspects choices DO exist. You can
eat in a restaurant that is cheaper and serves its customers better.
You can do what I do: tell the places which you frequent that you come
to them because they are either cheaper, better, higher quality. You
can tell your family and friends to go or to not go to certain places.
At the age of the Internet - you can do what I do: blog.
Of course, if you are on your own - you won't get very far. But if
there are many - it's an entirely different ballgame. And the
government, once it is open for election (absolute competition) wants
the citizens to be happy. The government regulates monopoly, and
enforces competition. It is good for everyone: the consumer and
(believe it or not) the competitors. Competition encourages
innovation, quality, price. Competition is the best form of trade. It
takes time, but since it is the only concept which supports equilibrium
- it works.
So be optimistic, and patient. It will happen, in due time.
Posted at 06:51PM Mar 25, 2007 by Amiram Hayardeny in Personal | Comments[4]
Quarterly Visit to the USA - Impressions
My first trip to the United States was at the age of 16, in 1979. This
was also my first trip out of the Israel, where I was born and raised.
My first impression was at the airport. For the first time in my life,
someone addressed me as "Sir" and added "Mister" to my last name. But
throughout the eight week trip, I remember clearly that I was most
impressed with the level of service I received. Customer service that
is. Thirty years ago, customer service did not yet arrive in Israel.
There was no such thing as "refund" or "exchange". If you stayed at a
store over a few minutes without giving any indication of purchasing
anything, it was quite likely that you would be asked to leave. When I
went to the US, I realized that there's another world out
there. A world which respected people, or rather customers, consumers,
potential customers. I was introduced to the phrase "The Customer is
Always Right"...
Needless to say, I liked it. Not only I liked it, I learned to demand
it. If I was going to pay someone, I made sure I was getting my
money's worth. Like me, hundreds of thousands of Israelis went to
Europe and to the US, and overtime, they influenced the level of
service in
Israel by simply giving the business to competitors in case of
disappointment. Nowadays, when you enter a store, you are addressed
with
"Sir". You are given the respect you deserve. The respect you pay
for. You can return merchandise, you can exchange it. It's a pleasure.
And guess what. When I go to the US now, I realize that the
service
level is deteriorating, significantly, and consistently. Many times I
encounter service persons who are uneducated, unprofessional, sometimes
simply rude.
There are
exceptions, of course. I read BusinessWeek's rating of the top twenty
five customer service champions. (Read: BusinessWeek's Customer Service Champions)
Some companies really appreciate their customers, others don't. You
will find in this article, the exceptional service given by some
companies to their customers. Needless to say, good service is
associated with very successful companies.
My latest example is United Airlines. Last week I flew back and forth
from Beijing to San Francisco. I chose United Airlines (not too many
options). I was surprised to discover that the service given by United
staff was much better at the Beijing airport. At the San Francisco
airport, the service was substandard. The flight was overbooked, and
there was no way to check in on line. I have a personal problem - I
cannot sit in the middle seat, I am simply too heavy. Therefore, I
reported to the check-in counter four (4!!!) hours before departure so
I can get either a window or an aisle seat. To my great surprise and
disappointment, I was told that seat assignment will be done at the
gate (unless of course I was willing to pay $599.00 for an upgrade to
business - to which I said: thanks but no thanks). Now, I have been flying much
longer than the check-in counter attendant has lived, and never was I
told that seat assignment will be done at the gate because the flight
was full. But my protests lead me to nothing. At the gate, I met
dozens of people waiting in line to get a seat assignment. They were
all upset. The flight was packed and crowded, not a great
experience. I encountered a similar experience at the Hertz counter.
To be fair, there was one incredible exception. For the first time in
my life, I showed up at a hotel - the Sierra Suites of Santa Clara, and
there was no reservations for me. The attendant, a young woman named
Sandra, was amazingly kind, trying all she could to get me settled.
When she realized she couldn't get me a room at the Sierra Suites, she
made a few phone calls and got me a room at the Holiday Inn, and even
printed the directions for me. Thanks Sandra! The Sierra Suites will
definitely get my future business.
Lastly, please bear with me, the issue of the gifts. I have two young
kids who hate it when I travel for work. But they understand it is
necessary, and gifts do help them to be more reasonable about it.
Lately, my wife and I noticed, that every time I go to the US, I come
back with a load of gifts, ALL made in China. So we agreed, that when
I go away on business, she goes to the local stores, buys the gifts,
and leaves them in the trunk of the car for me. When I get back I
present it to the kids, who are as happy, and for a fraction of the
price. Still, I wanted to buy them something in the US. So what could
I buy? Clothes, shoes, games, model cars? They are all made here in
China. So what do I get? I respect intellectual property, ownership,
rights, royalties. Therefore, I thought I'd buy original computer
games proudly made in the US of A rather than buy the cheap copies sold
here in Beijing. I bought a couple of Dr. Seuss games, and a couple of
Disney games for my four year old son. I am sure they will have a good time playing with it.
Bottom line, we are paying hefty prices, we deserve, and we should
demand that what we buy is of good quality, that it works, and that the
people who serve us do it politely and professionally. Good customer
service is not, or at least should not be an option - it is mandatory.
If you don't get it, take your business elsewhere.
Posted at 09:13AM Mar 25, 2007 by Amiram Hayardeny in Personal | Comments[1]
Tuesday March 20, 2007
Flight Adventures
I hate long flights. I understand, that is not a big piece of news. I assume that everyone who travels for work dislikes the really long flights. Let me be clear, I am not talking about the 4-5 hour flights across the US, not even the 6-7 hour flights from the the US to Europe. I'm talking about the over 10 hours in the air, non-stop.
I had my share of long flights. A rough estimate would be an average at least five cross the Atlantic round trips per year for the last twenty years. Not counting domestic flights.
The reason I am suddenly writing about
it, is that I have realized something during my last flight from
Beijing to San Francisco. I do fine flying at night. For years I
had the same ritual. I would get to the airport at 10:00 PM, take
off at midnight and after about ten hours of flight, most of them
sound asleep, I would land in New York where the time would be just
before sunrise. Not bad. Many times I was asleep before the plane
took off. Coming back, the same way. Take off around midnight and
land sometime in the early afternoon. Sure, jet-lag was always
present, but it was a mild version, and usually, within a day or two
it was gone.
Now, living in Beijing, the option of
flying at night is not there, or at least I haven't found the option
yet. So I take off around noon, fly for almost 11 hours, getting no
sleep whatsoever, and land at San Francisco four hours before I left
Beijing – early morning. Going back – same way: take off around
noon, land in Beijing on the following. No sleep again. Nasty
jet-lag, the works.
And I am not mentioning the bad movies, the sad service, the narrow seats – I know, I should be on a diet, but so should at least half the other passengers, and the flight attendants too... It seems to me that the airlines, in a miserable effort to cut costs, are reducing the service to really interesting levels. I know I brought it up before, but I will again. You call the airline, and after a 15 minute tour of the automated systems, you realize that you were hung up on. They say you can check in online, only if you can get the page up. You can get a seat assignment online, but only if you have an e-ticket, and if you are really lucky.
To be honest, I tried to run the following scenario: what if a flight took off from Beijing around midnight? What time will it be when the plane lands in San Francisco? So there you have it. If you take off from Beijing around midnight, and fly for roughly eleven hours, you will get to San Francisco around eight in the evening. Is this a good deal? I think not. Supposedly you just woke up from your sleep, and it is almost time to go back to sleep. Not good. How about the way back? Take off from San Francisco at around midnight. This will land you in Beijing at around four in the morning – next day. Actually I could go for that.
But the most interesting part is always the partners you spend your flight with. What do I mean by partner? Do you have a better name for someone whom you've never seen before, who suddenly shares your bed, snores next to you (not to mention the other stuff), and tells you his life story? I guess this is what's really bad with day flights. You have to stay up, and listen to strangers blabber about their lives. Don't get me wrong, I had some great flight partners, some of whom I am still in touch with, seriously. But this one was really amazing. A 46 year old community college professor from Wyoming, who was as big as me, and wouldn't stop coughing, snoring, talking, joking in a really loud voice. 11 hours. When we landed I was beat.
And it looked so promising in the beginning. I got the aisle seat of the emergency exit row. Probably the best seat in the plane excluding the business class. And when I got there, a little old lady was sitting in the middle seat, smiling. I was happy, hoping. Two minutes later she left, and the college professor took the seat.
Sigh.
Posted at 12:34PM Mar 20, 2007 by Amiram Hayardeny in Personal | Comments[0]
Friday March 16, 2007
Star Trek - Thirty Something Years Later
This is how a ceremony is created. I come home from work, the kids are
still doing homework, playing, or watching something on TV. Smell of
food comes out of the kitchen. I change, shower and check my email.
Amazingly, one hour after leaving work, there are a couple of dozen
messages already... Dinner, showers, pajamas, and then it starts. My
seven year old daughter carefully takes out the DVD pack and selects
the disk we are currently watching. Then she puts out the light, turns
on the TV and the DVD, and we sit down to watch, yes, you may have
guessed: Start Trek.
The story usually starts with a quote from the captain's log: "Captain's Log, Stardate 43385.6. We are orbiting Barzan II, which
is entertaining bid for control of what appears to be a stable wormhole
which could provide a permanent shortcut to the distant Gamma Quadrant." Or something similar.
Then the story begins. And then, we both wait for it patiently comes the familiar and dramatic: "Space,
the final frontier. These are the voyages of the Starship Enterprise.
It's continuing mission to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new
life and new civilizations to boldly go where no man has gone before." Both my daughter and I recite this phrase every single time. It's exciting.
I remember clearly, many years ago, must be at least thirty (my God, I
can't believe I am saying this). Star Trek was showing every Friday at
3:00 PM. Indeed, as I am talking about Israel, Friday was a half
working / school day. Still 3:00 PM clearly was not a prime time
slot. Yet, I would try to do everything to be there on time. To meet
Captain James T. Kirk, Mr. Spok, and Bones (Dr. McCoy) and join their
adventures in the great and strange universe. Indeed, occasionally I
would ask myself the obvious questions: how come all aliens speak
English, why do they all look reasonable human (additional ears, and
strange shaped forehead does not count)? But there was always an
interesting plot, a question, something to resolve, to assess, to
understand. There were adjustments to be made - alien worlds have
different rules. There were laws to be kept - the prime directive (*)
to name one. And imagine, the original Star Trek aired in 1966(!!!),
over forty years ago.
My favorite, though, is Captain Picard. It is over thirty years later,
and I am watching this still relevant show with my kid daughter. And
she loves it. Now, I am not sure whether she loves it because it is
really interesting to her, or simply because she gets to see it with
Dad. But does it really matter? I truly believe that reading and
watching science fiction (not the ones with the green dripping
aliens...) opens the mind, the horizons. It takes you to strange new
worlds, to interesting adventures, to places where no man has gone
before!
(*) As the right of each sentient species to live in accordance with
its normal cultural evolution is considered scared, no Star Fleet
personnel may interfere with the healthy development of alien life and
culture. Such interference includes the introduction of superior
knowledge, strength, or technology to a world whose society is
incapable of handling such advantages wisely. Star Fleet personnel may
not violate this Prime Directive, even to save their lives and/or their
ship unless they are acting to right an earlier violation or an
accidental contamination of said culture. This directive takes
precedence over any and all other considerations, and carries with it
the highest moral obligation.
Ah, in the meantime, my four year old son watches Tom and Jerry on the
other TV. I wish I could beam myself to the other room occasionally...
Posted at 09:50AM Mar 16, 2007 by Amiram Hayardeny in Personal | Comments[3]
Wednesday March 07, 2007
More Food and Global Warming
I have mentioned to a friend that my menu was significantly extended
since my daughters visited in Beijing. The reason is that one of them
is (almost) strictly vegetarian. My friend immediately suggested that
I put it in my blog, so other visitors with similar restrictions will
be able to enjoy it.
This conversation made me think about blogging. I realized quite a
while ago, that blogging actually changed the way I experience life. I
know it's a big statement, but I really think that. I find myself
often looking at things and considering whether this topic will make a
good blog entry. When I realize that it will, I start taking mental
notes (and sometimes real notes) so I can recall it later when the time
comes to write it down. Later I look at the notes, look up some data
on the web and write the entry.
I had lunch today with two colleagues. We went to the vegetarian restaurant here in the Tsinghua Science Park. In my opinion it is the best restaurant around. They serve a large variety of meat looking and tasting dishes which can be easily mistaken for the real thing. Yet they are all made of tofu, eggplant, and other vegetables. I love it. I can't remember what brought
it on, but suddenly we started talking about global warming. I admit
that it is rather difficult to talk about global warming when the
outside here in Beijing is frozen. Yet, it is a great topic to discuss
anyway. The variety of opinions is incredible. Starting with those
who think we should all move back to the mountains and eat fruits and
vegetables, to those who don't even think that the phenomenon exists.
I will not state my opinion here, but I do want to point out a book I
have read a couple of years ago. "State of Fear", was written by
Michael Crichton. He is by far my favorite author of all times. In
fact, when I travel to the US, I have a mandatory visit to Barnes and
Noble. If there's a new Michael Crichton book available - probability
is 100% that I will buy it, and be sorry that there was only one...
To make a long story short, Crichton states that the science of global
warming is inaccurate at best, and may be manipulated by interested
parties. Again - I will not state my opinion. The Heartland
institute, published this article, which sums up the reasons why global warming data should be very carefully considered. (Heartland Article)
Here's my extended menu. Enjoy. I must admit that my wife and I are particularly fond of 宫爆鸡丁 and 地三鲜!
|
菜单 |
Menu |
|---|---|
| 凉拌白菜芯 | Cabbage salad |
| 宫爆鸡丁 | Chicken and peanuts |
| 家常豆腐 | Home style Tofu |
| 鸡蛋炒饭 | Fried rice with eggs |
| 地三鲜 | Eggplant, pepper and potato |
| 茶干牛柳 | Beef and peppers |
| 红薯煎鸡柳 | Sweet and sour fried chicken breast and yams |
| 蒜茸西兰花 | Garlic sauteed broccoli |
| 烧二冬 | Fried sauteed mushrooms and bamboo shoots |
| 红烧豆腐(不放肉，放蘑菇和青菜） | Braised bean curd with mushroom and vegetables |
| 地三鲜 | Sauteed eggplants, potatoes and green peppers |
| 烧茄子（不放肉） | Braised eggplants |
| 烧豆角（不放肉） | Braised green bean |
| 青炒芦荀 | Fried Asparagus |
| 南瓜 | Pumpkin |
| 松仁玉米 | Pine nuts with sweet corn |
| 拔丝红薯 | Sweet Potatoes in syrup |
Posted at 01:54PM Mar 07, 2007 by Amiram Hayardeny in Personal | Comments[2]
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