The Voice of the customer

This week is National Customer Services Week, or CSW, an opportunity to celebrate the relationship that all businesses have with their customers. I have been a member of the Institute of Customer Service for many years now and this week is one of the highlights of their calendar. More details can be found here. At … Continue reading The Voice of the customer

Time to come out of the shadows

In too many organisations ICT Is something that happens in the background. It is an unseen force that keeps things going that people don’t think about until it goes wrong. It is a bit like electricity, it is just there. You flick the switch and on it comes and you don’t stop to think of … Continue reading Time to come out of the shadows

Memory foam

What is all the fuss with memory foam? How hard is it to remember that you are an oblong? These days you can’t watch television for very long before seeing an advert for a memory foam mattress. I don’t get them to be honest. I have slept on a few and found them not to … Continue reading Memory foam

Social Trust

According to the The Behavioural Insights Team, social trust is one of the most important measures that most people have never heard of. Until a few days ago I was one of them. I first came across the term in the book ‘The Social Animal’ by David Brooks. I would recommend it highly by the … Continue reading Social Trust

Back to school

It was a very weird experience, sitting in front of a class full of students from my old school. OK, it was a long long time ago since I sat in its drab and dusty classrooms and we were sitting in Campus North rather than the school itself yet it was still an odd experience. … Continue reading Back to school

Hard cyber

I’m not sure if cyber is a word that is used much outside the pages of a William Gibson novel or the Cyber security industry itself. It may not be many people’s vernacular yet it is a word that has come to dominate a lot of my time, both as an employ of the local … Continue reading Hard cyber

Intellectual property

I’m meeting some interesting people these days. My recent blog about wearing out shoe leather tramping the streets, in order to see people nudged Helen to get back in touch. She told me about Lucy who had had a similar experience. She really had worn out a pair of shoes and has kept them in … Continue reading Intellectual property

Six degrees of database separation

According to Frigyes Karinthy, everyone in the world is separated from everyone else by six degrees of separation. You know some people and they now some other people and they know some others etc. until eventually everyone knows everyone. In my peregrinations of late I am becoming more convinced that this is true, People I … Continue reading Six degrees of database separation

Don’t bury people under pyramids

Five thousand years ago the Egyptians buried people under pyramids. Businesses have been doing the same ever since. It is an old joke. The first time I ever heard it though was from Stephen Kelly, CEO of Sage and he was giving the keynote presentation at that year’s Dynamo conference. Everyone laughed yet it is … Continue reading Don’t bury people under pyramids

Housing shortage

Housing shortage, what shortage? Every time I turn on the television or follow a news feed there is someone banging on about a housing shortage. It is clearly true to a large extent. There are not enough homes available in the UK for people to buy. This is is reflected in the cost of housing … Continue reading Housing shortage