Category Archives: News

Facegram or Instabook: What Does It Mean For Users?

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We’ve all read how the 13 Instagram employees woke up Monday morning richer by much more than anyone had imagined! Facebook acquired the photo app company for $1 Billion, which has managed to raise quite a few eyebrows, because Instagram was valued at $500 Million on the 6th of April, 2012; that’s four days before it was bought for double that amount.

Does Zuckerberg intend to annihilate his competition, since Facebook’s strength lies in photo sharing, or does he intend to turn it into another channel to push ads through? Instagram has an impressive user base of almost 30 million registered users, but almost no revenue. I’ve read a couple of articles today that explain how Instagram puts the soul back into social sharing, making the experience more personal and intimate through the art of photography, tinged with nostalgia through multiple filters. Facebook, on the other hand, is seen as a social media conglomerate, which has managed to turn friendly social interactions between friends into highly targeted marketing campaigns for advertisers. Will Facebook keep Instagram alive as it is and as users like it or should we expect a hybrid photo sharing app for our timelines soon?

Another reason I’m writing this blog is to address the impeccable timing of the acquisition. Instagram launched its app for Android devices just last week, prior to which it was available only to iPhone, iPod and iPad users. Is this another way of staying ahead of Google, Facebook? No matter which angle I consider, it seems like a very interesting scenario, for the two companies involved, their users as well as their competition.

What do you think this acquisition holds for you as a user, and for the market? Let me know through your comments!

The Thinness of Ice

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As the dust barely settles on a number of high profile news events, the News of the World phone hacking scandal, the riots in England, allegations of corruption in high places in various sports, the safety of idyllic Seychelles beaches, it is easy to see that, in all manner of ways, a reputation is more often than not just a slither of veneer and not solid oak. The financial and social ramifications of such damaging events will only play out in the weeks and months’ ahead.

A reputation is ephemeral at best and the ease with which it can be undone almost beggars belief. In the year that the UK was lauded for bringing the world a fairytale royal wedding with all the attendant commercial spin-offs for business and tourism and international standing, we have come to having major international companies sending out travel notices to their non-UK employees warning them about the ‘civil unrest’ and to exercise caution when making travel arrangements to Great Britain. How much this will hurt the country’s future tourism and the expected influx of visitors to the London Olympics is anybody’s guess – sufficient to say that it will be measurable.

The Japanese earthquake has dealt a serious blow to the reputation of the Nuclear energy industry that it may never recover from.

The phone hacking scandal not only brought about the death of a long established and widely read newspaper (threatening the livelihoods of many) but it also put paid, at least for the time being to the proposed bid by News Corporation for outright control of British Sky Broadcasting. The financial impact will no doubt come out in the wash of next year’s financial results together with an opportunity cost of not having 100% of the revenue stream flowing into the financial coffers.

The ‘foreign’ shark that somehow managed to find its way into the tranquil waters of the Seychelles and slaughter two people couldn’t possibly imagine the impact it would have on the island’s economy where diving and snorkelling almost represent what the islands stand for.

At the end of the day, a reputation treads carefully across a frozen lake of uncertainty – unaware of exactly how thick the ice is that lies beneath. Or, in the case of the unsinkable Titanic, how big is the iceberg that will finally send her to a watery grave.

For a customer experience management provider like Percepta, ‘reputation’ is the very essence of everything we do – at a corporate level in the way we deal with our clients and with ‘their’ customers, at an individual level in the way we treat our peers and employees, and at a broader, more abstract level in how we can bring insight and experience to help clients improve their reputations or repair them when they become tarnished or damaged.

So, who are you gonna call? If it’s paranormal activity, demons and poltergeists…. then, clearly, Ghostbusters are your guys… for everything else, give us a call, drop us a line… we’ll be happy to hear from you.

Running on empty?

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George Osbourne’s budget featured a 1p reduction on fuel duty as a step towards easing the burden on the beleaguered British motorist. However ‘good’ this news is though, the fact that there will be a £2bn tax grab from the oil companies probably means that they will increase their prices resulting in an outcome that will surpass the 1p let-off anyway at the pumps.

Last year, the hot topic was a focus on environmentally friendly alternatives. This however creates a problem in itself, the OBR (Office for Budget Responsibility) having adjusted forecast tax revenue from fuel duty by £500m as a direct result of improved efficiency in vehicles on the road today. Where will this gap be plugged as automotive manufacturers chase the holy grail of clean, cheap, reliable and renewable energy sources?

This will also have a knock-on effect on the “fuel in the tank of the economy” for the automotive industry in so far as consumers have started to move towards smaller engine vehicles to directly combat the impact at the pumps. It feels like a vicious circle that no matter what way you spin it, the government will still need the taxation and ultimately the man or woman on the street will pay.

In a trip to the US only last week, I found it very amusing when I spotted someone at a filling station taking a photograph of the price at the pump. When I asked him what he was doing, he responded that nobody back home would believe how expensive the petrol was at $4 a gallon. It’s all relative, but to him it was a total rip-off and in our brief exchange he couldn’t believe how much on average we were paying. It certainly cheered him up!

I took the inset photograph as I liked the name of the station – “Terrible’s”. With this topic in mind, I thought it was very relevant to include it here. At $3.69 per gallon of unleaded, it works out at £0.50 per litre. Not that terrible if you ask me…

Do you think that it is all too much fuss about nothing and that the price is the price and a couple of quid per tank is nothing to worry about?
Would you feel more comfortable if the service stations flew a jolly roger or wore masks as they took payment?

There is of course another angle here, if the duty on fuel wasn’t so large, where would you propose that the taxation comes from? Let me know your answers to the questions posed in the comments!

Off-Shoring to South Africa

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There has been a lot of discussion in press around Africa being a choice for organisations as an offshore destination, comparing it to the more dominant markets such as India, China and Malaysia. An article in Outsource Magazine predicted that Africa (as a whole) would represent between 10% to 15% of the total outsourcing market in volume terms by 2013, which is up from less than 5% in 2010.

With some operating experience from Africa, we’d like to share our views on what organisations should look for when thinking of off-shoring a particular business unit.

As mentioned previously, the current dominant markets for off-shoring are India, China and Malaysia – some of the main reasons for this include their population size and availability of large skilled workforces.

So, why is Africa (and other countries) becoming more appealing to off-shoring decision makers?

Nowadays, and especially in the current economic climate, organisations are looking for ways to reduce risk when and wherever they can, in turn this means looking for secondary locations to compliment primary destinations like China etc.

South Africa (where Percepta are based with a major automotive client) is the continent’s largest and most mature outsourcing market with reasons for this including the two hour time difference and the quality of English (and many other European) language skills available.

In the beginning, the types of services being off-shored to South Africa were second or third line back office support services but as the market has matured, a lot more front line, end user services are now based there. These services are delivered to a range of industry sectors including retail, automotive and travel.

One thing that has been detracting companies from South Africa are labour costs – although it is still a much cheaper option than Western European salaries, they do average between 20% – 30% higher than India. Although the other advantages mentioned above warrant the rise in this type of cost.

To summarise – whilst Africa isn’t in the league of more mature markets like India and China, it certainly is a fast growing outsourcing location. The main items to consider for client organisations when devising their off-shoring strategy is not putting all their eggs in one basket and maybe multi-shoring, looking at the service required with specific regards to language capability and technical expertise as well as the obvious one – budget.

Expanding into Emerging Markets

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We all know that key to growth is entering new markets where there is a potential need for services. This has been key to Percepta’s growth in Europe and Asia Pacific as throughout 2010 we expanded into mainland Europe (Spain, France, Belgium and Italy). We are pleased to announce this will continue into 2011 as we launch in China.

In 2008 we managed a consultancy programme for Ford Motor Company in China, assisting them to set up and manage their customer service operations by implementing our Roadmap methodology of continuous improvement and straight away we realised the potential that market has to offer.

Through our successful partnership with Jaguar Land Rover we will be managing their Shanghai operation from Q3 2011 as we look to provide JLR customers with the same level of service across the regions.

Once established in this exciting new market we will look to further extend our service offering to a wider group of clients. If you’d like to be one of them or to find out more information on our plans with China contact us through the Percepta Europe website.

The ‘Big’ Freeze – How prepared are we to support our employees?

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I’m sure nobody has escaped the recent freeze or if you have been lucky enough not to be affected you will not have missed the continued news reports on the chaos caused.

Many people haven’t made it into work, not because they can’t get there but because they cannot get their children to school. How prepared are we as businesses to support our employees in this predicament?

Would it be crazy to think about allowing employees to bring their children into work, find a quiet part of the office where they can continue with their homework or reading up other school books…? The productivity may not be 100% with the inevitable child interruptions but it’s still better to have a %age productivity than none at all.

Or should we be trying to make working from home on such days an easier option again with the same outcomes? There are many systems now like ‘Log Me In’ so the employee can access their own desktop from their home.

The stress, not to mention revenue loss, that is caused from both the business and the employer could be greatly reduced and employees are not forced to lose out on pay or take annual leave for a mini force majeure.

If you have been affected how would you like the situation to be handled? What do you think could be done to make this less of an impact for everyone involved?

Movember results in fan-tash-tic efforts for Perceptash!

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Movember. It’s not even a proper word but an amalgamation of ‘Mo’ for moustache and ‘November’. But whether it’s the Queen’s English or not, the Movember movement will be responsible for a lot of unshaven faces for the remainder of the month.

The more observant of you will have noticed that for the past 25 days, blooming great moustache’s have adorned a select few gentleman within the Percepta offices. The reason for these lip-weasels isn’t temporary insanity – we’re simply showing our support for the month-long men’s health charity event – Movember. Team Perceptash is back led, this year, by a Mo-Bro, of former handlebar fame, Scott Collins.

This year, the Perceptash team will go pore to pore where the bragging rights will go to those who proudly bristle most.

Every November men all across the country grow their ‘taches from scratch, and join in with events to raise funds for The Prostate Cancer Charity. It’s a sobering thought that prostate cancer accounts for a full quarter of all incidences of cancer in men in the UK, and raising awareness of this condition is something that we’re glad to be a part of.

In the words of its website, “Movember challenges men to change their appearance and the face of men’s health by growing a moustache. The rules are simple, start Movember 1st clean-shaven and then grow a moustache for the entire month. The moustache becomes the ribbon for men’s health, the means by which awareness and funds are raised for cancers that affect men. Much like the commitment to run or walk for charity, the men of Movember commit to growing a moustache for 30 days.”

Last year Perceptash was formed and it’s few members grew moustache’s to be proud of. To be honest, the thought of doing so again probably didn’t fill them with joy. Many found themselves constantly feeling their upper lip because it itched so much & admittedly, some fell by the wayside.  Family members ridiculed and the response in general was universally negative.

But the majority fought on through & on the plus side, Team Perceptash did manage to pull in alot of money - £834 to be exact! Internationally, last year’s Movember was a startling success in this regard: over one million donors raised $42 million dollars. So the humiliation and discomfort were worth it. I don’t want to fall prey to easy stereotyping but men do not have a good track record of looking after their health. So anything that gets men to take a more thoughtful and responsible attitude to their physical welfare has merit.

Women can take part too. Growing a ‘Mo’ would, of course, be beyond the call of duty. But women (or ‘Mo-Sistas’ as they may prefer to be called) can encourage us men to join in and they can help fundraise.

Hair today, gone tomorrow, some will say, and that thought provides a quantum of solace. The marks Movember leaves behind are more enduring in the gains for men’s health than on the faces of the participants.

As once said by Salvador Dali – “Since I don’t smoke, I decided to grow a moustache – it is better for the health.
However, I always carried a jewel-studded cigarette case in which, instead of tobacco, were several carefully placed moustaches, I offered them politely to my friends: “Moustache? Moustache? Moustache?   Nobody dared to touch them” ……………. which sound’s very similar to the reaction I currently receive from my wife!! Roll on November 30th!

Please support the cause and donate anything that you can – every little helps: http://uk.movember.com/

Read all about it… Have “The Media” gone social too??

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Over the past few years I have been noticing a real shift in the way that mainstream news is reported and how impartial reporting has slowly been eroded and replaced with a more analytical and opinionated news-machine.

I’m certain that a lot of this has been driven by changes in consumer profiles and the way in which we interact with information of all sorts from iPhone & smartphone applications through to 24 hour a day news channels on the television.

Continue reading “Read all about it… Have “The Media” gone social too??” »