Category Archives: Customer focus

Computer Network Operations Center Failures

Obviously many businesses are now dependent on computer Network Operations Centers (NOC). Some of these data centers can cause millions of dollars in lost sales each minute if they fail. So sound engineering, including off-site redundancy is critical. Authorize.net is … Continue reading

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Google Innovates Again with Google Wave

Google Wave is a new tool for communication and collaboration on the web, coming later this year. They are developing this as an open access project. The creative team is lead by the creators for Google Maps (brothers Lars and … Continue reading

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Community Medical Care Successes

The Cost Conundrum by Atul Gawande, New Yorker (The Power of a Checklist was published there in 2007 by the same author) For example, Rochester, Minnesota, where the Mayo Clinic dominates the scene, has fantastically high levels of technological capability … Continue reading

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In-N-Out Burger’s Six Secrets for Success

In-N-Out Burger’s six secrets for out-and-out success [the broken link was removed] Listen to Your Customers — One of the company’s mottos is “Our customer is everything.” Applying that belief led to the company policy of preparing burgers just the … Continue reading

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Joel Spolsky Webcast on Creating Social Web Resources

Joel Spolsky webcast on creating Stack Overflow (with the goal of providing answers to professional programmers) using ideas from anthropology. Once again he provides great information. This is particularly interesting for software development but also just a good presentation for … Continue reading

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Building a Great Workforce

How P&G Finds and Keeps a Prized Workforce by Roger O. Crockett “We actually recruit for values,” says Chief Operating Officer Robert McDonald. “If you are not inspired to improve lives, this isn’t the company you want to work for.” … Continue reading

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Jeff Bezos Spends a Week Working in Amazon’s Kentucky Distribution Center

Photo of Jeff Bezos during the 2005 O’Reilly Emerging Technology Conference by James Duncan. Jeff Bezos, Amazon CEO, is working for a week in Amazon’s Kentucky distribution center. I hope, and based on his past, I believe, that he is … Continue reading

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Knowledge, Imagination, Innovation and Risk

A consumer can seldom say today what new product or new service would be desirable and useful to him three years from now, or a decade from now. New product and new types of service are generated, not by asking … Continue reading

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Customer Friendly Terms of Use Language

The Aviary web site provides a very nice example of customer focus. They provide the legalese version of the terms of use and then explain what this actually mean in is simple terms. Good job. Legalese example 2. SITE CONTENT. … Continue reading

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Newspaper Innovation In Kansas

The newspaper industry is facing challenging times. One success story is the Lawrence Journal-World in Lawrence, Kansas. I first heard about their efforts years ago: Watchful Eyes on Kansas Media Innovations, NPR, 2005 Many media companies hoped that convergence — … Continue reading

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