Passionate Partners

Mashable reports that Apple’s WWDC conference sold out in 24 hours. Don’t you wish your company had such passionate partners?

What is your company doing to create this kind of passion in your supply chain?

Ripe for Innovation or Decimation

Our company is in the process of implementing a new business system.  We’re at the point where we’re thinking of implementing some barcoding applications.  Now I haven’t had much to do with barcoding before, but I began to investigate potential devices we’d use.

Here’s a candidate pictured at the left. It’s a wireless device with a small touch screen and a small keypad.  It runs a Windows operating system (either Windows CE or Windows Mobile). And of course, it has a barcode scanner built in.  It’s constructed to withstand the rigors of warehouse use.

And it comes with a HUGE price tag.  Can you believe that in the age of iPhones (which you can pickup for a few hundred bucks), that this device sells for $2200 or MORE?  Until now, several manufactureers (you know who you are) have been flying below the radar, charging outlandish prices for these products.

Well you’ve now been “outed”.  Better invest a little time in learning iOS, before some college kid decides he can make a decent living with a laser scanner adapter for the iphone (or by using the built in camera) and a $9.99 iPhone app.

When I can go to Best Buy and pickup a laptop for less than $500, or an iPhone for a few hundred bucks, you folks are definately living on borrowed time.

Innovate or be decimated.  You’ve been warned.

A Tale of Two Companies

I recently read an article that indicated Microsoft was desperate to migrate their customer off Internet Explorer 6. Their latest version is I.E. 9. So many of their customers are three versions behind. What does that say about the appeal of Microsoft’s new products? About the ease of upgrading? About customers’ skepticism that the latest product will offer more value or better functionality?

Meanwhile at Apple, customers are lining up to sell off their “old” iPads to purchase an iPad 2, to be on the latest and greatest technology.

Is your company a Microsoft or an Apple?

The Disputes Department

I had a vendor contact me the other day for payment of some old invoices. As a matter of fact, they were threatening account suspension among other nasty things. I was able to forward five months of email correspondence showing how they were in the wrong and woefully inept at fixing their errors.

Shortly thereafter I received an email stating that the matter had been referred to their Disputes Department.

Disputes Department? Really? You mean you actually have people in your organization permanently employed to clean up your messes?

If your company has a Disputes Department, you either have incompetent/unempowered employees or very broken processes.

Or disdain for your customers.