Ivan Joseph's WebLog

A bit more on loyalty programs

2009-07-13T21:23:00Z

http://www.bing.com/community/blogs/travel/archive/2009/07/08/how-frequent-flier-programs-offer-loyalty-for-a-price-by-peter-greenberg.aspx

I saw this article on the bing community blog - it talks about how Loyalty Programs have become so lucrative because customers are 'locked in'. I had made a post earlier as well where I said somethig similar. Once a person is locked in even if your service quality went down, would he/ she walk away?

Do you become loyal because of the rewards (transactional) or because of true service quality? Would you choose your airilne (or other product) if the only thing that mattered was service quality?

We all know that customer acquisition cost is higher than customer retention and of course if your customer is 'locked in' then the costs can conceptually approach zero - so it all makes eceonomic sense for the airline but does it make sense for the customer?

Times of India campaign for grassroots change

2009-05-09T02:27:00Z

My friend Martin Spinetto shared this impressive campaign that he came across about India.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgHyjMgPi2Q

It is a good watch and captures some of the excitement that is currently present as the country has seen some very rapid economic growth - Thanks to Martin for sharing - Martin BTW is located on the other side of the world - Argentina to be precise so I'm surprised that he even came across this campaign - it's a flat world after all I guess..

Former India President APJ Abdul Kalaam visits campus

2009-05-09T01:50:00Z

This is an amazing company! The kind of people we get here - recently Dr APJ Abdul Kalaam , former President of India came visiting and spoke to us about his dream for India and how he hopes it can be transformed into a developed country by the year 2020.

For those not familiar with Dr Kalaam, he was one of the pioneers of India's space movement and the very first satellite that was launched was done under his stewardship - so he is someone who walks the talk.

What impressed and even surprised me a bit was the amount of emotion in the room - one person spoke about how it was a dream come true for him to be in the same room as Dr Kalaam. Someone else mentioned that Dr Kalaam has been his childhood hero and so on. The respect for Dr Kalaam and his accomplishments shone through.

All it took to attend was to take a shuttle from one building to the next - wish they had a larger room though since I had to wait outside and watch on a drop down screen...

What is loyalty? Don't frequent flier programs create bonded customers instead of loyal customers?

2008-07-30T22:29:00Z

The first question has different answers but in its most common form in North America, it is about rewards. So you sign up for an airline frequent flyer program in the hope that over time you will accumulate enough miles to get the free tickets. Since the switching cost is high, people will stay even if the experience is not great. In some ways this actually reduces the incentive for good service since these are not loyal customers but 'bonded' customers.

Another way of thinking about this is that if you didn't have such FF programs would customers still fly with the airline? I am guessing that in many cases it might be no because the experience isn't a great one. And experience is really the key to loyalty. I remember an acquaintance once mentioning his experience with Singapore Airlines - he was flying from Chennai to Tokyo via Singapore and on the Chennai - Singapore leg the stewardess accidentally spilt the soup on his suit trouser ( he was wearing the suit since he had an am meeting in Tokyo to which he was going directly from the airport) . She apologized profusely, then the Captain of the 747 came to him and apologized. But that wasn't all - a little later a stwardess came and took his Trouser measurements. When they landed in Singapore he was called aside and presented with a brand new trouser that was his perfect size!! Mind you the Chennai to Singapore flight is just 4 and a half hours and it reaches Singapore early in the morning so the airline must have woken up some tailor in Singapore in the middle of the night / got a trouser from some store and then sized it correctly - this person is very short so normal readymade trousers aren't of the correct length.

That is pretty exceptional service!

So what about a good expereince in the online space? I am currently involved in a promo in Mexico called www.ganabuscando.com and we have realized that for a good experience it is important to keep the users engaged. To do this we have devised a program which has a) a mental challenge b) a sense of competition c) dynamism in the form of daily questions that the users need to answer and d) rewards. The results have been very encouraging so this is possibly the way to go... If it is just about rewards or about lower prices, we will get transactional users who may or may not stay.

Randy Pausch - RIP

2008-07-29T20:45:00Z

Heard about Randy Pausch's death and was quite sad. He was such an inspiration. I don't know how he could go on with his speeches and lectures without looking sad and unhappy as one would expect from someone who was nearing the end of his life. This is true courage under fire.

Below is a link to his website http://download.srv.cs.cmu.edu/~pausch/

RIP Randy.

More thoughts on Bill

2008-06-28T03:24:00Z

So it's evening now and Bill must have left. The farewell was well done - they videotaped many employees asking him questions and Bill tried to answer as many of them as he could. Steve would often add his thoughts as well and it was obvious what a good team they were together.

The impact he has had is simply amazing - not just here in the US but all over the world. In India he is as popular as anybody. In fact if you triend to establish which Brand is better recognized among Bill Gates, Windows and Microsoft, I wouldn't at all be surprised if the answer was Bill Gates.

I remember reading his book 'The road ahead' about 13 years ago - I was thousands of miles away in a different continent working in an entirely different industry. Never did I imagine then that one day I would work for Microsoft and have the privilege of meeting him.

I met him twice - the first tiem as an intern in 2002 when we were taken to his house - I remember asking him how Technology could help bridge the digital divide - but don't really remember what his answer was.

The next time was when he actually came to speak at the inauguartion of the world finals of the Windows Embedded Stuent ChallengE - a program that I had developed. In my first job in Microsoft after Business School, I was asked to look after the academic program in Windows Embedded. So I created an undergraduate Computer Engineering competition called the Windows ChallengE in which teams had to build an image of Windows CE on h/w that we provided and then build applications to satisfy a particular theme. In year 2 I expanded this competition worldwide and we selected 30 teams to come here to demo their projects. On the eve of the finals I went to bed and woke up in the morning with a start - I had just dreamt that Bill was going to speak at the inauguration. When I reached the office Susan Del Bene who was then VP came to my room and said that there was a chance that she could get some Senior Exec to attend since they were having a meeting in the next room. I strongly urged her to ask Bill or Steve since those were the only two people who the students would recognize. I also told her about my dream. She was great about asking Bill and sure enough he agreed. When all the students were seated I announced that there was a special guest to see them and in walked Bill. The students went wild and Bill spoke to them for a good 30 minutes, took their questions and seemed to be enjoying himself.

A couple of weeks ago I sent him a mail asking him to sign a picture of the two of us on stage which he promptly did.

So i've had the good fortune to have these tiny experiences with someone who will go down among the greatest business leaders of all time.
Good luck Bill! All happiness & success to you in this next stage of your life - working on the foundation to solve even bigger problems is a great way to spend the next phase of your life. There will be huge challenges of course - poverty, malaria, aids etc are tough tough problems and Bill does not have the comfort of programming and computing knowledge that helped him blaze a path in the Tech industry. But he is smart, intense and persistent so one feels like significant progress will be made. And even if he doesn't have the same degree of success, he's already achieved more than most could dream of...

Bill's last day at Microsoft

2008-06-27T19:16:00Z

I'm watching Bill's farewell live in one of the cafeteria's. Bill is speaking right now and is talking about how the industry has evolved - I've heard this before but today is special because you realize that he was a big part of that and I may not get to hear him say these things again.

I feel sad - he's such a legend and is also the reason I am here many time zones away from home...

Five Years in Microsoft

2008-06-24T03:11:00Z

It's almost a year since I posted a blog entry but today is a special day. I have completed 5 years in Msft today. On June 23rd 2003 I started work here just one week after graduating from B school and here I am now after 5 years. When I look back it seems as if time really has flown.

When you start you never know how long you will stay so 5 is pretty good. I have worked in 3 different groups in this time and had a lot of fun.

Some good memories...

Moving on

2007-07-28T01:06:00Z

I have taken a new job within Microsoft as the Regional Lead for Search and MSN Marketing for the Americas. I therefore will join a team that is focused on our Google compete initiatives.

I am of course excited to join this team in a business that is very strategic to Microsoft. I will leave with very fond memories of my time here. I feel proud of the work and our achievements in this time. Starting with our work in Japan where a large part of the business in FY’07 came from the Premier penetration effort and continuing with similar campaigns in China, Brazil, Korea, US, Canada and Australia, we were able to build deep awareness of the Premier value proposition among our ‘hot prospects’ and generate significant business wins. In addition many of the MQP’s that we have identified will no doubt close in FY’08 so the results of the work will endure.

I’d like to thank several people for giving me the opportunity to work in this role – Harco Enting for hiring me into the team and giving me the opportunity to work on the Japan pilot which started it all, Hardeep Walia for initial guidance and support, Ken Durham and Jeremy Korst, my managers for believing in this work and for encouragement, Andy Beadle for being a good partner with the work in Japan, Dickson Co for partnering with me in doing the data analysis, Erica Thode for her work in ensuring successful execution after she joined the team and others in the WW Enterprise Services Marketing team. Eric Stathers and Jack Litewka were two others who paid attention to the work and offered encouragement.

I’d especially like to thank my colleagues in the different subsidiaries with whom I’ve had the privilege of working. In Japan Yuju Mizushima, Hiroki Fujibayashi, Kenichi Motoyoshi, Kiyoshi Kasai, Kentaro Hayashi and Naomi Mita. Hirano-san was wonderful to work with and Darren Huston was never short of encouragement. In China, Aaron Shin, Kelly Wang, Spencer Loh and Jason Wu were wonderful partners. Kelly Wang worked tirelessly and Aaron was very supportive of our efforts. In Brazil, Andre Magno Pimentel, Claudia Alves Silva, Adriana Fernandes and Alexandre Arello were strong partners. Paulo Iudicibus was wonderfully supportive and committed to success. Francisco Aguilera in the LATAM regional office provided encouragement. In Germany I worked closely with Dierk Otte and in the US with Tricia Flynn and Brad Miller. In Canada, John Rukavina, Suzanne Battiston, Jason Bartlett, Pierre Collins and Maxim Artemenko were great to work with and Gladstone Grant was very supportive. In Australia Kellie Blackall and Anuraag Mohan deserve special mention for their excellent efforts. Frank Lucarelli was another person who stepped up.

Working with all these people to pull off successful Premier penetration campaigns in country after country has been a wonderfully energizing experience. I will cherish the memories and look forward to staying in touch.

Thank you all!!

Toronto hosts successful Premier event

2007-05-26T01:11:00Z

Am in Toronto now where we held a successful Premeir event yesterday - 19 carefully targeted customers attended a day long Premier awareness building event where we helped them understand all the cool aspects of this great offer (even though i say it myself, it really is a great offer)

We had Phil Sorgen, the President of Microsoft Canada inaugurate the event, Ron Withers Director of Enetrprise Services spoke about all the features of Premier, we had an industry analyst weigh in with his views on the nature of the business and then we had some terrific customer testimonials. These customers were really able to show better than any marketing that we can think of, what the real value of Premier is.

This was 5 months in the planning and was a lot of hard` work indeed. I had the pleasure of working with and getting to know people like John Rukavina, Suzanne Battiston, Jason Bartlett, Pierre Collins and Maxim Artemenko the last of whom kept puzzling over how I could have a Russian name:-) Turns out he is a big fan of Mithun Chakravarty as well, one of Bollywood's famous film stars.

The team did this while holding regular day jobs which makes their commitment even more creditable.

Pierre and I went to 'The keg' after the event and had a nice celebratory meal.

Erica Thode who works with me in Redmond spent many hours reaching out to customers and ensuring that there was a good turnout. She too has shown great commitment towards making this a success.

Dickson 'the dude' Co also helped with some number crunching as we analyzed the market to understand size of opportunity.

So now that the event is over we can look back at the effort and say that it was time well spent. In the days ahead, we'll no doubt see some tangible business results as well.

Next stop Sydney where the team has been hard `at work as well. I'm sure that will be another biggie .....

Local food and natural fitness

2007-05-14T20:28:00Z

I was recently leafing through an inflight magazine and came across a piece on what's it and what's not. It caught my attention because some of the things I considered 'in' were supposedly 'out'. Just shows how current I am:-)

So 'Organic' food is in right? Wrong - 'local' food is in. I recently understood what this means when I went to PCC to buy fresh Asparagus - I was told that this was as fresh as it could get since it was grown in Yakima (just a few hrs from Seattle).

So workout's are also in right? Wrong - what's in is 'natural fitness' ie you don't / shouldn't have to go to a gym to wotk out; instead it should be part of your daily routine.

Time to get that bike out of the Garage and pedal to work.

Scott Armstrong's Services Radio session with Paulo Iudicibus and I

2007-05-10T23:14:00Z

On Tuesday, Paulo Iudicibus and I recorded a services radio segment where spent time chatting about the success of the CIO 2.0 event in Sao Paulo. Paulo made some very good points about how important the event was to Services in Brazil and how for possibly the first time we focused on the customer and how we could help them become successful rather than on our products.

As Paulo said, this was a 'major milestone'

Scott Armstrong who runs Services Radio did a great job moderating the discussions and asking insightful questions. He and I have collaborated in the past on another Services Radio segment as well, at that tiime featuring Takuya Hirano from Japan.

Foga De Chao with Alexandre

2007-05-05T01:44:00Z

While in SP, Alexandre Arello took me to Foga De Chao for dinner - this is a speciality meats restaurant (churrascaria) where they bring you different kinds of meat in an all you can eat setting. If the coaster side facing up is green it means you want more and if you turn the red side up, it means enough.

The food was of course delicious but very soon I had to say enough.

But I kept thinking about their business model - it is in some ways like Southwest Airlines - based entirely on operational efficiency. You can if you choose start with a salad from the salad bar and then they will bring you the meats. So they decide what you eat, not you. Obviously means that they have a very good handle on raw material procurement and can get very good prices. Also they minimize wastage. There is also very little downtime - you sit down and the food is served - no time wasted with placing your order and then waithing for the food to come.

Impressive as the food is, what is even better is the economics behind this.

Sao Paulo - ripe with possibilities

2007-03-29T01:02:00Z

Am in Sao Paulo where we had a terrific event today - there was standing room only in the venue and the attendees paid very close attention to the proceedings. Paulo Iudicibus and his team have worked very hard to make this a success- Paulo himself spoke eloquently and I noticed people paying close attention. Claudia Alves, Cassia and Adriana have all worked very diligently and we have some GREAT initial results. Brazil as we all know is one of the high potential economies and one can see that energy in these talented people here as well.

Silvio Meira impressed with his insights and humor as well.

On the whole a terrific event!!Way to go team!! These are exciting times for Brazil.

People have asked me what I have seen of SP - so far it's just been the Hotel, the Office and the conference venue- on my last trip I went to watch a futebol (pls note the spelling Paulo Leocadio:-)) thanks to Andre Magno and Fernando Matere. Alexandre has promised to take me for a Brazilian meal tonight - that should be fun. Maybe tomorrow morning I should walk the streets a bit.

As I look out of the window of the office, perched on the 31st floor, I can see the city lights spreading far and wide below me. It is a big city - one of the biggest in the world and the center of commerce in Brazil and in fact in LATAM. And still so ripe with possibilities..

MatchStick Campaign's combine people skills to touch customers around the world

2007-03-21T20:15:00Z

We've been able to grow this program into an international one from it's beginnings in Japan last year. We've had two events in China - one in Jan in Beijing and one yesterday in Guangzhou. We are having a 3rd event in Shanghai on the 27th of March. Kelly Wang has been doing some great work on driving this in China with support from Aaron Shin and others.

We are also doing a joint Services and EPG event on March 28th in Sao Paulo. This will make March one of the most prolific months in terms of our customer outreach.

In April we cover Germany and Korea and in May, Canada, Australia and the US.

When I look back at this program, I'm amazed at the growth around the world - reminds me of the work that we did in MED as well with the Windows Embedded Student ChallengE - in year 1 it was a US only event, in year 2 we took it international - Billg even inaugurated the event.

I worked on this program as a Pilot in Japan last year - it became quite successful and now we see it being rolled out around the world. I get to work on vteams with some great people from around the world which makes this so much fun.

Hirano-san in Japan alongwith Yuju-san and Kasai-san have done some stellar work - Dierk in Germany, Claudia and Paulo in Brazil, John, Suzanne, Pierre, Juan and Jay in Canada, Jeong and Bom in Korea, Kellie, Anu and Frank in Australia have all been putting in long hours. It's amazing to see the energy and drive of these talented folks.

In Microsoft I have with two separate programs been able to witness the ability of people to come together and make great things happen - it is a special place