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Armchair shopping spree endangered by security fears

By Ingrid Daschner

For many of us, the pre-Christmas period brings the huge stress of trying to find the right presents. The streets are full of rushing, jostling humanity, while the shops are heaving with masses of gift hunters desperate to find anything even vaguely suitable for friends and family.

There are moments when even the most peaceable, Christmas-loving human being can be gripped with strong feelings of aggression!

No surprise then that many people prefer the comfort of shopping on the internet during this period. However, despite the massive growth in e-shopping over the past few years, it’s clear that a lot of us are still wary about exchanging financial information online.

According to a recent survey conducted by TNS Research on behalf of VeriSign, more than 60 percent of all e-shoppers in Europe have failed to complete their order because they did not trust the security of the webshop during the payment procedure.  In Germany, the percentage rate is even higher than the European average at 64 percent. 

Clearly, many online dealers are still not inspiring enough confidence in potential consumers, and are thus not maximising the potential of the internet marketplace – and that’s a lot of Christmas sales they’re missing out on!

Still, it’s not all bad news for online shopping.  For example, Forrester Research predicts that the volume of e-commerce business in Europe will grow to €263BN by 2011, which means that the number of Europeans who shop online should increase within the next five years from 100 million to 174 million.

Of course, if you haven’t got those last minute presents yet, the internet isn’t going to be much use to you now… And so in this spirit, I wish you a relaxing offline shopping adventure, happy holidays and a prosperous New Year 2007!

It’s the basic things in life…

By Lisa Talbott

Being the Office Manager at The European Technology Consultancy Of The Year 2006-2007 - and this is of course THOROUGHLY deserved and everyone here is absolutely brilliant at their job etc - I do sometimes wonder why certain people still have problems grasping the very basics of technology…

As a special Christmas treat, I’d like to share a few stories from the years I’ve been at JK (though obviously none of these relate to anyone currently at JK, oh no!!).

Now, you can ask my colleagues (sorry ex-colleagues) a question about any of their clients and they will be able to answer in full detail about the various ins and outs of products and technology sectors…  But you ask them why on earth they thought it was a good idea to clean their keyboard with water and you get the response, “Well, because it was dirty”.  Surely everyone knows that water and technology really do not go… err, no?

“Lisa, my keyboard isn’t working” - the moment these words are mentioned, I instantly know a drink has been involved.  But of course I like to give them the benefit of the doubt, and respond, “Oh dear, what were you doing before it stopped working?”  At this point, you would think they might mention there is enough water at the bottom of their keyboard for Nemo and chums to swim around in… Well sadly, you’d be thinking wrong.  You get the response “Nothing, it just stopped working”… 

You would then think they might spare me the hassle of getting down on my hands and knees trying to fix it, but no.  After replacing the keyboard, I hold it to my chest whilst standing at their desk asking lots of normal questions, to which I get the same response: “It just stopped working”, and have them looking at me as if I’m the mad one…  Okay, so I have failed to figure out the problem and go to walk away, then think, why on earth do I feel so wet…?  I pull the broken keyboard away from my chest and my top is absolutely SOAKING!  I then ask again, “Did you happen to spill any water on your keyboard”, to which they finally respond with “Oh yes, I might have spilt a drop…”

Still, credit where credit is due, sometimes the IT issues that arise can be very hard to work out for the non-technical minded, bless them.  I mean, when you are sitting at your desk and all power suddenly goes, I guess it seems perfectly normal to scream, “Ahhhhh Lisa, quick, I don’t know what’s happened, ALL POWER has just gone from my computer, LIIIISSSSAAAA!!!”… rather then taking a second to check that the thing you were just tap dancing on under your desk wasn't in fact the power board.  Or that you haven’t accidentally plugged it into a timer switch!

Similarly, it might also pay to look down at your keyboard when you are having problems with multiple items in Outlook being highlighted, just to check your porridge bowl isn’t actually pressing down the control key!!

Finally, it might be an idea when you lose network connection, to consider that five minutes ago when you were laughing your head off at someone (probably me) tripping over a wire, maybe it was your network cable they tripped over and you just need to plug it back into your PC.

So, my advice to everybody in the world of fast moving technology is sometimes things really aren’t as complicated as they might first appear.  If I am able to work them out, anyone can.  But to all those at JK, please just carry on asking for my help, as you really do make me laugh…

The green divide – technology Vs the planet

By Laura Mead

Last week, Greenpeace announced the second edition of its Green Electronics Ranking, which ‘ranks leading mobile and PC manufacturers on their global policies and practice on eliminating harmful chemicals and on taking responsibility for their products once they are discarded by consumers’.  Nokia sits at the top, but unfortunately, Apple has plummeted to last place, with Greenpeace stating that the iconic computer company has done little to change its environmental policies since the last ranking was released in August.

As an iMac/iPod/iTunes (you name it) loving owner, I find it quite disappointing that such a forward-thinking company isn’t leading the pack on the green front.  But this does raise the questions as to who exactly is responsible for driving greener technology, and where do you start? 

There are so many different facets of the IT industry that need to be addressed.  Take the office environment for example – according to The Carbon Trust, office computers and server equipment alone soak up 15% of total energy usage in the UK today, with figures expected to double to a whopping 30% by 2020 if we continue to consume at the current rate. 

What’s more, the internet itself is also causing environmental problems as it continues to grow at an exponential rate.  In particular, the interactive technologies and bandwidth-intensive applications of Web 2.0 are increasing the amount of energy we consume at an alarming pace.

At this rate, bigger and bigger data warehouses will need to be built to support the infrastructure that runs the internet, and eventually, they’ll need their own mini-power stations just to keep up with demand.  Is this eco-friendly, cost-effective or even practical?

We’re entering a crisis stage and something needs to be done quickly.  Legislation – whether from the EU or the UK government – needs to be put into place to help drive the green IT revolution and to start cleaning up the mess that we’re creating. 

Regulations can not only help with placing restrictions on certain technologies, but can also serve to help companies better understand what might be harmful, where to start with eliminating it, and what processes are best implemented in order to stamp out environmentally harmful actions.  We have already seen initiatives such as the WEEE Directive and RoHS starting to influence the way in which certain products are manufactured – but this still needs to be escalated before we start to see a major difference.

In the meantime though, it is the social responsibility of vendors – like Apple – to lead by example and to educate consumers on how we can collectively strive for cleaner, greener IT and ultimately a better future for us all. 

If nothing else, a green IT policy will help decrease everybody’s energy bills…

To MySpace or not to MySpace?

By Claire Gibson

OK, so I’m probably not in the right age group any more for ‘this sort of thing’, but…

I do have a MySpace page, which I set up mainly out of a combination of boredom and curiosity – however, I have no desire to make it my main form of communication between my friends (of whom in the MySpace world I seem to have pitifully few - aw shucks). This is in contrast to the ex-students of my best mate (who’s just given up teaching) - her profile is full of messages from 16-18 year olds, and a quick look at one of their pages reveals hundreds of ‘friends’, instant messaging each other constantly and posting in-jokes and kooky comments on each other's pages.

I suppose the equivalent for me growing up would have been the first AOL chatrooms that I had access to on my dad’s computer. They were quite fun… though thinking back on it now, one of the characters I met online turned out to be very shady indeed, which put me off pretty much from that moment onwards - yuck.

Taking all this into account - as well as the story earlier this week that MySpace has been hit by another security threat - I started seriously wondering what does keep people so hooked on it.

However, a story on the BBC about the International Telecommunications Union’s Youth Forum caught my eye today, and got me thinking about how social networking could mean a lot more for young people in other parts of the world.

The idea - described in the article - that someone working in a remote village, cut off from major cities and transportation and earning only a fifth of the average salary in the UK, could access a British university education over the internet is surely a compelling enough reason for people to keep pushing for quality internet access across the world.

The digital divide is slowly being bridged, with social networking starting to be used as a tool to allow cross-cultural dialogue and understanding as well as the promotion of tourism and product exportation.

It’s a far cry from the essentially frivolous activity it appears to be in Britain today – and as far as I’m concerned, it certainly beats yet another Friend Request from some dodgy ‘not-quite-porn’ MySpace user.  LOL…

Do I look like an estate agent?

By Mike King

The whole issue of payment by results for PR services never seems to go away.  Don’t get me wrong, it isn’t the biggest issue on my agenda every day, but it niggles away, irritatingly bubbling under the surface. 

In truth, the companies we talk to that raise this issue tend to be small ones (at least in marketing budget terms) that frankly are looking to get their PR on the cheap (or so they imagine).  By the same token, the few agencies that operate a payment by results model tend to be the ‘ambulance chasers’ of the industry, small and usually desperate for business. 

Well-established, professional consultancies sell services that are based on time and expertise - the emphasis is on providing strategic counsel as much as it is on tactical delivery.  Consultancies such as Johnson King earn their money and deliver genuine value by helping companies develop compelling positioning that sets them aside from their competitors, and devising hard-hitting communications programmes that deliver meaningful, business-aligned results. 

In other words, while quantity as well as quality of coverage is clearly important, it ain’t just a numbers game.

The payment by results model simply doesn’t support spending this kind of quality time, and instead drives activities straight to a low level, tactical approach with the emphasis on easy targets.  And let me tell you – ‘chuck enough crap out there and some of it is bound to stick’ isn’t much of a communications strategy. 

To do PR well, clients and agencies alike should be constantly striving for true partnerships; collaborative working relationships based on high quality work and expertise.  A partnerships of equals.  Clearly that doesn’t come from commoditising PR services down to a payment by results level.

When you consider how respected service-based businesses such as solicitors and accountants work, the whole concept of payment by results becomes tacky or even underhand.  And those professions where payment by results is the norm, such as estate agents or recruitment firms, are hardly regarded as being at the top of the service tree – that’s why you spend as little time as possible dealing with them!

Of course, I understand that clients are looking for reassurance that they are going to get a good return on their PR investment, and are under increasing pressure to justify this spend to the board.  But that comes from finding a creative and knowledgeable consultancy with a proven track record in your area - not from finding an agency so desperate for your business that they’ll do anything to get it, even if that means waiving a proper fee.