If I was ever to have the opportunity to meet Ms. Carol Bartz, The CEO of Yahoo!, I would be incredibly honoured. We believe that Ms. Bartz epitomises Acentic’s values:

Acentic rule 7: Never over promise

In a difficult industry, the media, during a difficult time, the recession, Ms. Bartz took the helm of Yahoo! and she never over promised. As per my earlier blog this year http://blog.acentic.com/2009/08/05/SportArtMoney.aspx we at Acentic are proud to have forecast the decline in the economy and in many cases work with distressed hotels to ensure continuity of service. In this instance, both Yahoo! and Acentic have exceeded shareholder expectations.

Acentic rule 8: Sell only by solving problems and creating profitable opportunities

I had a good laugh reading Carol Bartz’ story about the snake, which can be found in this interview:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/18/business/18corner.html

I talk with our sales people constantly about problem solving for success, including killing that negative snake! Above all, our goal at Acentic is to have some fun at work every day, in everything we do. Not an hour goes by without a positive laugh. That is not to say we are “lazing”, it is just that the best results come from happy employees.

I am willing to bet that this is probably the first blog in the world to have this heading... However the Prince said in a YouTube video during his Design Council Awards what we all know; that is that the average TV remote is too smart for its own good.  See the video here: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20091010/wl_uk_afp/britainroyalstelevisionoffbeat

I recently attended a major global ICT (Information Communications Technology) trade fair where I came across a TV manufacturer’s stand with a whole display of their remote controls from past years. It was fascinating for a moment.

At Acentic we say that we have less than two minutes for the hotel guest to navigate the remote and the GUI (Graphical User Interface). That is why we do not use the standard TV remote.  Don’t get me wrong we respect our TV suppliers enormously, however the remotes are made for consumers who have time to lie on the living room floor to read instructions. Acentic is currently challenging its already KISS remote for the next version. If you have longer than two minutes watch this insightful video on design, if not don’t worry because our R&D have already watched it for you: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0W8lESZ2XNg

P.S. An easy to use TV remote is one less guest issue. Happy button pressing!

Mobile Applications

Since the launch of the iPhone and many of its competitor products, thousands of mobile application companies have sprung up across the globe hoping to cash in on the mobile gold rush. They develop games, gadgets and genuine working applications. Some of these will survive, many won’t for various reasons; bad luck, bad products, and shallow business models such as, “doing it for the sake of it”. What it does prove however, is that the mobile device is fast becoming a tool designed to increase productivity. Thousands of widgets are freely available allowing developers to adapt web sites to mobile devices. Widgets are fast becoming the hot new thing, so we should all learn what they are. Widgets are very powerful but light web programs, which developers can easily modify to create their own applications.

Does this apply to Acentic’s presence the hotel industry? Absolutely! Acentic has created a radiant HSIA administration and reporting tool that is an easy to use, touch button web based interface. It allows hotel staff to interact with the administrative tool via the web using all mobile devices. Imagine the revenue manager taking a quick peek at HSIA revenue stats on his way to a board meeting, or even in the meeting. The technical director can check the HSIA network status at 3am because he can’t sleep worrying, or even the conference organiser can allocate HSIA conference access whilst waiting for a meeting with his next client. Mobile applications are changing the way people do business everywhere and understanding the value of them while building things that work with them, Acentic is allowing hotels to stay productive and increase their effectiveness. This is an example of Acentic’s 8th Rule of Selling, “Solve Problems and Create Profitable Opportunities.”

There were a couple of raised eyebrows at a recent Supervisory board meeting when I explained that at a recent sales conference we had targeted a substantial increase in Face to Face meetings (F2F) with our customers. You could sense a little feeling of "increased cost? where’s the benefit?"

By the way, with respect to conferences, it is the only time of the year when our people get together, share experiences and learn from each other. It’s the only time we can challenge them as a group and it’s the only time that they are thanked and publicly recognized for a job well done. It energises and inspires them.

Back to F2F visits, a recent survey by Analytic Services of the Harvard Business School examined how valuable doing business was F2F compared to the high tech alternatives such as video conferencing and webinars (or telephones perhaps)! The survey was conducted with over 2200 business people, 70% out of them being executives that work in a multi-country environment.

Key findings were:
o 79% viewed ‘in-person” meetings were the most effective way to sell to new customers
o 87% felt that “in-person” meetings are essential to closing the deal
o 95% felt that “in-person” is the best way to build long term relationships

There is also no doubt that “in-person” meetings will produce a transaction that has greater profitability than a deal done digitally.