I recently wrote an article on the investigation by the UK telecoms regulator of mobile phone contracts, only a day later it was publicised that the Office of Fair Trading (OFT) is going to be looking at free web and phone games aimed at children and that charge for extras through in game purchases. I…
It’s not a trick question. I have read a number of articles over the past week about the issue of mobile phone business model and the underpinning contracts. In particular ability that the UK providers have written into their T&Cs for them to adjust (read increase) charges during the initial period of the contract. Almost…
Almost every organisation has somewhere in its values a statement that equates to “people are our greatest asset” yet from experience, many employees read such a statement with cynicism and many employers don’t truly mean it. Interestingly both are probably right in their views of such a sweeping statement, yet a good match between employees and employer…
Competition is acknowledged as a core tool for procurement and whilst suppliers often decry it there are even upsides for them. Often the fact that a buyer is running a competition shows intent to purchase, gives a finishing line to aim for, and boundaries to work within. A well run competition, through focus and by…
We would all acknowledge that the retail business model has changed massively over the last decade. In the UK there have been a steady stream of casualties over the past couple of years and it is easy to blame the economic environment or the growth of online business model as the reason. These are often…
I was recommended to a TED lecture called ‘use data to build better schools’ given by Andreas Schleicher. Andreas is from an OECD funded organisation called PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment). It was a great use of 15 mins and gave some great insights into the difference between access to education and equality of…
In a business world where companies are adjusting their business model to outsource all but the business critical and core activities, in the consumer world we seem to be increasingly insourcing more and more to meet our value for money aspirations. A good example of this is the way in which many of us plan…
This 5-Year-Old Kid Just Spent Over $2,500 In 5-Minute iPad App Buying Spree. Quite a catchy headline in Fast Company where yet again a child had been let loose with their parent’s iPad and had managed to rack up a big bill. In this instance Apple has agreed to refund the money, however, as they pointed…
When I saw this piece of work by Eric Berlow and Sean Gourley of Quid who are both TED Fellows, what struck me was that by using visualisation the snapshot above had created insight from what appeared data with limited linkages. In my case what came to mind first was that, based on the various…
In the ‘age of big data’, I read Tim Cummins’ recent post, ‘Contracting as a Data Centre‘ with interest. The comparison of the contracting function as a data centre is an interesting one. The value of a company is largely made up of the value of its contracts, agreements, and relationships. As Tim points out,…