Gaming; once a threat for the youth, now a learningtool for professionals

For years, and still, gaming has been seen as a hazard for the youth. Violence, the deterioration of the social mores and all kind of other problems should have been originated, or at least increased, by gaming. Games such as Grand Theft Auto were denounced as a main factor in youth problems.
Opponent of the "games are bad"-opinion say that games can be important tools that can help education and develop skills. Simulators are already used in many situations but these cannot be seen as games. But now news from game-developer Grendel Games this week could become a missing link in the uniting of games and education. This Dutch company does not only develop entertainment games, but also have a serious game division that has developed "a seriously entertaining game" that can train medical specialists for laparoscopic surgery. Tim Laning from Grendel Games stated that professional simulation games are expensive and therefore not available for every medical specialist. A serious entertainment game could provide the solution because it could not only be used by professionals but also by gamers. Furthermore, Laning stated that another reason for not using a simulator is because it is not entertaining. This new serious entertaining game should be challenging to play. Grendel will test the game with professionals as well as 'normal' people and hope that this development will benefit all parties.

Be outstanding

In the enormous stream of information it is important to attract attention to communicate your message. An organization that understands this is Greenpeace. Two of their messages caught my attention last week, and that can be seen as a victory nowadays.
First of all there was the rebranding competition for BP. Now that the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico is still polluting the environment and BP has plans to invest in tar sands, the dirtiest oil currently, Greenpeace found it time to change the nice flower logo into something more fitting and asked people to design and send in a new logo. An interactive and nice way to create attention for a problem.
Secondly, I stumbled across a Dutch campaign in which the environmental plans from some of the political leaders and their party are compared. Not just by a list but also with a website called "with bared buttocks" a proverb that best can be explained as showing what you have got, in this case their election plans. On the website you can choose a leader and he or she will dress down until he or she is naked and you can see the number of the place on the list.
These examples are two simple ways to communicate something not so extraordinary in an attractive way. Greenpeace is doing a good job with their communication because who does not remember the KitKat movie. An important capacity for an organisation or business to be heard.

The right price

The prices of sports tickets are usually fixed at the beginning of a season, but what if a team is over- or underachieving? In the first case it could be that the demand of tickets rises above the supply. On the other hand if a team is underachieving people are likely to stay away. Or what to think about other factors like holidays, the weather or the opponent. Until now none of these aspects were weighed into the prices.
Barry Kahn developed software that makes it possible to create a flexible pricing system. His company, Qcue, determines the right price for a seat by taking a number of variables in account. "Pricing is critical, but it has always been a guessing game," Kahn said. "We're providing the capability to do something about it, and we think it's going to change the whole way that tickets are sold"(Statesman.com).
American baseball team the San Francisco Giants are using the software this season and it already helped them raise their revenues by 12%. Furthermore, their attendance increased with 7%, even though the attendances overall in the Major League of Baseball are slightly declining. Giant's ticketing chief Russ Stanley says Kahn "changing the ticketing world" and he predicts market-based pricing in the entire league within Five years. On this moment every team is keeping an eye on the development and also tams from other sports are going to use the system.

Not only the teams benefit by the system, there are advantages for visitors as well. They can choose to pay some more for a better seat and less important matches will be priced comparatively attractive.
Future will determine if this is yet another way of technology advancing business.

There is innovation and innovation

If you think about modernization and ingeniousness on one hand and on the other hand about computer companies, it is likely Microsoft will not be the first name popping up. Microsoft is the dull one given a face by PC from the ‘I am a mac’ commercials (see ‘Mac in Business’), which does not satisfies the innovative needs of customers. No cool phones or music devices but business innovation. Also in ‘Mac in Business’ can be read about the unwillingness of Apple to become widespread among businesses but there could be more. There is a possibility that Microsoft is fulfilling the needs of companies and beyond. Rob Preston from Information Week wrote about the innovation by Microsoft. No gadgets and no outstanding novelty, Microsoft innovates behind the scenes. It seems that cloud computing is becoming an obvious solution for cost saving. However, Hal Stern, Oracle president warned for wrong usage on the Cloud Computing Expo last week in New York: "I'd argue that if you'd run today's applications in the cloud with exactly the same utilization as you would in your own data center ... [it] will probably cost you more," he told his audience.
Microsoft is also looking towards the future and Steve Ballmer, Microsoft’s CEO, informed his employees about the big role cloud computing will play. “We need to be (and are) willing to change our business models to take advantage of the cloud,” he wrote in an email. Microsoft is investing heavily to make its ambitions in the cloud accessible. With the release of Azure Services Platform, Microsoft four years of work became available and although mainstream adoption will take some time, the company is now gaining valuable customer information that can help building better platforms in the future. Precious information because of the expectations from the multinational that half of their future income will rain down from the cloud. So not all innovations are screaming to be noticed, some innovators silently make profit.

Mac in business

According to the results of a survey conducted by the Enterprise Desktop Alliance (EDA), Macs are much cheaper to manage in enterprises. 260 IT administrators with both Macs and PCs in large U.S. companies who are involved in some degree with IT cost calculations were asked about their opinion about IT management costs. In all of the seven used categories (software license fees, time troubleshooting, user training, help desk calls, system configuration and supporting infrastructure) the participants found Macs cheaper than PCs. Except for the category user training even more than 20% less expensive. So, when Apple computers are cheaper in management costs why are there not more businesses using them?
First thing always mentioned is the purchasing price, and while this is true for consumer computers, the costs of business-level Macs and Windows laptops are equal. So, if the price is the same and the managing costs are lower the question still stands; why are Macs not used more in business? The survey from the EDA included a question about the reason to purchase a Mac and employee preference, productivity and ease of technical support where the main three reasons. It seems skills and support are more important aspects than expenses because the first cost driven motive came in fifth place. From this we can deduce expense is not the most important factor for choosing Mac or Windows.
Galen Gruman, executive editor of InfoWorld, wrote the reason why Macs are not used more often in (big) business is "Apple's self-imposed corporate glass ceiling". Gruman thinks Apple sees enterprise sales as a by-product next to consumers, developers and small businesses.

Apple commercial
This conclusion is drawn from the fact that businesses have to figure everything out themselves. Not a problem for smaller companies with standard needs, but a lot harder for "more controlling and/or far flung" organizations. Beside that the lack of outside basic applications is problematic. Most speciality apps do not have a Mac version or just have a limited version. This gives Windows a head start. Furthermore, Apple is seems not willing to fulfil the needs of large companies. Showed by the lack of support of network systems and the unwillingness to satisfy enterprises in their need of technical support.
After all it seems the possibilities are in the hands of Apple. They score better on the management costs and due the growth of Apple on the consumer market, more people will have the skills and probably more will prefer Mac more often (most important purchase factor). But as long as Apple neglects the larger enterprises their role on the business market will stay little.

While two dogs are fighting for a bone, a third runs away with it.

Over a decade ago a website was one of the main components of a communication policy of businesses all around the world. It was, and still is, the face of a company. But those days are over Sabrina Gibson, CEO of Smart and Sticky Marketing. With over 15 years of experience working in the Internet space she came to the conclusion a website is wasted money. If she would haven known about Word Press blogging earlier she: says “would have recommended everyone to leverage their website investment by learning Social Networking” she writes in her blog. Posts are search engine friendly, and search engines play a big role in finding on the web. Companies pay a lot of money to get their websites search engine optimized. Another big gain is the amount of time saved. Building a website is time-consuming while a blog can be made in several hours and kept up-to-date in seconds. Besides, think about the costs. No more expensive web designers, advertising agencies or others getting into the act. And that, I think, is where the shoe pinches. The designers and agencies are not there because they have no purpose. Of course everyone can ‘design’ a website, advertisement or blog, but to keep it appealing and attracting along time is not easy. Yes they cost money but if you lose believe in their designs or ideas it is possible to go another agency or designer. If your own mind is stuck you have a problem.Another reason for getting rid of your website given by Gibson is the attitude towards a blog or a website. Referring to your blog will provide the feeling of “resource and value”, while a website refer “feels like you are trying to sell them” she says. Are people that naïve? The power of social media comes from authenticity and in our social network society the opinion of other customers, users, people are more important than information from a company. Would we not be aware of the company behind the blog? Will we not feel tricked finding out? Are we really going to have more trust in a companies blog than in its website? The main goal is to fulfil the customers’ demands and they will blog (positive) about you. Gibson posted her view in September 2009 and I think there is some interesting truth in her story although we cannot write off company websites. A connecting mix of different kind of media should provide the message you want to convey. Nevertheless, Social media can help but there is more needed than maintaining a weblog; real life customer satisfaction could be the key.

Whopperface

“How can you show your slogan is really the way it is?” Must have been the thought of Burger King? “Have it your way” was taken literally and with a little help from technology the ultimate proof was realized. A hidden cam and a printer make it possible to get your own Whopper, and your own means really your own.

As you can see, a good example of the fun technology can bring into business and support a company’s statement. Way to go Burger King.