The customer experience of a corporate blackberry device

Many organisations worldwide rely on blackberry for their mobile devices ( www.blackberry.com ). The blackberry has been the standard corporate managerial aid for over a decade since introducing remote access to email and transforming the way we work. No longer was there the need to feel disconnected from the office and a mobile workforce was born working around the clock and no longer restricted to conventional office hours. The blackberry halo has been on the slide ever since the dawn of the iPhone and Android smart phones which have built on this concept and taken the next transformational step. The blackberry App Store has tried to keep pace and indeed the much maligned blackberry playbook tried to wrestle the iPad back under its control but without success. Recent news has confirmed this drop in fortunes with huge losses and staff redundancies making the blackberry a very questionable corporate choice. Firms across the globe will be asking the same question, if not blackberry then who?  The shift onto alternative mobile solutions for the corporate is coming and it will be fast as companies get their head around what to move onto. A change in direction for corporate device management is no longer such a painful one as firms can elect to merely offer BYOD and not manage any corporate platform. BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) means firms use systems such as Good for Enterprise Mobile Iron to give staff access to their corporate email accounts via their own smart phones. Opening this up to more than a tier of managers and also reducing costs and maintenance for firms removing all their blackberry hardware. The death of blackberry could be epic in the end for business. R.I.P. Blackberry. 

The customer experience of a computer virus

Modern day life is rarely completed without some digital interaction where we are dependent on a computer. Few days pass without the invasion of technology that invariably makes our lives easier and leads us to wonder how on earth we would have coped before its existence.  This visible dependency and addiction for many means a withdrawal of this aspect of our life can be met with violent reaction as we realise we can no longer log into our Facebook account at 11 o'clock at night while watching Big Brother.  A computer virus has the ability to burst our bubble without warning and infest our technical personal space extending into every corner of our systems. Modern virus protection sells a vision of guarded walls for our computer where no unwanted intruder would dare to tread but the realities are that computer nasties move faster than ever and have the ability to get round, under or over any such defensive properties. The end result for us is a blue screen of death and no amount of button pressing or switching off and on can resolve. Panic and fear set in as you realise you are helpless and the only option is a rebuild of all your hard earned computer stuff which only leads to more delays and days or weeks without your beloved tech. The virus is an epic fail for customer experiences and is set to only have greater and greater impacts on our lives. 

The Costa coffee customer experience

The total global domination of Costa Coffee seems an unstoppable force as they dominate every high street, petrol station and inch of commercial space available. Few towns and cities in the UK have escaped one of their outlets with many enjoying the benefits of multiple branches where you can enjoy a costa consumable every twenty paces. Costa in spite of its name is a British company owned by Whitbread and established in 1971 but rapidly approaching 1500 outlets in the UK. For the small independent coffee house, Costa is the equivalent of Tescos to your local greengrocer, stomping all over your footfall and undercutting your prices. The march of Costa will not have escaped the attention of the likes of  McDonalds even as many people prefer the option of a panini for lunch over a burger. The experience is common throughout the country offering the same range of food and drinks at middle of the road prices. Quality is good and the environment is pleasant enough with Italian inspired interiors, not sure where the connection is but it is done well enough. Costa has even entered the world of customer loyalty cards offering points towards discounts, swallowing up all that valuable customer data to know your every purchase and journey habits. You would struggle to call it epic but you can't ignore it! 

The customer experience of getting lost

In an age of satnavs and smart phones we rarely find ourselves more than a second away from a map or GPS service. In spite of these modern marvels on occasion we still find ourselves lost and bewildered with where to go. This invariably is at the least opportune moment, on the way to a crucial meeting, a hospital appointment or any one of lives regular important moments. It is here that we find ourselves off the grid and alone in trying to find our way. Alone and in the black hole of mobile coverage we realise that we no longer own any form of real map or have the abilities to find our own path having paid little if any attention to our destination before departing putting all faith and trust in our beloved technology. Where this wizardry departs in steps blind panic and irrational thought. Speed limits no longer apply to us as we charge on at an ever increasing speed heading in an unknown direction but at least moving. Sweating kicks in and any presentable image of ourselves also is left behind on the dirt track we have decided to pursue. After blind luck we invariably strike gold and reach our destination where we rapidly forget our lack of planning but bemoan the technology for its failing. Being lost. Epic but for all the wrong reasons. 

The London Underground customer experience

Travelling around London is a challenge as you join millions of others circulating the city all eager to reach their destinations. The city is surprisingly small and supported by a tube network older than any of its users connecting the various suburbs and communities.  Navigating the tube you need to embrace your fellow man as you find your nose pressed against the armpit of the nearest commuter able to enjoy their lack of deodorant first hand. 

Each station operates as a unique island of this network with novel solutions to ascending from the depths of the tube with combinations of stairs, escalators and lifts. The tube staff appear at random intervals to aid you along in your journey directing you around the nearest pool of sick and onto your destination. Each train lurches its way around the tracks limping along clearly showing its age and miles of service. Without fail the station design will have incorporated a leap of faith over a vast canyon to reach the platform while you take care to "mind the gap". Whatever the time of year you can rest assured that you will be over-dressed as temperatures soar on the underground making the experience even more difficult to endure. Every major city has the same challenges to meet the travelling needs of its visitors and residents and we should be proud to have the underground in London. Epic? Not really but like much of London a part of the family for London life and as such able to get away with so many of its shortcomings. 

iOS7 a more Android customer experience

A new operating system for Apple means new devices and system upgrades for millions worldwide. Having loved every change Apple has ever delivered to the iPhone, iPod and iPad it was something to be looked forward to. Eager to see and feel the new environment I accepted the download on the day of launch, not taking a beta version ahead of time but patiently waiting for my shiny new interface. After a few days adjusting to the new OS my thoughts are not great and after an initial reaction of hate and loathing it has only mildly simmered to hate and disgust. To try and give some balance though here are my top and bottom 7 observations so far - 

The good - 

1) the multi page view of the open web pages in Safari is neat and feels lovely flicking through the pages

2) the open application finder upon double clicking the home key adds a screen grab for each icon and allows for shutting it down by swiping off the screen

3) the lock screen wallpaper with a 3d effect that pitches as you move the phone is a lovely feature and makes you want to hold your iPhone 

4) the battery life seems to have seen some improvement with more work on making the phone work efficiently extending battery life 

5) safari changes to have a single entry for the web address or search string simplifies the browser and aligns with most of the other popular interfaces 

6) exiting applications returns you to the home screen which sweeps onto the screen building up the content which is a very fluid solution 

7) the tweaks to the camera buttons make life very straight forward and you would struggle to misunderstand the usage 

The bad. Very bad - 

1) the design is appalling. Flat icons. Poor pastel colours. Over simplified arrows. Everywhere you look is now worse than before 

2) the wallpaper now bleeds into the colours on the bottom sticky banner and all the grouped icons selecting the worse possible shade based on the wallpaper 

3) the unlock screen now uses an interface last seen on the speak and spell with the most basic circles and fonts 

4) the notepad, mail and messenger now all have a basic white backdrop and almost non-existent design to the icons. If good design means less is more then this is more than ever 

5) the music player looks and feels hideous and the iMatch functionality seems to have stopped working altogether 

6) the calendar now has less function than the wall planner in my kitchen with a whiteboard wipe clean lack of anything

7) the search function now working by swiping down the middle of the screen as opposed to left from the home screen. Why?  Now making it twice as easy to select an application icon by accident. More than one step backwards. 

I love Apple products but iOS 7 is the most compelling reason I have ever had for getting a windows mobile. Sorry Apple. Far from an epic customer experience.  

The IMDB customer experience

Everybody loves a good movie whether from the comfort of our living room or from the back seat of the local cinema multiplex. For every epic blockbuster we are privileged to witness there are half a dozen stinkers we must endure to discover that hidden gem, often not hugely hidden with the level of expenditure in movie promotion today. This global fascination with all things cinematic creates huge demand for knowledge on the films and their stars. The classic dilemma being trying to remember what film you last saw that actor in who is starring in the latest blockbuster. Before the mighty web offered us answers we could be left for days desperately trying to place the actor in a previous scene and recall where we last saw them. The services of IMDB (www.imdb.com) give us all our movie needs in a single stop telling us what is on now and when near us and a biblical back catalogue of all things cinema and TV as far back as we could wish to delve. The website is supplemented by a quality mobile application that effortlessly steers us to the results we seek.  The information includes that essential cinema history for all our actors with a photo included just in case we weren't sure who they were.  All for free, no fees to pay just quality, reliable information that we can munch up to our hearts content. Brilliant. All my movie information dilemmas now addressed. 

The customer experience of neighbours

As you collect the keys to your shiny new house you are filled with excitement and anticipation of a new chapter in your life as a physical new door is opened. This innocent youthful enthusiasm is somewhat tempered by the experience of age that challenges your decision and questions if you researched every element in enough detail. Do you know how much insulation is in the roof? When was the damp-course last checked?  Is all the wiring professionally done and tested?   These questions and a thousand other doubts flash through your thoughts alongside the euphoria of being the proud owner of your new castle. Unless your new abode is an island with the safe boundaries of miles of water this new acquisition will come with neighbours who will now be a part of your everyday lives. This unknown is something we can do nothing about until we are in situ and living, breathing the experience. The realities of this mean you really can't choose your neighbours and it is pot luck which of the following you end up with - 

The in-your-face neighbours 

Nice folk who mean well but hijack you every chance they get finding you outside your home for a protracted conversation you cannot escape from.

The phantom neighbours

You know they still live there but are never seen entering or exiting their homes. 

The do-gooder neighbours 

Sometimes they can be spliced with the "in-your-facers" but these neighbours will be leading the neighbour watch scheme and a shoulder to cry on for anyone in the near proximity 

The black sheep neighbours 

In a row of perfect lawns theirs is the one with three foot high grass and weeds coming through the drive higher than their unwashed car. 

The nutjob neighbours

Completely random in every interaction and generally avoided by the entire street including the in-your-facers but to be found arguing on their drive with the local charity collection people about the price of fish. 

The magic seaweed customer experience

The world of surfing has grown in popularity from its simple roots into a worldwide phenomena creating multi million pound businesses such as Quiksilver tapping into the culture and aspirational status of the sport. Surfers nowadays are all shapes and sizes and not limited to the beaches of Cornwall with many frustrated and landlocked participants of the sport. For those miles from the sea every weekend away or holiday presents an opportunity to run for the sun and squeeze in some surfing wrapped around a trip to the sea. This rare opportunity to satisfy the need for surfing heightens the importance of accurate surf reports for those of us not lucky enough to be able to check by looking out their bedroom window. A good forecast of decent sized waves with clean intervals is enough to cause a raised heart rate in anticipation of satisfying the hunger for surf and commitment to a road trip to meet that need. Obviously having committed to travelling from afar to the surf if upon arrival the results are minimal it can be extremely frustrating and lead to prolonged trips to the pub. There is an answer to this need and a source more reliable than the telly weather forecasters - magic seaweed. A classic in naming a product if ever there was one. This surfers oracle provides real time surf forecasts and long range outlooks of surf conditions at spots all over the planet.  The web site includes all this without any fee (www.magicseaweed.com) and is complimented by a native mobile application to give you access on the move. The service uses swell bouys to provide digital updates on the sea conditions mapping this to weather outlooks to give every surfer exactly what they need. Reliable information on when the surf will be at its best. Magic seaweed. Epic customer experience. 

Customer experience of a trip to the pool

We are a nation of swimmers with local pools dotted throughout the country offering low cost exercise to the masses. The fact that swimming for 30 minutes is better than an hour in the gym escapes most of us who will choose to bob around in the water and float rather than swim. Having built up enough enthusiasm to leave your cave for the swimming pool you face the challenge of changing into your speedos in the communal changing facilities exposing your flesh to your fellow bathers all of whom appear to be Tom Daley's fitter brother.  Entering the water your body rejects the chilly experience complaining on being removed from the humidity poolside being replaced by a fluid surrounding feeling positively arctic where you yelp like a girl and lose any remaining credibility as a man. Those brave enough to attempt to swim lengths either stray into the designated lanes dodging testosterone power swimmers and breast stroke grannies or take their chances with the public masses weaving in between arm bands and bombing teenagers. Post swim having covered all of 16 metres during your visit sees the shower dilemma where you share your cleansing with others as you attempt to wash off the discarded plasters that have welded themselves onto your body while in the pool. Heading home full of pride in having ticked the exercise box you recount the activity as an extreme workout in spite of your meagre efforts. A trip to the pool. Still an epic customer experience. 

The iTunes iMatch customer gateway to the cloud(s)

iTunes was launched in 2001 as a media hub for Mac and latterly PC users providing a single home for all their digital multimedia. The iPod needed some form of software to allow customers to manage their devices and keep the MP3 players dedicated to playback rather than content management. The same software has now mushroomed to father the iPhone and iPad devices no doubt to spit out new and exciting variants on the base model of iTunes managing your content. Apple have kept this environment very closed and at times hit problems in developing the store with record manufacturers not playing ball and unprepared to share the wealth with the upstart tech giant. Much of this seems resolved and you can download most music, TV, video, books and other digitally consumed media. How much storage does all this need though?  I want movies and music. Stacks of it please. My home computer with its 100's of gigabytes of storage munches this up quite happily but my iPhone?  Eeek. Any iPhone with memory over 16 Gb needs a second mortgage so all my lovely tunes stay landlocked in my home PC. Rubbish. Apple has the answer. Imatch. This service backs up your tunes into your own private cloud allowing you to retrieve any track from your mobile device without filling your memory up. This use of the cloud effectively kills off the need for a massive storage device as you can maintain your hub of data at home. Granted this means you are dependent on some form of data mobile service or wifi but with the ability to store some core content locally plus access to your library in the cloud iMatch saves you £100's in accepting a smaller memory mobile device all for an annual fee of £21.99. Not bad. Cloud enabling epic customer experiences. 

The customer experience of lazy renewals

Few of us seek out grief and unnecessary paperwork, eager to go about our daily lives dodging the dull and tedious side of life wherever possible. For the rich and those flush with cash such menial paper based rubbish would quickly be handed to a willing minion to deal with leaving your days free to do lunch and attend to urgent grooming matters. The rest of us mere mortals have to face the drudgery of bills and renewals seeking to make this as swift as possible. Direct debits truly a god send. Unfortunately this apathy to all things boring is a concept only too familiar to companies as well as to consumers and this presents the opportunity for the quiet annual renewal bump up of premiums for the various services we need on an ongoing basis. The stealth like letter arrives through your door with no fanfare or indication of anything out of the ordinary. Indeed if you are as thorough as to open the letter without immediate filing the contents look very standard and without much fuss. My renewal price for that much. "Looks about the as this year" we all assume. But how often is it. A few quid extra a month quietly sneaks out of our accounts. Why?  Why when as a new customer you can always achieve a lower price. Shop around. Use all the meerkat wizardry and embrace the horror of paperwork.  Might be worth a few quid and you can put that towards a minion. Epic customer experience might need some staff to remove the boredom. 

The mobile phone upgrade customer dilemma

Over the past decade mobile phone contracts have stretched out beyond the established 12 month window as devices have become increasingly expensive. With devices costing well beyond £500 the mobile networks have felt the need to push contracts out to 18 or 24 months to make the monthly billing palatable for customers. The experience means the decision of when to upgrade becomes increasingly stressful and of greater significance. Most of the key players have device refresh cycles that cut well below this with even Apple timing an annual update to the device and the likes of Samsung accelerating their release cycles to try and get ahead. The customer experience of this can be frustrating as it pushes the costs of staying leading edge beyond the reach of most who have to justify their expenditure. The latest releases from Apple this week of the iPhone 5s and the iPhone 5c likely fall on deaf ears for many Apple fans who had forked out 12 months ago for the iPhone 5 but locked into contract for at least the next 6 months by which point they are only 6 months away from the next major release which is likely to be the more groundbreaking iPhone 6. As a result I think the iPhone 5s & 5c will not hit the sales targets reached previously by the 5 as customers will be sitting it out not prepared to buy out contracts but waiting for the 6. This same phenomenon is common across Android devices where the same economies are shaping renewals. So tech giants need to be patient and let us catch up but keep pushing the boundaries so we can enjoy even shinier newer kit. Long contracts = killing an epic customer experience. 

The customer experience of team building days

For many members of the white collared workforce there are few calendar entries to be feared more than the upcoming prospect of an offsite day enduring a team building exercise.  These have become more complex weaving in company principles in a clumsy fashion as you attempt to build an exact scale model of the Leaning tower of Pisa using macaroni pasta shells. Building teams and increasing morale are common problems for modern businesses and an appealing solution is to engage the services of an external company and get everyone running around outside instead of the usual office politics they would ordinarily face on a day to day basis. Arriving at your designated venue to survive some form of an ice breaker where you dance like a chicken or expose your sporting prowess as zero through inability to catch a ball. The day quickly begins to drag as you face various challenges grouped together with office colleagues you would normally avoid like the plague. Competitive natures rear their heads as the afternoon wears on and as individuals become distracted by the prospect of winning a bottle of Le Piat D'Or at all costs destroying colleagues in their paths as they seek to win the latest challenge of the day. In the event of an overnight as part of this punishment alcohol gets thrown into the mix and the gloves really come off as teams let each other really know what they think of them after a healthy dose of drinks to loosen the tongues. The morning after and all team morale having been sapped out of them sees a return to business as usual with team bonding at an all time low and new enemies notched up on the hate list. Office team bonding. Not exactly an epic customer experience for the attendees of the companies stumping up cash for the privilege. 

The customer experience of Autotrader

Buying and selling your car is an experience awash with highs and lows that many look forward to like a trip to the dentist. A car purchase is likely the second most expensive purchase we will make next to our home but masked by technical wizardry keeping most everyday punter in the dark. Unless we are in the fortunate position to be buying a brand new car the world of second hand car buying awaits us where we search for our new pride and joy. Online car sales is dominated by Autotrader (www.autotrader.co.uk) who have the conventional magazine approach that has developed into a fully digital solution with adaptive web and native mobile applications. No longer are buyers left to weed through local papers and the local car forecourts but can select any vehicle within the country selecting from 1000's. The service includes email alerting so you can even be lazy in looking waiting to be told when something has arrived. The basic service is free with the opportunity to buy premium additional functionality. But for most of us the basic service is more than enough and all you would need to find that car of your dreams and enjoy miles and miles of happy motoring. Epic customer service for free. 

The B&Q customer experience

DIY in the UK is big business with a sea of home improvement telly programmes inviting us all to transform our mundane living quarters into chic properties commanding a premium price. Realities are most of us are ham-fisted oafs when it comes to all things DIY struggling with the simplest of tasks. Give us a drill and we can cause havoc in a matter of minutes wiping thousands of value in the sweep of an arm as we plough through the walls of our homes. This lack of results doesn't seem to put us off trying and sees us regularly venturing into the likes of B&Q (www.diy.com) ill informed and open mouthed gawping at the wealth of available products. It is a fantastic business model - fill a huge warehouse with stock that customers will be keen to purchase but have little concept of their value or how to use them once purchased. B&Q do try to help and provide skilled staff to respond to any queries on the difference between a u-bend and a stop cock but being British we are don't wish to trouble anyone and ask so just blindly carry on about our business. Epic. 

The LoveFilm customer experience

Enjoying a movie at home has been with us since the days where you were bound to the TV schedule of a limited number of terrestrial channels and the prospect of the big Christmas movie was something to be eagerly anticipated from your summer holiday onwards. The advent of the video recorder put the power in our own hands to transform our homes into mini movie theatres. As Betamax and VHS battled it out for video supremacy the local video rental store appeared as a new service where we could hire out the latest releases to enjoy from the comfort of our own armchair. Classic. Occasionally disturbed by the pain of a penalty fee for late return or lack of availability of the latest release of the new Police Academy 4 title. How else could this Utopian picture of cinematography be improved?  Well certainly movie quality which DVD and latterly blu-ray have been working on but also how about not having to leave the comfort of my own armchair for this movie magic?  Movie streaming services have changed this and the local blockbuster must be quaking in their boots as online streaming services such as LoveFilm (www.lovefilm.co.uk) offer you all this at the command of your remote. Personally I enjoy the delivery service as much where a movie lands on your doormat waiting to be enjoyed and permits family feuding over which movies feature where on your upcoming list. Movies delivered to your door.  Epic. 

The iBooks customer experience of a digital library

The world of book reading has felt the transformational wrath of digitalisation in the same manner as many industries. No longer can the world of books reside in print alone and be confined to the sanctuary of peaceful bookstores. Digital e-books have changed our consumption of the printed word from newspaper circulation to the latest autobiographies of reality show rejects. The Apple service in this domain is iBooks and provides a seamless solution to reading via your shiny iPod/phone/pad. The store / library offers a clean interface with simple search functionality inviting you to purchase the latest titles albeit at much the same price as the physical book. One advantage over the traditional book store is the sample facility where you can download the first chapter for free to then decide if you want to invest in the full book. A step forward and a win for digital books.  The main transformation has been in how and when we consume books as we can carry around a dozen books in our pocket so any brief window of time can be an opportunity to catch up on some reading. The male obsession with reading on the loo now has no bounds!  Epic customer experience. 

Doing your bit for the environment - the Gumtree customer experience

Gumtree (www.gumtree.co.uk) offers a great service to households looking to advertise their unwanted goods. For many, eBay (www.ebay.co.uk) is just too scary with auctions and PayPal accounts resulting in feedback and a consumer profile, check out an earlier blog on eBay here ( http://goo.gl/rjXH5s ). Gumtree offers an alternative to this for those not wishing to take on the beast of eBay. With Gumtree you take a photo of your unwanted but once loved product uploading it to the website with a snappy description demonstrating how much value it could be to a new home and owner. You state your price and you decide how you want to be contacted either by phone or email. Simple. You have to go through the steps of meeting your buyer in the flesh and maybe some haggling to agree a price but with no extra effort your goods can be whisked away to be loved by someone new and you get some cash in your pocket for your troubles. The added bonus that you can feel all environmentally friendly in recycling stuff rather than adding to landfill. Well done you!  Gumtree makes its money through advertising and commercial sellers using the service but also through teasing you into paying to list your goods as a premium product. For a weekly fee you can elect to have your goods bumped to the front of the queue and catch sellers eye early. Gumtree is a modern solution to the classic notice board but gives you a broad audience and a straight forward customer experience. 

The Photobox customer experience

Digital photography has developed over the past ten years at an astonishing pace with quality and functionality improving year on year killing off conventional film print cameras in its wake. As digital cameras have smashed in more mega-pixies per buck combined with GPS and wi-fi services the fight has been for the survival of the traditional camera versus the punk contender of the smart phone that allows digital photography wherever we are all bundled up in a single device of application loveliness. 

This advent of more and more photography has not resulted in more and more physical prints as people upload content through social media sharing their pictures and store them digitally sharing content through iPads and digital frames. The boom in digital photography has lead print providers to scratch their heads with how to entice us to keep on printing and fill our photo albums. Companies such as Photobox (www.photobox.co.uk) step into this digital print space competing with other online rivals offering print services for your digital needs. A complex website serves upload facilities in a secure area to give you storage for your digital gems where you can use editing software and creation tools to build anything from a book to a coffee mug. The market continues to see new entrants but Photobox being one of the early players in this market holds a strong market share in the UK. Funky web site is one thing but this is all about the end product and having real prints in your hands which Photobox excel at and should remain the priority. Epic customer experience in this digital space is really about old school high quality real physical deliverables. Keep it real Photobox. 

The AA phantom renewal customer experience

Many years ago I enjoyed the AA breakdown cover services.  When I say enjoy I never actually used it but I did enjoy that warm blanket feeling of knowing it was there in case I ever found myself on the hard shoulder of the M25 running late and facing a rain swept morning. Knowing help might be a phone call away where some magic man would appear and use his wizard skills to fix my stranded motor. Lovely. I chose to cancel this emergency band aid over three years ago and followed the hoops to jump through with phone calls and letters even updating all my bank mandates that this was something I no longer needed. March forward a few years later and out of the blue nearly £200 was deducted from my account by the AA. Truly magical. Now charging me for an invisible safety blanket I no longer needed and hadn't asked for. Lovely. Not really. After some investigations it turns out rather than cancel my account as requested it had been "suspended". Why didn't I think of that?  I know, I don't need you now but I tell you what in three years time I'm going to be in desperate need of your services so just crack on then please. A mystery to me having received no email or post to notify me of this lucky dip membership. Having kept my old bank card details on their files it turns out they could ask for cash even though that bank card has long since been retired and get the money without any proof of approval. Digital banking at its finest.  Not an epic customer experience and a very poor display where I now have to go through cancellation teams to cancel something I didn't ask for. With so many scams, big companies need to act more responsibly and review similar processes. Be warned if you have ever had AA services they may be waiting to pounce!