31.08.2008 IT

Data Security

“Our Heads Are Round so our Thoughts Can Change Direction” [Francis Picabia]

Best Western hit the media this week being reported to have been hacked and 8 million customer datasets being stolen. Best Western objected the news, mentioning they have no proof for such hack and they would delete their data anyway frequently.

Say WHAT? Corporations spend millions acquiring customer data and Best Western deletes them? Hmmm…

No matter, if this has been a newspaper hoax, there is something good in this. Who knows today, where data is collected, how it is stored, kept secure, who has access to it? How “secure” is “secure”? The Internet by definition is insecure. An old – even pre-WWW saying in IT: To have a secure system, remove all input… If a user in old DOS entered “format c: /u” the drive was formated irreversably. Oops, I forgot to backup that file? Too late. In my 2007 ASRA-presentation on Airline Sales & e-Commerce, my friends in ASRA joked that I would be paranoid… Today they know better, thanks to media coverage of data insecurities. I get increasing inquiries.
Most large corporates have a faulty and flawed security. Most even do not use encrypted communication with the most sensitive data they send through the web. Discussions on LinkedIn confirm the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to pick Laptops. Where does the data on them end up? Maybe your U.S. competitor has access to it?

But now we talk about personal profiles. Where is what data stored electronically about you? Have “they” told you they store the data beyond the immediate transaction? No. We only learn by security breaches becoming public that such behavior is not the exception but the rule. And thanks to the global networked world we live in, data is no longer limited to “my hotel”, “my supermarket”, “my anything”. But the hotel reports some or all of the data to the central server somewhere. Next you arrive in another city, they do have your address data on file. Hmmm… What else do they have???

And then we come to the new laws in the U.S., Germany and sure elsewhere, legally forcing providers to collect data and make it available to their government representatives. Said what? What is a “government representative”? Do I trust him or her? Not the government – I don’t trust “government”. But worse, “the representative”. Who controls the controller?

So sorry for the bad publicity Best Western, but thank you for another example to make people aware and think about their personal information. Did you ever read 1984? George Orwell did not even imagine what exists today!

Shift happens! Internet meet World. World meet Internet…

17.08.2008 Russia

Tourism in/to Russia

Thanks to last weeks blog and the war-situation between Russia and Georgia, this week, I had a rather emotional and some more reasoned discussions about the Russian Tourism Market. There are many obstacles that were addressed, but I found only very few being valid.

» Understanding travel as an economic factor. According to Wikipedia, travel is one of the top three economic factors world wide. Easing (leisure) travel to and from a country is a cash cow for the country.

» Infrastructure. People travel everywhere, they are found in the middle of the Amazonas. It cannot really be the infrastructure. Only if there is justification by people traveling somewhere, infrastructures are building themselves. Funny, the people who traveled there for the “untouched nature” then are replaced by the masses expecting the bus to take them somewhere to watch “untouched nature”. People breaking their bones for taking the cable car up into the mountains walking there with inadequate footwear!

» Language. I love doing my vacation in Spain, but my Spanish is rudimentary at best. But I learn enough to get around. People go to Greece and cannot read Greek either, less understand it.
Where language is a limiting factor is when Russians want to address another market. There are flights from Frankfurt to Saratov (14th largest Russian city!) and you can purchase tickets only at the airport…?
It is important to understand that as much as we ourselves may ponder reservations about Russia, the Russians ponder reservations about us. It”s important to overcome such reservations, but that only works with trust, not by overpowering it!

» Technology. The Internet made it”s way to Russia. For students, Internet is quite “normal”. The (commercial) e-Commerce still is sometimes very badly addressed. There is quite some potential there! But keep in mind these vast distances!

» Visa. The requirements for visa are counter-productive to any country, but other countries require visa too and they prosper. I just hope that Russia lowers visa-bureaucracy.

Other issues:
I was very much concerned hearing that virtually all mail is opened, I admit, I was not used to that in the “western hemisphere” and it strikes me very “old-fashined”, reminding me of the times of a cold war. But (except maybe for George Bush) that is history and it is difficult to overcome old habbits. Like myself. Forced to look into the Russian market I found many images in my head being simply wrong and outdated. I watch recent TV travel reports about Russia, seeing the wrong, outdated image they show. But all truths I learn impress me. There is another “tiger”-industry waking up.

We all know that the U.S. “land of the free” is only the land of the “adjusted”. Black”s to date are second class citizens, slums exist in every township there, there is Guantanamo and the Homeland Security under the cloak of “war against terrorism” adds more eavesdropping daily. Germany, “partner” in that “war against terrorism” (and approach towards a totally controlled society) is strangled by commercial lobbies. If that is the “good”, I must admit, I prefer Putin”s way to keep the oligarchs and the commerce strictly out of government. Freely quoted from Wikipedia: Do what you want, but don”t interfere with the politics.

Then a German feedback claimed Siberia as “fallen behind”. If I go just 30 km”s out of Leipzig, there are ghost towns. Visit Halle or other small cities in East Germany. Did the luxury of “civilization” equalize these areas with the West German regions? Far far missed that goal! Leipzig, Dresden, Berlin are the main centers of commerce, as are Moscow and St. Petersburg. It takes time to build up infrastructure, but even in Saratov students enjoy modern PCs and Internet…

About the war, German ZDF-TV pointed out very correctly: It”s another powergame by America (namely Cowboy George Bush), trying to secure the pipeline (= oil = energy = power) bypassing Russia there. They position rockets in Poland. All very “friendly” gestures? For experts a Russian reaction was overdue. Again, this was the summary of a special report by renowned ZDF.

My summary about the many discussions on Russia last week.

Remember: This blog is called food for thought and I do like your feedback, it is your feedback that makes me post here!

05.08.2008 Low Cost

Low Cost 2009

Is low cost at its end? Lately Ryanair sued a German tour operator for combining Ryanair product with hotel, etc. for a travel package. Concern was posted, if that was an intelligent move, though I did reply that it was in line with O’Leary’s public known strategy.

But now Ryanair grounds aircraft, stating it would be more expensive to fly them. Just two years ago, talking about the need to turn around aircraft faster, O’Leary assaulted all other airlines, stating an aircraft needs to fly, time on the ground loosing the company”s money. 180° turn…

Ryan Air now tests “hand luggage only”. That’s a niche of the niche. With a body diameter of about 3,6m and no cargo hold, how about a “Mini-A380”-design with two levels, adding passenger capacity in what was the cargo hold? “Sub-Economy”? Who needs seats? I used the above image in this year”s ASRA-presentation, I didn”t know, how advanced my thinking was.

Now Ryanair reports an 85% drop in net results for the first quarter, a net loss of 60 Mio. Euro being a serious possibility. Just two weeks ago, I just mentioned the joke here about the guy purchasing the screws for 1 $/€, selling it for 99c. No Mr. O”Leary, selling your seats for 99c does not improve your revenue…

13.07.2008 Values

There are no strangers! Just friends, I haven’t (yet) met…

The past weeks were very difficult to me. I have been asked for expert opinion on the impact of the crude oil price explosion and potential counter measures. With my background on technical projects, there seems an expectation, that I”d support the idea of tweaking cost by reducing staff further and adding technology as the panacea. In my eyes, that is short-sighted and simply stupid. As are airlines cheating the passenger …

1st semester in Marketing: It is far more expensive acquiring new customers than keeping existing ones. And far more expensive to recover a lost one. Customers selecting your product only because of the bargain price have no loyalty. Reliable business? Only if you use the opportunity to make them a loyal customer!

This is what the subject of this post is all about: Sale is personal. Service is personal. IT solutions can support staff by handling (a lot) routine work, mass mailings, etc. IT must be part of the distribution portfolio. But it can only handle the “bread and butter business”. Business development?
Addressing angry, mishandled customers with a friendly face or a personal phone call, I learned to be far more effective. Make them your friend…

And with travel becoming more expensive, the product becomes “luxury” again. Luxury usually implies a more personal sale and service! You better be ready…

29.06.2008 IT, Values, WIG

Revolution arising?

Taxes are not levied for the benefit of the taxed [L. Long]

Richard Eastman lately forwarded a mail to me: What is a Billion

It started to trigger a thought. I started to discuss with friends. I got … frustrated.

Having started with “a clean account” after World War II, Germany is now Third globally in state indebtedness. Paying off 1 Billion a year and no interest on the debt, it would take Germany 130 years to pay off. It took the politicians only some 55 years to reach that point.

Okay. So our national debt is unmanagable (or so the politics tell us), but instead of consolidating our national household, we spend +12 billion for development aid in other countries? That is a +140% increase compared to 2003 and is more than 50% of what the (somewhat larger) U.S. spend. If we keep the pace, we surpass them in 3-4 years… Austria and Switzerland together spend about 3,5 billion. China or Russia do not even show up on the chart. So we have the luxury to further increase taxes (Germany”s tax rules exceed the tax rules of all other worldwide countries together), add on to bureaucracy – but we have no money to provide child day care centers?

With the WIG-project, I also learned that such development could not be financed in Germany. Sure, I did not believe it – all basic technology has been developed and brought to prototype, aside the know-how, there are funds available. What a shock to learn (from DLR!), that these funds are “meant for basic research, not for R&D to convert existing technologies to products”…

Germans emigrate. We become an emmigration country – while Ireland or Portugal, the former poorhouses in Europe convert to immigrant countries.
An “unword” in Germany is the “migrator”, people trying to come to Germany. No, they are not immigrants in the eyes of the politicians – they are neither integrated.

I saw a report lately on the Weimar Republic (the one that lead to the Third Reich). I don”t know, if I was the only one, striken by the similarities. Oscar Lafontaine is called a demagogue even by the respected press and he mentioned on TV lately he feels that to be a compliment (I compare to Weimar Republic!). People vote for extremist parties – because the Grand Coalition in power today fails to address any of the peoples needs. Polititicans wonder, why the voters get tired of voting? Extreme parties increase their influence. From what I hear on the streets:

We are sitting on a tinderbox … with a short and already burning fuse.

Footnotes:
¹ I am a fan of space travel, get this right. I doubt, NASA being very effective, so I love commercial projects, such as Mars Direct or SpaceShipTwo. I believe NASA has become a bureaucratic dinosaur needing commercial competition.
² Humantiarian Aid is not in question. What I question is “monetary aid”, known to end up anywhere but where it”s needed. And to increase the amount spent (by +140% in five years) when consolidating the national household is said to be a top priority.

22.06.2008 Aviation, Sales, Values, WIG

Alternatives in Aviation – Cheating the Passenger?

The Cassandra-effect: When I addressed the situation on the crude oil market to airline managers earlier this year, looking back I feel like 1994, addressing the Internet: I was “the freak”.

The kerosine price explosion sped up the szenarios I did address. Just a brief recap of my theses: Flying will become a luxury again. How much longer until the low-cost-airlines need to update their models? The cost of operations exploding, airline managers become “creative” (the current FVW special addresses their dilemma). In order not to increase the visible price, airlines charge extra for each and every “standard” service. Kerosine charge, taxes, airport, credit card and even invented fees, a (increasing) fee for each and every bag, for the meal, the inflight entertainment, excessive passenger weight. This “procedure” is extremely short-sighted with a negative repercussion: The travelers feel cheated, the “public opinion” strikes back.
Airlines (not only the low cost) reduce frequencies, park aircraft. No longer records in aircraft orders, options are being returned to Airbus, Boeing, etc.. Am I the only one to see these facts? Kerosine-powered travel is doomed, new solutions will now be developed, tried – and succeed!

Some years ago, Jürgen Weber, at the time the boss of Lufthansa, questioned that the use of light crude oil may need to be confined to the aviation industry as all other industries would have possible replacements. So it is not the question that airline travel will become expensive again. Who in his right mind believes the crude oil will become cheaper again? Evolving into a luxury product, I question the “cost reduction” on staff and services. A friend lately compared it: They try to sell a Rolls Royce with wooden benches.

What now these weeks to me came nevertheless as a big surprise. In some of my presentations, I used this idea of a WIG powered with a hydrogen-engine as an example alternative to the fuel-consuming aircraft.
Meanwhile, I received a serious inquiry, asking if this is realistically possible. Research confirmed the feasability of the idea, so now the idea is being addressed with investors. Can it be true that I may become an “aircraft maker”???

While discussing this szenario ideas suddenly are being considered that have been Science Fiction from the 60s until today. Surprisingly even for me, who these people are, asking me for my ideas and opinions. Obviously, the prices finally exceeded the point, where such “Science Fiction” leaves the fiction and becomes a viable concept and a commercial possibility.

17.06.2008 Values

Shift Happens (narrated)

I lately refer frequently to the video Shift Happens, giving in roughly six minutes a summary, what, how and why our time seems to be increasingly an issue and how the world around us is reshaped by globalization and Internet.

The source has been a small presentation (Powerpoint) done in fall 2006 for 150 teachers and parents. The presentation and it”s variants (such as the Youtube-video) have meanwhile been downloaded more than 5 million times!

The follow up video Vision 2020 in fact is meanwhile exceeded in expert discussions, expecting an “intelligent agent” to support automatic, qualified searches within a year – a change which impact is compared to the one when Google revolutionized the web search. Nevertheless, I do recommend also the 18 minute follow up video after you have watched “Shift Happens” (the video above) first.

If you wish to learn more, here is the site where it all began.