hitting the wire*

What do your corporate lunches say about your company?

(finally bit the bullet and bought a Mac app to draft Typepad blog posts offline and manage postings for me. One of the very few things I missed after "switching" was a good blogging tool. Methinks it showed a bit eh?)

One of things I loved about working at Storm was the lack of ego's, sense of fun and the constant humour. Life at ViaData is much like the early days of Storm in that way, but in a company that is 13+ years old. There are two of us doing sales pitches and although the cold calling and guerilla maneuvres needed to evade gatekeepers is a pain, the pitching is fun an really rewarding when you find a need that matches the product. There is one of me doing product development, brand, marketing, pr, etc (sounds familiar, although I could really do with an Anne Hoemberg right now!) and some bright, enthusiastic people who love their product and get REALLY excited about what they're doing. Love it.

Today's musing though. We do lunch as a team each Friday - or at least anyone who is in the office joins in. We're a busy bunch, often with those 4pm/Friday crises that ALWAYS seem to appear. But team lunch is important enough to fit it in. The operation works like this:

• Around 12 Craig (MD), takes orders from the crew and calls Jakes and places the orders, stipulating the time the food must be ready 12h30.
• The crew carries on working.
  
• 12h25, five minutes before the food hits the table, we evacuate the building, pile into the biggest vehicle there.
  
• On or just after the appointed hour, we arrive, are seated, and while we're placing drinks orders, the food hits the table, followed shortly thereafter by drinks.
  
• There is time for debate (today's topic - "do you have the right to check your child's MXIT, MSN, Skype, Email history - even if you have warned them & you only have their safety at heart?"), general banter, digestion and paying the bill, before heading out back to the office...
  
• ... no more then 30 minutes past the hour!
  

ViaData is focused on delivering business value in all the work we do for customers. Very little patience is exhibited for fluffy stuff that does not add tangible value. It struck me today that Friday lunch is a corporate cultural reflection of that. Work hard, play hard, don't waste time.

Now I'm not against the odd lunch that slips quietly into supper when there is a good wine and fine company to go with it, but I wonder what your company lunches say about your company? ;)

Getting things done in Africa.

I'm often leaping on the old soapbox to rant about the need for government to get the hell out of telecoms and concentrate on setting up clever policies to lure the private sector into achieving their goals for them.  If there is one area which is proving me right, it is the undersea cable 'race' that is underway,(not that any clever policies are involved - just good old fashioned competition and profit motives).

I often find Ivo Vegter's pen more negative and biting than even I can enjoy, but his article in today's ITWeb column "the spike" entitled "Seacom walks on water" is very good. 

I can't wait to see broadband made more accessible, cheaper and actually broad enough to deliver the likes of Software as a Service to South Africans.  I will personally be very annoyed with Seacom if they do not follow through on their promises to drop prices of international bandwidth by close to an order of magnitude.

we live in hope.

Trophy Cabinet for sale

DISPLAY CABINET, one of the most elegant and functional display cabinets currently on the market.

Features

Fine timber details
4 leadlight options
4 side access doors (there is maximum frontal display)
Adjustable shelves are extra deep to accommodate large items
Halogen down lights
Mirror back with glass shelves provide max illumination of collectables from top to bottom.

To give indication of size of the Cabinet it previously held the following:

• Rugby League World Cup
• Rugby Union World Cup
• International Rules Trophy
• Tri Nations Trophy
• Super-12 Trophy
• Trans-Tasman Touch Football Trophy
• Davis Cup
• Hockey World Championship Trophy

and the:

• Bledisloe Cup.
• SA vs Australia home Test series 2008/09
• SA vs Australia home ODI series 2009

All these trophies are now overseas and the Cabinet is excess to requirements.

To make an offer call R Stuart, R Ponting, S Mortlock or P. Fitzsimons who once commented:

"…the Australian Cabinet is groaning under the weight of all the trophies!"

They can be contacted on: 1800-LOST-THE-LOT

(from my brother in the land of the long white cloud... where else? ;)

Vacancy for a skilled business analyst in Cape Town

I need the guy that this person will be replacing, so if you know of a BA looking for a challenging yet fun job in Cape Town, let me know! ;) 

Dave

A well established Development House seek skilled business analysts with a good knowledge of MS SQL and systems design to work on development projects in a variety of industries. The successful applicant will be equally comfortable dealing with business users, senior management and technical development staff.

Monthly salary : R25,000+ (plus excellent benefits) – dependant on skills and experience

The primary functions of this job are to:
· Analyse business requirements and design systems solutions to meet these requirements.
· Model and design data structures to support requirements.
· Develop, test and implement the solutions designed – using the SQL and a revolutionary rapid development toolkit.
· Administer MS SQL Databases in the development, QA and production environments

The successful candidate would be responsible, among other duties, for the following:
· Facilitate requirements gathering and data modeling sessions.
· Reading, understanding and interpreting business requirements (conceptual data models and business process narratives).
· Interviewing business users face-to-face to clarify detailed requirements and expectations.
· Analysing the information gathered and clearly defining the system objects required to support the defined requirements (including physical database, screen and report designs).
· Designing, demonstrating and modifying prototypes in order to understand requirements.
· Writing SQL queries and database update procedures.
· Testing systems developed to ensure that they meet the requirements of the business and are technically sound and robust.
· Implementing the systems developed and managing changes to system in production.
· Creating and managing databases to support the development, QA and production requirements.

Skills Required
· A degree or diploma in IT with a business focus (eg. Bus. Sci or B Com (IS)) will be advantageous.
· At least 5 years experience in systems development projects.
· Understanding relational databases, relational theory and SQL and writing complex SQL.
· Programming in MS SQL stored procedures
· Understanding business processes and best practices.
· Generating new ideas and applying these into the wider context.
· Conveying information fluently, interpreting and clarifying details and explaining rationale.

Tighten that telecoms belt one more notch!

Being in the 'least cost routing" business always had a sliver lining to the cloud of an economic downturn; it was easier to persuade people that a change to their existing telecoms services might just be needed right now.  I few months back while quoting on reducing telecoms spend at a local corporate, I compiled a post which covered some practical tips for cutting costs. 

While browsing through some articles on silicon.com I came across a similar article by Rob Bamforth of Quocirca an Business & IT research outfit I was unaware of until today, which has some sound advice.  I'll summarise my take on the essence of his article, but it is worth a read.

1. Cut back on fat, but not muscle or bone - assess the real business value of each cost category in your budget, before whipping out the scalpel.
2. Make sure the muscle is toned - are SLA's delivering on business (as opposed to IT) priorities?
3. Push for better deals, consider alternative suppliers, rethink the outsource question (yet again?).
4. Converge - budgets as opposed to technology.  One budget decision-maker on all IT spend can ensure there is less waste.
5. Measure and take control.  If you've not implemented dashboards of some sort to keep an eye on usage, you're going to be cursing yourself now!

Nice one Mr Bamforth, some good sense there (especially the bit about 'getting outside help', nudge, nudge, wink, wink! ;) ).

Dave.

wither the windmills?

If ever there was a time for the South African telecoms industry to pop a bottle of bubbly, it is this weekend.  Yesterday was the deadline for the Minister of Communications to lodge an appeal against the ruling in the Altech case with the Supreme Court of Appeal.  She has not and the DoC has posted this bit of PR.

The entire release is so typical of a bunch of political bureaucrats living in denial and justifying their actions with sanctimonious puffery, I'm not sure whether to laugh or throw up.  Considering the historic moment, I'll opt for a guffaw.

"...The Minister has been made the villain over the past few months for opposing Altech’s court action to obtain a network license. ..."

"...If the Minister continues with a petition, the risk is that ICASA will not be able to convert licenses by 19 January 2009 as required under the ECA, irrespective of the outcome of the petition. This will then require an amendment of the ECA to extend the license conversion period, and may effectively delay license conversion to late 2010. This result is not in anyone’s interest and will not best serve the ICT sector, operators and consumers. ..."

1st you make regulatory changes which enable self-provision by VANS and then cause total confusion by saying (the day before it is effective) that it was not your intention, then when you're challenged in court and found wanting, you appeal, lose the appeal and then decide to drop the whole matter because you suddenly have an attack of conscience (albeit a sulky one) and recall you have stakeholders who are interested in more competition and lower prices?  Ah yes, but they have things called votes do they not, and you have cope with elections next year?

I still think the main problem (as I reiterated to Lloyd Gedye of the M&G just recently) is that the DoC have never been able to communicate in a clear and unambiguous manner what their vision for the future ICT market is (assuming they have one).

One thing I do know, is that an enterprise of any sort without a clear, commonly shared vision of the future is doomed to go nowhere at top speed.  Even King Solomon seemed to know that!

I wonder which windmills will be tilted at next?

PS.

yes, the lack of an "h" after the "w" in the first word of the title of the post was originally a typo, but then I decided I quite liked the pun, so I left it! ;)

Audio wizardry

Not many people know that some of the happiest hours I've spent had been behind an audio mixing desk - usually mixing live voices and instruments - do it well and it is almost as if you were playing an instrument yourself.  My wife will tell you I am a pain in the proverbial when we end up at a live concert or show and the guy mixing the sound is not on top of his game - I fidget like a kid, dying to make it sound right! But then anyone behind a mixing desk is either trying to make a gem out of crud, or trying to not to damage something beautiful.

I'm also a sucker for Stumble Upon, especially when I should be balancing my accounts and it is a warm, sunny Friday afternoon...

Today I stumbled-upon this site.  I'd never heard of Holophonic recording before, so I took a listen to the recordings the guy has there and was amazed at the 3D effects that were possible.  I suppose that when you are using a set of microphones that look like this:

you should expect something a little different.

Pop on a set of headphones and take a listen.  Bet you move your head when either the clippers get close or the woman whispers in your ear!

12 Tips for saving on your telecoms bill.

I was asked the other day how one should approach cutting your telecoms costs as a business in SA.  Now that my rote answer is no longer "take Storm products!", I had to give it some thought.  The points below are as a result of that thought.  Would be good if some of you could add some wisdom to the pot? ;)

The telephone and the personal computer have become ubiquitous; vital communications tools, for business and private use alike.  We use them many times a day without thinking about what it costs us.  As a company grows, it becomes harder and harder to ensure that these tools are used in cost effective ways.  Monitoring and measuring is key.

You're paying too much when:

1. You are unable to measure voice and data usage in your company.
2. When you are expending hours of valuable time in reconciling bills and usage reports to give you intelligence about telecoms usage.
3. You are using more expensive rate plans than you could (it is not in the telco's interest to ensure you're on the most cost effective rate plan).
4. You are not using Least Cost Routing (LCR) on your PBXs.
5. Staff are abusing the phone and internet connection for personal use.
6. You are using outdated or inappropriate technologies which can be costly to maintain, upgrade and manage.

Ways you can save on your communications bill:

1. Review your bills and determine where most of your money is going and where the quick wins will be made.
2. Install a Telephone Management System (TMS) that provides you with customisable reports for every PBX, consolidated into one, web based reporting tool.
3. Install reporting on all your servers and routers that will allow you to monitor individual usage patterns.
4. Provide automated monthly reports to all staff from the CEO down o,n their usage.  Publish a “Top 10 report” each month (warning : it is v. likely that your CEO will feature high on that list).
5. Set the TMS system to distinguish between business and private calls and first report on, then begin to bill for private calls.
6. Install LCR (a mix of Fixed Cellular Terminals and VoIP is likely to give you the best value)
7. Request itemised billing in 'soft-copy' from your telco suppliers and analyse these to ensure staff are on the appropriate packages.
8. Place limits on what staff may and may not do on the internet – usage of youtube, Facebook, etc should be blocked.  Your reporting tool will alert you to the 'arrival' of new sites which distract staff and tempt them to abuse your bandwidth!
9. Review your data links and send out an RFI for more cost effective alternatives.
10. Consider implementing IPPBXs (such as Asterisk) to reduce the need for paying the PBX vendor to add, move and change extensions, and enable value added functionality like voicemail, IVR's, VoIP LCR, etc.
11. Introduce technologies such as Instant Messaging (MSN, Skype, Fring, etc) and train staff on the appropriate use of such tools.  Bear in mind the risk that exists of abuse which is not easy to monitor and control.
12. Review where most of your calls are being made to (suppliers, business partners, customers, etc) and consider persuading them to implement a VoIP technology which would cut the costs of communications between your companies to a minimum.

Questions you need to be able to answer:

1. Where is most of my telecoms budget being spent?
2. Do I know how much each staff member / office / branch is costing us?
3. Can I present reports at management meetings that allows the CEO to review cost per head per department?
4. Am I sure I'm getting the best deal possible from my telcos?
5. Am I getting detailed billing from my suppliers in a format which I can easily analyse?
6. Have they been able to respond to my requests for improved detailed reporting, usage analysis, and discounts.
7. Have I explored all the LCR options open to me?
8. Are we using communications technologies appropriately?
9. Have I limited the possibilities for staff to abuse the communications tools?
10. Do I have adequate ICT policies in place?

While we're talking about TMS systems - the one I have been impressed by and have yet to see bested is Ti by Aspivia.  Apart from liking the people behind the company (one of whom works out of a house on a Greek island - I kid you not - the system is clever and user friendly).

Now go find that Telkom bill of yours! ;)

eish, but pushing back telecoms into the 20th century is hard work!

This just in from one of the ISPA regulatory guys:

"Judgement has just been handed down in the High Court on the DoC’s application for an interdict against ICASA issuing individual ECNS licenses.  The judge ruled against the DoC and awarded costs against them as well.  ICASA has yet again been ordered by the Court to issue licenses.

The DoC does still have the option to petition the Chief Justice but there has not yet been ny indication that it intends doing so."

C'mon Ivy.  Either come up with a real plan for driving down telecoms costs in this country or stand back and let competition take its course!

SA Telecoms Landscape bursting open

I got back to my laptop late yesterday after a fraught board meeting to find a flurry of mails on the ISPA Regulatory Submissions group (pipped to the post as always by a mail from Bretton who I swear has the most sensitive news attennae ever!) discussing the fact that the Communications Minister's attempt to stop the Tsunami caused by Altech had been squashed.

Duncan McLeod pretty much sums it up in his article on FMTech.

Ivy can go to the Supreme Court to have another crack at it, but it seems the tide has turned against her and she is unlikely to succeed.

This is a turning point for the South African Telecoms industry.  Although there are a good few companies who have been self-providing for years, some clandestinely, others distinctly "in your face", it is now legal to do so.

ICASA are now free to get on with issuing licenses and kickstarting some competition without the DoC rugby tackling them at every turn.

We're free of 'mangled liberalisation' and can now get on with 'unfettered competition'.  Not that free market economies are without flaws as we've all seen of late (ask any Vox shareholder), but the industry is now moving into the hands of the bold and the creative.