Connected by broadband, slow in applications (3)

The leisure industry has a lot to gain from broadband. Restaurants need connections to handle the payments by credit or debit cards; they can use mobile devices, which relay orders to the kitchen and they can work on their environment.

The Dutch leisure industry with 40.000comapnies and 300.000 employees has had a bad time since the entry of the euro. It must be said that the leisure industry has taken advantage of this valuta exchange by upgrading the prices. They were very surprised that people noticed this and refused to come. It took some years before the leisure industry won back the trust of the people. Last year the leisure industry did better financially.

However the leisure industry will have to make its big turn still. So far the restaurant, bars, holidays resorts lived on their name, which usually was created by exposure in newspapers and magazines. But now leisure companies will have to move from exposure to experience. Whenever people have enjoyed their dinner at a restaurant or their stay at a holidays resort, it will yield trust and they will tell other people about. This leads to new clients and bookings.

And it is not only the leisure industry which makes a turn from exposure to experience. Also the retail shops realise that they will have to adapt to the future and that they will have to realise the many promises of cyberspace. How many times did you hear presenters tell you about the smart fridges with screen, displaying what should be ordered, what was still left in the fridge and what you could cook with the left-overs in the fridge. I have heard the story since 1996 and I only believe it when I see it in more than five kitchens within a radius of one kilometre.

Of course in this chain the retail shop plays an important role. What can the shop do? The German retail shop chain Metro has produced a look into the near future. Remember it will take a couple of years before new concepts are accepted. As I wrote before in the blog about 30 years online: you might have the technology, but you do not have yet the customer.

The retail shops will have to dive into broadband applications like screens and narrowcasting technology to market their products more precisely. It is interesting to know that 80 percent of the buying decisions are made on the shop floor, while 95 percent of the marketing budgets are used outside on printed or RTV ads. Shop owners should spend the money in screen and content. The screens can inform people, but also be used as a sweet for waiting like in a shop for beds and furniture. The screens will spread an atmosphere and seduce the shoppers to acquisitions; not just exposure, but experience.

Blog Posting Number 653

Tags: e-leisure, retail, smart fridge, narrowcasting e-leisure, retail, smart fridge, narrowcasting

Connected by broadband, slow in applications (2)

The mobile session was interesting. For more than 10 years we have had a lobby in the Netherlands which concerned itself with Telelabour (remote labour), the Telework Platform. The officials of this forum did their best to prove that working from home save time and money for companies and prevented traffic jams. Especially the prevention of traffic jams sounded to me like baloney. People get used to traffic jams and otherwise they would stay home or go earlier or later.

So it was a relief to hear another sound of people who declared the traffic jam argument for dead. Basically that told the attendees, that people in a traffic jam will stay in a traffic jam more by habit than anything else. In fact if those people get an incentive they will leave home earlier. The argument to work from home is not holy either anymore. Working from home can be great depending on the function. In many cases it is possible to work from home more than people think, but the management culture does not always agree on this. Managers like to see the people they lead and inspire. Remote management is still a skill to be acquired. I understand that IBM takes this task seriously and has manager mobility, providing conditions to remotely work.

It was refreshing to hear that telelabour was dead and that people are now part of the nomadic network. It does not matter where you are, but you can either establish contact by mobile or mobile internet or move off the road and go to a restaurant, where they have ADSL and Wifi facilities.

The Netherlands is a small country cluttered with cars in the morning hours of 8.30h till 9.30h and at night at 17.00h till 19.00h. The minimum amount of kilometres measured over a few points will be minimally 90 kilometres, but when there is an accident the kilometres clock up fast. So it might be wiser to stay at home and answer the e-mails before getting in the car. But if you are caught in a traffic jam, it might be wiser to get off the road, rent a private office space at a restaurant and work for a couple of hours till the jam is clear.

Do I believe in the concept. Do not ask me. I travel by public transport (train, buses and cabs). Most people think that this is a waste of time in comparison with travelling by car. But when I pass a traffic jam by train, I have a feeling that I am doing better. Of course car drivers get from door to door, if they find a parking space.

If only to disband the traffic jam nonsense of the Telework Platform, I think that the idea of nomadic networking in restaurants should be given a chance and tried out. It will take some adjusting of attitude by the managers. I understand that the leisure association in the Netherlands, Horecava, likes the idea and sees a business opportunity in a broadband application.

Blog Posting Number: 651

Tags: broadband, leisure industry

Connected by broadband, slow in applications (1)

The Netherlands is in the top league of broadband connections and is always competing with Danmark, Sweden or Iceland in Europe. Yet the broadband connections are great, but in applications the Dutch lag behind. In order to amend this caveat, there is an association, called Netherland Broadbandland (NBL). This association is a public-private partnership (PPP), which wants to stimulate broadband applications in business and industry as well as government. Citizens get what they want, but shops and companies still lag behind, while the connections are there.

In order to stimulate broadband in business and industry as well as in government, NBLC sets up projects in various sectors and organises meetings. On Wednesday there was such a meeting, The Meeting of Minds. With lectures, demonstrations and debates people from the various sectors started to show lead projects to each other and debate the lack of progress.

The formal part of Meeting of Minds was opened by Mr Willem Vermeend, a former assistant secretary of state for finance and a fervent game player, while the keynote address was given by Mr Mark Frequin, a secretary general at the Ministry of Economic Affairs. Mr Vermeend started with a teasing blow, informing Mr Frequin, that Sweden had just opened an embassy in Second Life; the first country to start a virtual embassy, while The Netherlands could only whistle for it. Mr Frequin told the audience that The Netherlands was working on.

The remark gave him the opportunity to make clear to the audience that the Dutch have indeed fine broadband connections; this has been possible thanks to SURFnet, the academic network, which also influences the private sector. But in applying the business opportunities the Dutch have been lacklustre; this while ICT has been the most important growth factor for the country. But in many business and industrial sectors broadband does not come about because the sectors are fragmented, especially in the sectors of retail, health care and government. So what is needed is an upscaling of the broadband applications in the sectors.

This where NBL comes in and starts to form coalitions between government, institutes, sector associations and companies. Since 2005 NBL has started activities in retail in automotive and the leisure industry, in education and in health care. NBL has also undertaken a project in mobility.

In the next days I will pay attention to mobility, leisure industry, education, health care and government.

Blog Posting Number: 651

Tags: broadband, e-health, e-learning, e-government, e-leisure