Dear Customers,

Just a quick note to update our clients on the service disruption caused by the ‘Big Freeze’ – which it seems is (possibly) now the coldest prolonged spell since 1981.

Thankfully, the Qcom Helpdesk staff have been able to get into today and will be manning the system and the phones. Our engineers are endeavouring to get out to calls, where it is sensible and safe to do us, although currently our southern England team are snowbound and Scotland/North East activity is limited.

We will prioritise calls (such as Health Service clients first) and would appreciate as much information from our clients as to the importance of the equipment in use (and confirmation that the site is open).

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

As both a keen metrologist and winter climber I recall a similar hard freeze in January/February 1996, caused by the Scandinavian blocking high pressure system drifting to lower latitude than normal. It may have been colder, but it might not have lasted as long. I certainly managed to ascent waterfalls such as Cautley Spout, The Force, and Newland Hause (in The Lakes), and I know Pistyll Rhaeadr was also ascended.

In Scotland, 1995-1996 was also very cold when the maximum low of -27.2 degrees Centigrade was reached in Altnaharra (matching the record set in Braemar in 10 January 1982 and 11 February 1895).

It’s certainly not yet on a par with the harsh winters of ’47 (the snowiest), ’63 (the coldest) and ’79 …..

Neil Anderson
MD, Qcom

Digital signage is burgeoning – in fact, it could be the fastest growing market we’re involved with next year.

 We’ve just launched our digital signage installation service and reseller support package in conjunction with NEC, an industry-leading manufacturer, at the Ingram Roadshow.  Together we can offer resellers a highly-effective, combined product and servicing package.

Managing an effective pre- and post-sales customer support service is a big challenge for digital signage companies.  The cost of installing equipment and retaining a team of in-house installers and maintenance engineers is an expensive overhead and very often isn’t a practical solution for a reseller.  It’s fairly specialised, in that a system may require wireless networks and awkward locations.

Our field service engineers are able to install, set up, and manage all aspects digital signage equipment. They can offer this support whatever the challenges or vagaries of job, whether it’s setting up a wireless network in a supermarket or whether the equipment must be sited in a particularly awkward or inaccessibility place.  

All this should offer VARS a great package for their customers.  I was pleased with the level of interest among the 100 or so Ingram IT resellers about this new partnership at Friday’s launch.

Phil Meadows

Channel Account Manager, Qcom

 The launch of Qcom’s Digital Signage Service, in partnership with NEC, to 100 Ingram resellers

An interesting couple of days on the road. I visited the Telecoms Infrastructure Show – the backbone to the IT connected world - to find a quiet hall and a lack of youth and vibrancy.

By contrast next door, at Olympia, The Ad Tech Show, was heaving with the digital Web 2.0 World buzzing with energy (and money?), packed speaker slots, and ideas all around.

Perhaps the youth gravitating to this market haven’t realised that without any backbone and investment (of capital and people) in the infrastructure then the ‘internet et al’ won’t work – look up the latest FT digital business sub-section for the consequences of the internet going down – a not improbably Black Swan event as I write.  Or, look up the likelihood of power outages in the UK (especially in London) as demand for power increases but outpaces generation coming on stream, before 2013, particularly with the need to ‘reserve’ power for the Olympics leaving the rest of us….

Aaargh it will never happen…I seem to recall such views in the history books of the vibrant 60s before the depressing 70s, the three-day week and sitting with a candle as a youngster in the evening once the rationed power was switch off after suppertime. Part of the ‘net’ generation? Don’t believe me? Then look it up on Google, Wiki etc.

As the economic bubble burst last year shows, history has a terrible habit of repeating itself, and we seem to fail to learn from our mistakes.

However, thankfully it is not all doom and gloom. The economic constructive renewal of capitalism – its dynamism – and the changes that technological advances create bring opportunities and we all have the openings to redesign our business models to the new reality. I spoke about this yesterday at the Service Management Expo and for those who missed it, it will be on my LinkedIn pages shortly.

One of my themes in the presentation was the need for us in business to engage and connect with ‘Generation Y’- Dan Tapscott’s ‘net generation’ – who enter the workforce with embedded values and a different outlook on life and ways of working. I was therefore intrigued to hear the next day at the Chairman’s network from Paul Barry-Walsh, former CEO of Netstore, who espoused the importance of our respective corporate social responsibility strategies  - we should, he advocated, donate 1% of profits to charity, build CSR into our corporate DNA and engage our employees to think about the impact of our activities on the communities and world we act in – powerful stuff and, better still, we may well not only improve society but also our businesses through building a sense of passion, commitment and morale (and even our profits because of it?).

I’m off to examine what we do, what and how we invest in our people, and what we do to responsibility and minimise the impact of our activities. I’ll report back later but would welcome hearing your own experiences of CSR and values.

PS I also heard from Deborah Meaden at the SM Expo, on the importance of customer service, “business is service full stop, not part of it – all of it!”  a message that sat neatly with our own core values.

Neil Anderson

MD, Qcom

We’ve joined the National Outsourcing Association (NOA), one of the leading associations working within the outsourcing industry. 

I’m delighted to be a member because I view the NOA as one of the leading industry voices in terms of applying and developing innovation around outsourcing, both here at home and abroad. 

Professional organisations like the NOA support best practice through the sharing of ideas and information on market developments to their members.  I believe this offers a substantive benefit to Qcom and our customers by supporting continued improvements to our products and services.

The NOA is also the voice of the industry and I would like to be part of a collective body lobbying for change and development within the sector that we operate in. 

I look forward to linking up with fellow outsourcers with a view to sharing ideas and partnering on opportunities.

Neil Anderson

MD, Qcom

August is always an interesting month where the pace of economic activity seems to slow down a bit, offering a good chance to do some ‘housekeeping’ in the office, think about plans for the Autumn season, and get some good R&R with the family.

More than ever this year, August offers a strangely “surreal atmosphere”.

Two years into the new economic reality, nobody seems quite sure if ‘that’s it’ and we have turned the corner, with perhaps not quite as much pain as seemed likely in the dark days of November 08 to March 09, or rather, we are in a quiet before the storm.

But, whatever the economic reality, to produce winners in business we need to have a ‘passion’ at the core, something which has been brought home to me several times recently.

I attended the launch of the new Jaquar XJ where technological advancement have produced a wonderfully designed car under Ian Callum, director of design, and Giles Taylor, Chief designer. Giles gave an impressive talk on the style and features of the car, and positively oozed passion over the iconic designs, and its heritage roots.

And in my holiday reading, Gillian Tait’s impressive text ‘Fools Gold’ explores the story of the economic crash reliving the story of the derivative team at JP Morgan, who in the early days had created many of the new whizzo financial instruments that others were later to abuse and hype up with disastrous consequences.  These others ignored or misunderstood the underlying leverage and risks of these tools (much to the dismay and intrigue of the original JP Morgan team). But again, what shone through to me was the innovative, power of the original team under the leadership of Pete Horrick, who, with attention to detail and charismatic drive, instilled a passion into the team about the new instruments and financial models they were creating.

At Qcom, our passion has focused on ambassadorial customer service on behalf of our partners’ customers to enhance and protect their brands. My reflections during the last month or so have reenergised the importance of this for me and indicated that we need to remind ourselves of Qcom’s core values – we shall respond to the new economic reality by ensuring we do the right thing for the customer with passion.

I shall be presenting on the importance of the power of customer service at the SME Show, NEC, 22-23 September 2009, and would welcome the opportunity to explore these thoughts with you there.

Neil Anderson
MD, Qcom