The Sounding Board

iPhone? I won't.

…at least not yet. As an avid scanner of technology related news feeds and headlines, it’s hard to not pay attention to the hype surrounding the apple iPhone . Let me start by saying that this decision is incredibly unusual for me, an adoring fan of all things Apple . I’ve made a habit of emptying my wallet for these incredible products over the years. My iBook got me through college and I’m pretty sure I’d suffer from withdraw headaches if I were to ever become separated from my iPod .

Don’t get me wrong, this latest gadget seems pretty incredible and has been marketed extremely well. I certainly wouldn’t say no if one appeared in the form of an incredibly generous birthday present, but as far as my own shopping goes, I’m holding my ground for a couple reasons.

First and foremost, I refuse to leave my current wireless provider, Verizon . AT&T/Cingular can air as many witty commercials about preventing dropped calls as they want to, but I just don’t buy it. I’ve heard enough complaints and read plenty of blog posts expressing anguish over their sub-par services, and true or not, they’ve left an impression. Say what you will about Verizon, but I’ve been with them for 7 years with no complaints and have no plans to switch over.

On a different note, I’ve discovered something about Apple over the years. They always produce incredibly fun, innovative, groundbreaking products… but they also typically go on to drastically improve and release an even better second generation product shortly thereafter. As much as I loved my first iBook and iPod, I love the newest ones a lot more.

I (hopefully) look toward a future that involves an iPhone with a detachable battery, multiple service providers, and a smaller price-tag. All too often I’ve shelled out the big bucks to be among the first to get a new Apple product, but with an expensive wireless plan on top of the $600 cost, I’ve managed to muster the willpower to just. wait. it. out. In the meantime, I’ll feel sorry for the rain-soaked fanatics that have been sitting outside of the Apple stores since Monday morning.

- Sarah Long

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/ptech/06/2 ... index.html

Truth in the Form of Stick Figures

We're very proud of our client roster here at SpeakerBox and we're always particularly excited when the hard-working in-house communications and marketing teams are recognized for their effort. That's why we were so happy to see our client Red Hat and its tremendous internal PR team recognized by industry trade pub PRWeek .

For those unfamiliar, open source technology can offer some difficult-to-grasp subjects and the team at Red Hat has done a great job distilling the open source community's message into understandable and relatable language - one of the most challenging aspects of tech PR.

If you've never seen the stick figure videos from the launch of Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5, they're worth a quick peek, as is the "Truth Happens" video CEO Matthew Szulik unveiled several years ago during a keynote speech.

Congratulations to the Red Hat team for continuing to break the mold -- the recognition is well-deserved.

-Jennifer Becker

Straddling the Cultural Divide

I was glad to see the recent OPM study indicating that the barriers to telework continue to lower. While many have criticized agencies for not moving fast enough, as a former change management practitioner, I feel for organizations that are straddling the divide.

Organizations moving toward a model that makes room for telework - by addressing the technology and business process components of a remote (or, in most cases, occasionally remote) workforce - still struggle with the intangible issues surrounding telework, which mostly relate to organizational culture.

According to Federal Computer Week's article, OPM finds barriers to telework lowering , published this week, "About 54 percent of [OP survey] respondents said cultural resistance is still a problem, and 52 percent said management resistance accounts for the reason telework isn’t as prevalent."

Many of the challenges to widespread telework adoption are cultural - and generational - in nature. For managers who came up though the GS ranks over the course of decades where face-to-face contact was a given, telework may seem like a new trend that will pass. But that's the same thing we said about e-mail . . . and the Internet . . . and blogging, right?

I applaud initiatives that support widespread training on telework and work through some of the additional challenges relating to security and employee tracking. I think these, combined with some good old-fashioned time, will help agencies get to the next level.

When I work with organizations struggling to navigate the issues surrounding telework, I remember my colleague Julie Buckley's mantra when she speaks about her long-time client, The Telework Consortium . . . "work is what you do, not where you go". Check out The Telework Consortium's Web site to hear more.

Meredith Bove, Account Director

The Best Communications Technology is the Ear

Yesterday’s Mother Jones Interview with Esther Dyson , “digital philosopher”, got me thinking about technology and politics in an unexpected way. Strange parallel I know, but aren’t politicians and traditional retailers facing some of the same challenges in a Web 2.0 world?

Politicians having trouble hearing the real messages from constituents are a lot like companies who collect feedback from customers, but who never actually analyze the data. Dyson says, “It's not that [politicians] should necessarily do what the blogs tell [them], but [they] need to prove that [they] are listening. The best communications technology is the ear” .

Retailers competing in a Web 2.0 world have been forced to get creative in how they connect with customers – and to show they are listening. Business Week just did a rundown along these lines called Dealing with Angry Customers, that provides a quick and dirty list on how companies navigate customer service snafus. Luckily, the Web 2.0 that’s driven them to compete so hard is also what enables creative customer connection.

Enter the pop up survey. Let’s think of it as an “ear”, okay? I used to think of the pop up survey as an annoyance I had to put up with as an online shopper. I’d quickly hit the little “X” to close the survey as soon as it opened. No more. Companies taking the trouble to find out why I am leaving the site prior to purchase (also known as abandoning my e-cart) only want to make my online shopping experience the best it can be. My input about site navigation or the complexities of the checkout process will (hopefully) drive them to change the interface and processes. Who knows . . . if they don’t get me back, they might make the next shopper stay. I think (hope) politicians are doing the same.

Meredith Bove, Account Director

Media Mania Continues

Don’t blink – you might miss some big changes in mainstream media… at least that’s how it has felt recently. First we learned about significant cuts at the LA Times, San Francisco Chronicle and San Jose Mercury News. Then, this week: the Wall Street Journal shook up its editorial ranks to fully combine online and print coverage, and publisher CMP Technology dropped a proverbial bomb on tech media when it announced major changes for its publications and over 200 job cuts. Among the changes in the CMP family?

· InformationWeek, Network Computing and Optimize are merging under the InformationWeek title beginning in July with the new version to include three themed monthly editions with specialty content for different demographics (For IT, By IT; For CIOs, By CIOs; and Strategic Security).
· CRN will now be published two times each month instead of three, and VARBusiness will publish monthly instead of bi-weekly. The editorial staff for these publications will be combined.
· EE Times is combining its U.S. and European staffs, and Call Center Magazine is moving to an online only publication in July.

These announcements are certainly consistent with the changes we’ve been seeing in mainstream media. Consumption habits are changing. The Web is where its at. But this fact doesn’t make the news any easier to hear. Some of the well-known journalists we’ve worked with for years are now looking for employment, and the magazines we were so accustomed to reading no longer exist. Nobody said the road to the new media landscape was going to be easy.

-Stephanie Stadler

Battle Cupcake: I demand a recount

For those of you who aren’t too familiar with the SBX culture, let me give you some insight: we’re a competitive crowd. We work hard and we have fun while we work, but we have the most fun winning. We celebrate our victories on behalf of clients as a team. You’ll see high fives around the office when we land huge placements and interviews but we get right back to work because we’re always searching for the next big thing.

Even outside of client work we’re usually engaged in some competitive activity or debate. We’ve been known to divide the office for a good game of NERF H-O-R-S-E. And come August, there’s never any question about who supports which college football teams (Go Dawgs!).

I tell you all of this to set the stage for the latest in SpeakerBox competitions – our own version of the Food Network’s famed series, Iron Chef. Battle Cupcake took center stage as our inaugural competition: eight competitors, eight cupcake varieties. Non-bakers served as judges, scoring our 100% homemade (no store bought mixes or frosting for us) cupcakes on three criteria: plating, creativity and taste. We researched, plotted and talked cupcake smack in the hallways during the days leading up to the competition.

And the results?

- 8th Place: Jen/Chocolate cheesecake cupcakes (24.5)
- 7th Place: Mary/Chocolate chunk cookie cupcakes (25.5)
- 6th Place: Debbie/Heart-shaped chocolate cheesecake cupcakes (27.5)
- 5th Place: Piper/Strawberry cheesecake cupcakes (28)
- Tied for 3rd Place: Sarah/Ice cream cone cupcakes and Seth/Strawberry cupcake w/ amaretto buttercream (35.5)
- 2nd Place: Steph/S’mores cupcakes (39)
- 1st Place: Grace/Chocolate peanut butter smorgasbord cupcakes (40.5)

Nothing against Grace’s chocolate peanut butter cupcakes – the peanut butter icing was spot on, but my s’mores cupcakes were pretty dang good and I feel robbed. There’s no governing body to hear my appeal – so I’ll let Grace take the cake on this one – but I’ll be back.

From here on out, we’ll be holding these challenges the first Thursday (or so) of every month. July is Battle Macaroni & Cheese. Homemade Mac & Cheese is an area where I don’t have much (read: any) experience, so I’ll be spending my free time researching and battle testing recipes. If you have a killer/award winning Mac & Cheese recipe you think will help me steal the competition, email me at sstadler@speakerboxpr.com. Seriously.

-Stephanie