The Great Egyptians

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The biggest gain of the Egyptian revolution of the 25th of January  2011 is the rediscovery of the Egyptian values that were thought to be long gone.
Egyptians have simply resurrected their 7000 years of civilization in 18 days! It is beyond anything that I or anyone else can describe in a blog or tell you about and it is surely beyond politics. I am still stunned and proud at the same time.

But let me show you what other people from around the world said:

BBC Reporter Paul Danahar said:
"This is the first revolution I've covered where the people cleaned up after themselves. Perhaps the mark of a people who spawned one of the world's oldest and greatest civilizations."

US President Barack Obama:
"The wheel of history turned at a blinding pace" the past few weeks and disproved the notion that "justice is gained by violence," Obama concluded. "In Egypt, it was the moral force of nonviolence — not terrorism, not mindless killing … that bent the arc of history toward justice once more."
President Obama also said "We must educate our children to become like young Egyptians"

Britain's prime Minister David Cameroon : "We must consider teaching the Egyptian revolution in schools."

Jens Stoltenberg, Prime Minister of Norway (on the 12th of February 2011) Today we are all Egyptians."

ABC News: Cairo After the Revolution http://ltsdo.it/fYmOtC
A gaggle of predominantly young women, but some men too, have formed up into a marching column – in the middle of the traffic of course – triumphantly holding aloft their weapons of choice, brooms and dust catchers.

CNN: For the first time, we see people make a revolution and then clean the streets afterwards


YoungEgyptiansCleaning1.jpgKids cleaning Egypt

 

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Why telephone & online support fails in the Middle East ?

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As a customer, every time that I deal with an organization, I find myself dragged into analyzing their service especially their telephone and their online support.
The problem is that those large banks and telecoms etc… Who are supposed to set the example to follow, are mostly the example of "what not to do"!

 

 

Some of the main points of failure:

  • Weak consumer protection legislation or cumbersome & slow / costly litigation process.
  • Absence of service level agreements and organizational or industry's "real" benchmarking against set standards or best practices that are "agreed with the customers (rather than a copy and paste from a similar business)

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Put your business on the right track – Part 2

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We have previously discussed how to recruit, treat and keep the good people with the organisation and how to optimise their performance for best results.

Now I would like to highlight the importance of customer service for your business.
We depend on our customers to exist, prosper and survive as a business , our customers are not just VIPs they are MIPs (The MOST important people) but are we doing enough to keep them?
Do we know what they really want or expect? Are we meeting those expectations?

Every time I personally deal with any organisation as a customer, I just can't stop analysing the service that I get, from Banks, Hotels, Restaurants, Airlines, Shops, Telecom providers, Internet Service Providers etc …

In Middle East the alarming reality is that only a few organisations deliver good service and good value for money, others try hard but they do not get there. The rest are just happy using customer service slogans for marketing purposes!

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Put your business on the right track – Part 1

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Many people are looking for jobs while companies struggle to fill their vacancies and complain that they can not easily find the right person despite the growing number of recruitment agencies and head-hunters. The Middle East and Dubai’s HR gap is getting bigger.
The job market, like any other market is subject to the forces of supply and demand.
There is a general assumption that supply is much higher than demand and it is built on fake or inaccurate numbers that do not consider the various skill levels of job seekers.

This assumption keeps salaries and benefits low, despite the increased cost of living in Dubai which is now similar to any other major European or American city.
The supply and demand rule is fine if we are looking at the goods market but when it comes to people it is not enough and in fact it should never be used to determine someone's 'market
value' .How can you put a price tag on a person? Their attitude, psychology, motivation, business and personal cultures. People's skills or as we call them 'soft skills' are of paramount importance for any business, yet recruiters get caught in the hype of degrees, technical knowledge and  other certificates forgetting the importance of 'soft skills'.

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Google adwords optimisation

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GOOGLE ADWORDS OPTIMISATION

What the "Online Marketing agencies" Don't want you to know!

As I was reading articles about the online marketing world I saw an excellent site & book written by Andrew Goodman about Google adwords optimisation. Google AdWords is the largest advertising opportunity on the Internet today, bar none. Some would even tell you that: "If you don’t show up on Google, you don’t exist" Click Here! for more information on this interesting book.

CRM is not a software application!

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So What exactly is CRM?

CRM stands for "Customer Relationship Management " which is is more than just an IT project or a tool.

It is a strategy that requires a shift in the organisational culture and a transition process towards "customer-centricity".

I can't remember where I read that "CRM is a business methodology and strategy that has many objectives, and means different things to different organisations, each one of them would have its own objectives from CRM."But I could not agree more with the above statement.

This is the whole objective of understanding CRM, although it is hard to explain CRM in one article, I can give you a hint:

I can't remember where I read that "CRM is a business methodology and strategy that has many objectives, and means different things to different organisations, each one of them would have its own objectives from CRM."
But I can not agree more with the above statement.

Generally, those objectives may include:

  1. Better knowledge of your customers and their buying habits

  2. Enhancing customers' interactions with the organisation

  3. Tracking all customers' communications and trends

  4. Creating more value for customers and keeping their loyalty

  5. Real-time information sharing and collaboration organisation-wide

  6. Managing the internal supply chain

  7. Enhancing customer services to achieve better satisfaction rates

  8. Better targeting and campaigning
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Google Services

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Those guys at Google keep surprising all of us with excellent services and new ideas and the best part is that they manage to do it for free! Of course, many of you will point out that there is no such thing as a free lunch so what do they get out of it? Some of you have already tried Gmail and would have seen some kind of targeted advertising, I must admit that it is done in a smart way and does not interfere with the menus or e-mail controls, besides it is clearly labeled.

There are suggestions that Google has made its way to the title of the "most globally recognised brand." But if you ask me I still believe this place is reserved for Coca Cola, but what Google managed to achieve is: "becoming synonym with innovation, creativity and much more." Best of all Google proves that there is indeed a "Free Lunch" – at least Online !

What 's the BUZZ about?
I am recommending some web-based "tried and tested" solutions and the best thing about them is that they are either open source or proprietary services offered for free.

T he gold medal or "crème de la crème" has to go to Google. I love you guys!
I hope Google maintains its leadership in this domain.

  • Click here to try Google range of applications for your personal site or corporate site, for easy communication and online collaboration.
  • They also offer you Google Web Masters tools Here.
  • Or you can check other fantastic tools like Google Earth and Google Maps Here.

Google Services

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Those guys at Google keep surprising all of us with excellent services and new ideas and the best part is that they manage to do it for free! Of course, many of you will point out that there is no such thing as a free lunch so what do they get out of it? Some of you have already tried Gmail and would have seen some kind of targeted advertising, I must admit that it is done in a smart way and does not interfere with the menus or e-mail controls, besides it is clearly labeled.

There are suggestions that Google has made its way to the title of the "most globally recognised brand." But if you ask me I still believe this place is reserved for Coca Cola, but what Google managed to achieve is: "becoming synonym with innovation, creativity and much more." Best of all Google proves that there is indeed a "Free Lunch" – at least Online !

What 's the BUZZ about?
I am recommending some web-based "tried and tested" solutions and the best thing about them is that they are either open source or proprietary services offered for free.

T he gold medal or "crème de la crème" has to go to Google. I love you guys!
I hope Google maintains its leadership in this domain.

  • Click here to try Google range of applications for your personal site or corporate site, for easy communication and online collaboration.
  • They also offer you Google Web Masters tools Here.
  • Or you can check other fantastic tools like Google Earth and Google Maps Here.

The Money is in the list!

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This is what every Experienced Marketer on earth will tell you. Actually the benefits are in how you Manage the relationship with those on your list(s). Relationship Management is your GoldMine , but you need tools Or a CRM application to help you. There is no doubt that mailing and opt-in lists as well as Auto Responders are great marketing tools nowadays but (Yes there is a but!) there are potential problems such as:

  • You do not know or want to learn coding PHP , ASP , HTML etc.. or you do but do not have the time to do that frequently.
  • Using the Open Source or Free list builders that come with your hosting accounts is ineffective and has the potential to get you labeled as a spammer.
  • You Need different Auto Responders for Different Lists
  • Most of the available online subscription tools will charge you a start-up fee ( around $19 per month) for a limited list size(anything between 1 to 500 or 1000 subscribers at most) Then you will be expected to pay more as your list grows (eating into a chunk of your profits)

The Solution


Click here for Norabots Autoresponders

Use a professional list building and Auto Responder service that is tried and tested and that offers you virtually unlimited number of subscribers to your list for one low monthly payment.
 

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Follow the SUN

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It is amazing that when I was a child I had a solar powered calculator , and now there is nothing new ! I still have a solar powered calculator and a few small Pathio garden lights, but that is about it !

It is really strange how we in the Middle East have around 300+ sunny days a year and do not have any major projects to use the power of the sun.

How much longer are going to rely on "cheap" oil that is destroying the environment ? and killing the quality of our air?


http://ltsdo.it/greenpowersite


There is a "myth" that solar energy is more expensive , well surely if we are only comparing the set-up cost , but what about the operational / running cost ? maintenance and the cost to the environment? Is anyone calculating that ? Coz. I can give those numbers to my 7 years old son and he will arrive at the same conclusion that the Solar Energy (Solar Farm) cost breaks even after about 4 to 5 years and lives for about 30 to 40 years with little maintenance.
After the 4th or 5th year of operation the cost of producing electricity from solar energy becomes cheaper than producing it form fossil fuel or coal. And in a much more efficient , reliable and CO2-free way.

How long are we going to be deaf and blind while the rest of the world – even countries who only have half of our sunny days – moves on ?

Abu Dhabi have created "Masdar" to be the main renewable energy supplier but the whole project is "imported" with little or no local / Arab input , and they are running into many difficulties as their main machinery supplier for the solar panels /modules production is going out of business.

I know of a better way to get that done and at the same time have the proper input and training / involvement of the local community to ensure full knowledge transfer and long term sustainability.

This will not not only provide clean and affordable energy but it will also provide new careers for our communities in the Middle East and free the state from having to subsidize the cost of energy.

Please leave a comment  , I am interested to get your opinion.

Amr.