Telecoms sans frontiers

Just reading back thru posts in this blog, I see the post about the katrina telecoms crisis. Recently, TSF Telecoms Sans Frontieres have cropped up numerous times in news reports I have read. I am excited to read of their existence and the technology they use in crisis situations, especially the funky satellites they can set up in under 30 mins from arrival.

Sadly, I do not possess the necessary skills to apply as a volunteer, but their existence has highlighted to me the need for a TSF sans crisis. We have managed it once, as far as I know, with huge success with the Wennington project, when a small squad (we called outselves a SWAT team) of wireless, wifi, community etc folk got together to install comms into a rural village where the incumbent feared to tread (for lack of profits). I would dearly love to repeat that experiment, because the financial benefits to that community in Wennington far, far outweighs the £30k put in to build the network. If only other development agencies, councils, communities etc could help to fund wireless community networks, or even better fibre/fiwi (fibre-wireless) networks with some FTTH and smart meters, CCTV etc built in that would assist economic regeneration of areas that BT et al have long neglected.

The lack of FTTH development in the UK remains a complete mystery to me, especially now it is so obvious in other countries, and often it starts in the rural areas I have long campaigned to connect, not the urban areas where competition and cherry picking attracts the telcos. The economics of FTTH are now apparent to all, and well understood by all but the consumers (and probably politicians) it seems, who still fail to pursue the telcos with the enthusiasm and energy that has seen such projects as those in rural Sweden, Denmark, Holland etc succeed. Roll on the End Game, I say, with FTTH starting in the UK in the deeply unconnected rural areas, like my own in Eden in Cumbria, where in 2007, we still don't see more than 512kbps download on a very good sunny day once in a blue moon. (Upload is stil less than on dial up for 90+% of the time) - oh fun!)

Why facebook etc is important to biz

All over the news - companies are banning facebook etc as it is costing untold millions for employees to live their online lives at work. One question: are those self-same employees slagging off the companies they work for (because they are only allowed online after work etc or in secrecy) or acting as unpaid marketers with the odd/regular nugget of PR done for the company in areas that company would never consider marketing normally?

I personally think facebook, myspace, cyworld etc are all places where companies should be marketing in some way nowadays. Just the same as blogs, podcasts, forums etc were all previously freaky, edge of the network oddities that have become a very serious part of any company's armoury in the marketing world, so will mini hompies, myspace, bebo etc. The companies who do not adopt these techniques can only lose out. Especially if they unleash a set of disgruntled (ex) employees into the online world who were not allowed to drop in links to the company products, website, write positive reviews anonymously, link, promote etc in their daily online working lives.

The TUC may not have phrased their report about the importance of facebook etc in language that IOD etc understand, but actually, any company who blocks usage of these social networking sites is not improving productivity; it is creating a workforce who feel they are misunderstood, and who stop marketing and promoting the company they work for because of management misunderstanding.

The cost to a company of not using every form of promotion, its resources etc in a positive, understanding manner? Possibly priceless. Stick it in the balance sheet under 'loss', guys. Open your eyes.

Networking is vitally important to any business, and if your employees are willing to do it without you forking out a fortune to put up stands at expos, or for them to attend seminars or networking events during their working days, and they are doing it for free, then hell, what gain??

And really, at the end of the day, if they are booking a flight online during working hours, and then they go abroad on a holiday during their 4 weeks off, how do you know who they will talk to, what they will say about your company, and the damage/benefit that might have?

In the last few weeks, in our tiny little village, we have had someone high up in Converse (the shoes), the grandson of the person who actually farmed at Emmerdale farm (before it became a soap), David Beckham's tattooists best mate (boy, did he have some goss to tell us), and a signed copy of William Hague's latest book that a sprog acquired from him - all in our pub with a mere 12 regulars. Each of those people who met our bunch of 'marketers' also has (potentially) gone away with a story to tell from us too. And it is surprising how many people come back, year on year to this place.

Imagine that those in our village who have met these people over the last few weeks were one of your employees. And instead of marketing for you, or marketing our village, our pub, our county, we had lots of bad things to say about working conditions, the prohibitions, the quality of the service in the company etc etc just because you had banned us from social networking - or going to the pub. Whether it is on Bebo, myspace, or in the local, down the nearest Starbucks etc, if you treat your employees well, they will promote your business everywhere they go. If you forbid them from going places, all you can attract from it is long-term, bad PR.

Personally, I advise all the SMEs I deal with to get the word out about their companies on the Net, wherever that may be. And I think it is highly telling that some of the most successful Korean companies have had a Cyworld mini hompy for several years, and have built communities around them. Ditto YouTube minivids etc about products, or off the wall, viral online marketing ideas. Add Myspace etc to your corporate blacklist for surfing, and all you are doing is limiting the social networking and marketing that your employees do for you, surely? Oh yeah, and p*&^ them off at the same time so they end up moving on, and slagging you off even more as ex-employees! Economic effect? -ve.

I disagree with the blacklisting of social networking sites for any employee because I think every employee is part of the marketing machine for the company they work for. And every business who realises that, is generally a winner if there is a good product stack behind them. Those who rely on traditional methods for marketing are going to end up losing out as others set up myspace product pages, and communities, and videos, podcasts etc, all supported by loyal employees.

Google allows its employees 20-25% of their working lives for pet projects of their choice, to go the gym, to play, to learn, to discover online, to surf. Are you stymying your employees growth, or letting them discover new avenues for their own growth, for the growth of your company and its product range, to find new customers, suppliers, competitors? How valuable are the discoveries your employees come across accidentally and are you willing to learn from those experiences?

Add social capital to your balance sheet and see just how many 'coincidental' leads from conversations your employees have had on or offline have led to sales, new product development, worthwhile events, better suppliers, cost savings etc etc, and then tell me that networking hasn't got an economic worth to every company who partakes in it and encourages its employees to do the same.