Working Anywhere

Working Anywhere is Back

I started this blog long before the concept of Working From Home, Working in Coffeeshops, Co-Working or anything more than the concept of teleworking was the way it was described.  There was no WeWork. No SecondHome. I used Regus locations all over the world as I needed to, and still do. Having a UPS store account started when they were called MailBoxes, ETC. And FedEx Office was Kinkos. Using FedEx, Priority Mail and UPS was second nature to send a package. Email was the main mode of communications, SMS was not really all connected and apps, well they were not even really a factor. All that has changed, and with that, there's more 

As a person who has worked more from home than in an office his entire life, built a high growth, and now smaller agency, that was all remote, I likely let others get the fame, glory and credit as being an expert, pundit, or consultant on the idea of remote working. 

Having traveled extensively, and literally being someone who every day was WorkingAnywhere, this is a subject area I'm still passionate about, and now over the next few months will put to the test as I begin a phase of being super virtual, mobile and still connected.

Join me on that journey.... Wine, Travel. Technology and more all there, here and here.

Remote Work Definitions

As a remote worker all my life--starting in 1974 -- I've watched the conceptual terms evolve from telework to telecommuting to now Remote Working. For me "remote" work was calling in the highlights of a pro-lacrosse game to media from The Spectrum's press box or from a game on the road. It was compiling the stats on a plane so we had them the next game or working from a hotel room. Telecopiers  were how we sent documents back then. Today you call that faxing. Regardless of the term, a telecopier and portable typewriter were how in the 70s we worked remotely.

How times have changed. 

Given that, I thought it would be good to provide some perspective around the terms floating around today as nearly everyone is finding some way to be working this way. One of the terms over used is "virtual" which I feel has been misapplied. Remote is a much better term, much like "mobile" is better than "cellular" to describe smartphones. 

Over the years my two agencies, COMUNICANO, and now Brand Communication Design, have been Remote Native with a mix of Remote First when we had people working in my house during the day, while I was a often being Road Warrior which is how Working Anywhere came to be.

So here goes:

Remote Work-this is best described as working away from the "office" or company HQ.  It does not apply to a satellite office or another location within an office campus.

Remote Native-are workers who have been working away from the office from the start. Natives are also gig-economy types who work as shared ride drivers, delivery person, field force workers, truck drivers, and often regional sales people who have worked on the road, from hotel rooms, at home and even at client site offices. Route managers for beer and soda companies have been doing this for years, with their only interaction at the warehouse being loading up the truck. Technology has always been a factor, but often it the Natives are more people who can work alone, have great communication skills, are able to motivate themselves and are early adopters. These are the teams that are using a UCaaS provider, Google's GSuite, UberConference, Dialpad, Zoom, Slack, Figma, Dropbox and more.

Remote First-these are companies that have recognized that their company can function with people away from the office or HQ and have created an environment where they now can have staff working away from the office, all or most of the time. They are often companies which have started with staff working from home a day or two a week, and have gone to full week working away from the office. They look for proven technology, and likely deploy more established legacy brands such as Quickbooks vs. XERO, Microsoft vs. Google, WebEx vs. Zoom.

Remote Ready-these are the businesses and organizations that are still "office" or HQ based and know they are going to have to make the jump to remote work. Banks, insurance companies, call centers, pharmacies, any place where a worker punches a clock, has regular shifts, and where technology can support and enable the staff to be working remotely, and still satisfying the needs of the organization and its customers.  Often companies in the "ready" category are still operating with on-premise gear, software on a LAN and are not cloud centric. They likely have a big IT department or an outsourced team on speed dial.

Next comes the concept I coined in 2004 or so. Working Anywhere. 

In today's era it's good to break down the concept of "Anywhere" into three locations also. They are "Office," "Home" and "Elsewhere." Let's put some simple ground rules around these terms in the "working" concept of today:

Office-this is pretty self explanatory. It's the usual idea of the workplace. Multiple people in the location, and working together, supporting one another. It could be a store-front, in a low to mid rise office park, a retail location, gym, ice rink, hotel, resort, hospital, university. Basically it's a physical location where the people who work there, travel to on a daily or regular basis, and your interactions are in person, may be electronic, but there's regular interaction with others like you inside the workplace. Usually there are set hours of the business, though workers may have flexible start and end times.

Home-here's a simple one. It's working where you live. It could be your house, apartment, dorm (if you never leave to go to class). You have a permanent set up of broadband internet, computer, mobile phone. Often your interactions are based on using software that supports chat, voice, video, file sharing, screen sharing and collaboration. Work hours are more flexible, and its often more about getting things done, though some jobs like customer support, sales support or training are more scheduled for workers. 

Elsewhere-this is where digital nomads, people who can work literally from any place fall. They are comfortable in co-working facility like WeWork or Regus (I've had my own Regus card since 2005 or so). The "Elsewhere" crowd are always connected. They work in cafes, hunt out restaurants where  you can hold court, know where great internet connectivity is, or in the case of ex-Nokia PR guru Mark Squires, have broadband installed in local pubs so they can work from there. Often they will fly on planes with broadband supplied by ViaSat, GoGo or Panasonic. They know about Boingo and FON, are able to cross borders and still work as easily as some people cross streets. They are usually packing a mobile hotspot of their own and possibly a Google Chromecast to be able to use the hotel's big screen TV as a monitor. Their lives are in the cloud and the can literally accomplish things as well or better from an island or big city, without anyone knowing they've switched locations. 

The best workers are those who can morph between these personas...and know how to take a "WorkCation"....but that's a story for another time.

For some visuals that explain this, I prepared a PDF. Download Remote Work

 

Working Elsewhere The Next Tech Category

When it comes to the new workplace environment, the concept of Working Anywhere is truly here. We work in an Office. At Home. Or Elsewhere.

Those are the three categories that exist. Sure, some pundits will try to divide up the "Elsewhere," but for simplicity sake, let's just call those places-the hotels, cars, airplanes, coffee shops, restaurants, fast food locations, co-working facilities, the beach, a park bench, boats, ships, all elsewhere.

The "Elsewhere" category will be the area that has the most growth, challenges and opportunity. Over time people will get bored being at home. With education shifting to the home as the classroom, people will be looking for an escape hatch. A breather. A place of solitude, where they can collect their thoughts. For those solo at home, this won't be as needed as often, but for those houses full of working couples and families, kids or parents, WFH won't be the panacea it is for the solo act.

For those places in the "Elsewhere" category, much like we've seen lately with working from home, there will be the need to "upgrade" everything from WiFi gear, and the actual broadband connections to the work surfaces, chairs and even the people managing them. Think about how often you went into a coffee shop or restaurant and suffered through sputtering broadband. How the uploading of that PowerPoint just seemed to take forever. And don't think those speeds weren't to have you order another cup of coffee or Big Mac. It has to do with the aging infrastructure in the ground and on the property. No longer is 802.11n good enough. And having a pokey DSL line that is all of 5 megs on the upload being shared by 20 people isn't going to cut it. Not in an era where "Elsewhere" is where you head for that ZOOM, UberConference or Teams call. 5G can't come soon enough.

But there's also going to be, at least for the short term, the need to clean, disinfect , wipe down, air out and overall insure that the "Elsewhere" space has been made safe for the next visitor. We'll likely see signs similar to what appear in restaurant windows, where a place has been rated by some inspector. We've all seen those ratings signs, and in some cities even read the weekly reports that are listed in the local newspapers, as a way to let the public know which facilities are taking safety, as well as your health and welfare seriously.  

We'll also like see the digital equivalent to the rest room has been cleaned by so and so and at what time posted in the "Elsewhere" space. These types of notification systems will be first undertaken by those who take safety and your health seriously. Those conscientious types, who recognize that being ahead of the curve is what will make those "Elsewhere" locations practical and usable.

State, county and municipalities will all quickly follow suit, with their inspectors being tasked to make sure that "Elsewhere" is as safe, and conforming to local codes as the office buildings and restaurants are. Park benches that were never cleaned, except when it rained, will start to be washed regularly. New types of germ fighting disinfectant sprays will be applied, just like what hospitals and hotels are now using.  We'll also be seeing more "Out of Service" signs more often, as cleaning takes on a new meaning, with increased frequency, and visibility.

This will lead to the digitizing of the "open hours," "closed" and "cleaning hours" where local shops and stores, buildings, eateries, and even outdoor venues will be able to post their schedules on Google Maps, so patrons don't arrive during the "disinfectant time" or don't arrange to meet someone where they can safely sit and converse only to find that the space has been shuttered for it's timely refresh.

For shopping malls which have been dying off of late, this could breed new life into them. Food courts could become new "small communal" gathering spots. The eateries and cafes that are facing closure would have more space in the open air and covered spaces. Given their locales, they are ideal for remote work, and their ownership groups have the scale and resources to retool, reshape and bring about consistency to operations. Malls already have strict rules about stores opening and closing ON TIME, not when they feel like it. They are used to scheduled cleaning, deliveries and operational maintenance.  They have WiFi. All they need to do is upgrade things and sell memberships.

Oh, and the already established co-working facilities like WeWork and Regus will all need to retool. Space and people tracking will become the norm. Open air business lounges, much like the airline lounges at airports will need constant monitoring. Apps that have NFC to handle check in, check out. Sensors to monitor how many people are in spaces of certain sizes will all become the norm, as will badges with RFID embedded will keep track of who is where. Office monitors, much like hall monitors in schools from days gone by will become commonplace-though they may be robots, helping to make sure that only the approved number of people are in a defined space. Services like CLEAR, long fighting for purpose beyond airports and sports facilities will be en vogue like never before.

Tech for "Elsewhere" will see a rapid boom. Not because it's needed but because operators of "Elsewhere" will be looking to prevent social shaming, litigation and the most important thing. The loss of their business or property. 

Music On The Net: Choices. Choices. Choices.

I wake up and pop on my morning Pandora station. Club Des Belugas. It's a great mix everyday. And, it's getting better. The more I thumbs up a track, or thumbs down it, the better and better the mix gets. After a month of this the number of downs is to about one per session...Maybe. After I get out of bed, where I work on my daily newsletter, The Comunicano I head to the shower hearing the musical notes drift in. But once I'm in the "office" of the day part of my home, I switch over to Amazon Music. Often it's one artist for a few hours, with the volume going up and down depending on the conference call schedule. Following lunch I move over to Spotify. There, I've got so many playlists that I can randomize them and just kick back based on my mood, jamming away on the keys (mine) while a never-ending series of musical artist jams on their instrument.

At some point, usually at night, I'll tune into iTunes and realize how Apple's iTunes may have been my first online music love, but my polyamorous music service life has evolved. Now I then I jump into Soundcloud to find things that just never made it to the big services. YouTube Music comes in now and then too. Their videos remind me of my youth, and MTV, but they lack the VeeJays...oh where are they when you need them. Now and then I drift over to Sirius XM and hear the DJ's of my youth like Meg Griffin, Earl Bailey, Michael Tearson, Jim Ladd and more still talking between songs, though I'll admit do miss the storytelling of Andrew Loog Oldham who left the network a few year's back, and the departed too soon Tom Petty. They both had a way to weave a tale about a song or a band the same way Elton John does on Apple Radio with his regular show.

We now have so many choices, and with Covid-19, so much more time at home to enjoy it all....

Automating The Meeting

With boom times for ZOOM and more using DUO, MEET, UberConference, GoToMeeting, and all those Instagram, Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and Skype calls being scheduled, it was only time before reminder apps for those who are logging in challenged arrived.

Both apps do the same thing. First is Meeter. It requires you to either be on a Mac or an iOS device. You connect Meeter to your iOS Calendar -sorry no Outlook or Google Calendar yet.and presto, it links up to all your video call appointments. JumpInMeeting is a browser plug-in for Macs. 

These apps, like calendar reminders, make it easier to connect, not miss a meeting and to be seen on schedule. While early in development, the idea of automating the connection is just one more indication of how software is taking care of things we used to need to remember and do manually.

The Rise of The Virtual Perfomance

I have been intrigued through time with the idea off virtual performances. For years the comment has been that until a concert can be streamed so the audience feels like they are there, it won't happen. Well, in the "new normal" we need to accept the reality that virtual may be where the money is going to be. Recently, I penned "It's the End of Events As We Know It" and I've seen a series of posts picking up on the meme. One from "The MiddleClaass Artist" pretty much uses similar math on seating.  CNBC took a similar tone where they discussed how arenas will need to be renovated.

To those thinking that public events will be back in business like the were any time soon are not only shortsighted, they are drinking the Kool aid. And that's where technology has to rise. Already we are seeing musicians presenting music using virtual recording technologies that can sync musical performance from multiple locations, allowing the bands to play together, regardless of where the musicians are.

What has to come next is the adaptation of virtual reality headsets and augmented reality technology to make it "look" like the band is all in one place, and where we "see" other people around us, just like we have at an arena show.

Technology that enables remote performance and audience assembly, not in person gatherings, will be the solution, while science works to find a cure for COVID-19. 

 

Life Without a MacBook

I traded in three aging MacBooks today, after spending a good part of Sunday wiping the hard drives of my 2012 Mac Book Pro, a 2013 Mac Book Air and my workhorse and faithful travel companion, the 2015 Mac Book. In many ways the 2015 is a collectors item, but having had two battery replacements and an aging processor, I decided to buy the new Mac Book Air, fully loaded.

With the trade ins I'm paying less than the price of the entry level Mac Book Air and getting a new Mac that is actually for me, better than the current (last year's model) Mac Book Pro.'

So what's it been like yesterday and today with no Mac Book to work on, and only my new Samsung Galaxy Chromebook to use? Not much difference. I kinda get the same feeling I get when I "cheat" on my iPhone and use the Android based One Plus 7t Pro McLaren  I have. That feeling is, sorta like, there's not much difference but I do miss iMessage. 

Beyond the lack of iMessage and FaceTime, working on the Chromebook, before it was a Pixelbook, has been a rather regular thing, but I always had the Mac Book to fire up. All this said, the new Mac Book Air arrives this week, but with so much of what I've been doing the past 12 years or so resting in the cloud, I'm far better off than someone who has been so dependent on their PC and can't live without it.

Google and Microsoft Go To War On Zoom

ZOOM was the darling of the media two weeks or so ago, as Working From Home and all kinds of ZOOM meetups became the flavor of the day. Then as security issues arose ZOOM became the harlot, and many media were as quick to damn them as they were to praise them. So goes the idea of loyalty and trust. Sure, ZOOM has had their issues, and yes states and some countries are banning its use. So too has Google, telling their employees ZOOM is not approved for use any longer due to "security" concerns.

So never being shy about seizing opportunity from another company's misfortune, both Microsoft and Google have launched massive PR and marketing efforts around Teams, Skype and Meet (the app formerly known as Hangouts Meet).

Microsoft and Google may take their shots and they may fan the flames by leaking things like bugs. If any company excelled at opposition PR over the years it has been Microsoft. And Google, with their search engine and news page, well, they have the ability to pour gasoline on the fire and have it go, um, ZOOM.

Yesterday I watched the weekly webinar as ZOOM’ CEO handled the “crisis” very well. He was open, honest, addressed things clearly (despite his accent). He could have ducked the problem. He could have had another company officer handle the webinar. Instead he showed leadership. He didn’t waver, and most of all he was candid.

In times of crisis leaders get in front of the camera, and deal with the problem. They get their story out, so the right facts are there. Zoom, between the series of webinars, blog posts and media briefings is handling things very well. And for Microsoft and Google, what goes around comes around.

You don’t yet see the media jumping on the issues with GMail or the Google Dashboard yesterday. No, those items are buried, missed or forgotten. ZOOM is a much more interesting target because while not an overnight success, they did become an overnight sensation in the eyes of the fickle media members.

So while the big bullies pick on the radical independent, ask yourself who is willing to get out in front and tell things that are happening, and who isn’t. Then decide where you put your support.

Are You Calling Securely at Home

A friend of a friend called me today to pick my brain about VoIP and how to make their calling more secure now that the team is working more from home than ever before and corporate espionage, in their industry, seems to be an almost everyday thing.

So now with the entire team working remotely, my friend's friend wanted some ideas on how to help keep things locked down. I thought his questions were timely, as working from home brings with it a whole bunch of security and privacy issues not really thought about before.

I offered a few suggestions ranging from using SilentCircle for encrypted calling between the internal team and still having the ability to be called by outsiders with a real PSTN phone number. But for off the PSTN encrypted calling, I made two additional suggestions.

The first was Signal. Like Silent Circle the app is available for iOS and Android devices, but unlike Silent Circle, the ability to call the PSTN isn't there.  Signal does however have Linux, Mac and Windows apps available adding an additional layer of being reached by others on the Signal platform.

 

My next suggestion was Wire. Created by longtime friend Alan Duric (ex Telio and Camino Networks), Wire has been at the front end since their launch at encrypted communications with desktop and mobile versions much like Signal. If any service is secure from its start, it is Wired. Wire has the benefit of group calling and video conferencing,
all in a highly secure mode, as does Silent Circle. With desktop and mobile apps, Wire is a great choice for those who want full featured communications that are secure across a variety of platforms.

With these three services, my friend's friend now has options for secure calling from home, just like in the office and so do you.

Review: Samsung Galaxy Chromebook

I'm not a product reviewer, and I don't usually write reviews, especially when there are real experts like Matt Miller of ZD-Net on mobile devices, or ex GigaOm'er Kevin Tofel when it comes to all things Chromebook, but after less than 24 hours of using my new Samsung Galaxy Chromebook, I have to say, having now owned and still owning and using as many as six different Chromebooks since their earliest days, this is by far the best one I've ever owned. And given I still own a Google Pixelbook, and for many months it was, and has been, my primary day to day computer, at home, and more importantly, on the road, I always figured finding something better would be hard to beat.

Well that day has come. While it's likely you can find more in depth reviews at Wired, Engadget and other mass audience sites, the real reviews will come from people Kevin's About Chromebooks and Chome Unboxed, two sites that really take the time to dig into the inner workings of Chromebooks. this

1. Screen-It's bright. Really bright. It has true to life colors and great contrast between them. It's about as sharp as anything I've used on my lap or desk. To make a comparison, it's akin to when SONY introduced Triniton to color TV sets and distanced themselves from all the competition.
2. Audio-I love music, and on the Samsung Galaxy Chromebook I get really awesome sound, that's both clear and rich. For conference calls and phone calls on ZOOM, UberConference or via Dialpad, Hangouts, Messenger, etc. audio is clean, clear, crisp.  I've yet to connect a Bluetooth headset or speaker, but that's for today.
3. Video-For YouTube, Vimeo, Showtime, YouTubeTV and more streaming video the clarity, sharpness and depth of field was there. It was as good as any laptop to date and seemed brighter when watched in normal room lit daylight.
4. Keyboard Travel--this is where I'm really excited. The size and dimensions of the keyboard are perfect for me. I'm mostly a touch typist and grew up with typewriters, first standards, then electric (can you remember the IBM Selectric or Smith Coronas?). As a result muscle memory has me fighting on so many of the 11" and 12" and 13" inch keyboards as my hands are used to wider keyboards. With the Galaxy Chromebook, my fingers are flying across it.
5. Browser Speed-It's fast. Pages load faster than on my Mac Book Pro. Caching seems to be typical for Chrome 80. 
6. WiFi-I've run speedtests a few times day and night. On my Xfinity gigabit connection I've seen over 460 megs down and the usual 35-40 megs up. The download is the fastest of any PC in my house, wireless. I'll need to test with a wired connection sometime today.

I've installed my usual suspect of plugins, extensions (actually, it happened automatically, one of the perks of Chome 0r curses depending on your viewpoint) and nothing seemed to go wonky. Slack, in the browser is faster than in the app, and I've opened less apps than on my Pixelbook and yet I don't seem to be missing any functionality so far. Beyond that, setup is virtually, all done. For those not technically enlightened, the Chromebook remains the easiest device to set up and maintain, much like a Mac Book Air is.

Bottom line. The Galaxy Chromebook is not cheap at $999.00. It's not for everyone, but it is for those who spend long hours on the keyboard, working from home, on airplanes, at coffee shops or anywhere who need a power packed, cloud based PC.  My guess is somewhere along the way, a DELL, Acer or Asus will be released with better specs, performance or looks, but as a Chromebooks go, this is just about the best you'll find today, price aside.

Google Maps Temporarily Closed or Just Working Remotely

Google's Move To Temporarily Closed

Google has added a "temporarily closed" setting to Google Maps. That's good for businesses that are now shut down and plan to reopen due to the Coronavirus to eventually restore full retail storefront or office activities.

Reality Is

But that's only half the story. In many cases these "temporarily closed" operations really aren't. They've relocated staff to work from home or are operating from remote work locations. In those cases the business is JWR-Just Working Remotely and that's a far cry from being listed as temporarily closed.

My Real Life Experience

A great example I personally experienced this week was with the Apple Store at UTC in San Diego's La Jolla Village area. For years their small business team has been my go to group when it came to buying new Apple gear or getting an upgraded level of service, not usually offered over the phone. In my case I needed to upgrade to one of the new Mac Book Airs, as my youngest Mac Book was from 2015 and my Mac Book Pro was from 2012.  Toss in a 2013 era Mac Book Air, both of which sit around more as paperweights than workhorses for me, and I just had too much deadweight. 

Given all the Apple Stores are temporarily closed, I wrote to the UTC Small Business Team by email on Wednesday. By end of day  I had an email from my Small Business Rep from Apple, who in his email reported that his team was working from home and he was safely located remotely supporting customers, and for their team it was business as usual. It was a polite, very personal note, not some automated digitally processed looking reply. He also thanked me for reaching out and within a few minutes of follow up email exchanges had me in touch with the "business trade in team." The reason the business trade-in team was needed, was due to the fact that while Apple online store encourages trade-ins via the web store, they only take one device per order. Business doesn't have such a limit. 

About an hour after Eric and I dealt with was being purchased, I had a written estimate in hand for the new Air. In parallel, Bri from Phobio, the company that manages the trade-ins for Apple Small Business, had a spreadsheet for me to use that allowed for the submission of what I was trading in, along with very easy to understand set of shipping details, and instructions on how to delete and wipe hard drives and more. I filled out the spreadsheet, returned it to Bri and the next morning I received approval on my trade ins. I accepted the offer, providing banking information, and once the three computers are back with Apple the funds for the trade ins will go directly to my bank by ACH transfer. No checks. No gift cards. Just cold hard electronic cash. While an eCheck is an option, that just adds a layer that's unnecessary. The whole process was easy, as Eric and Bri - thanks to Apple's understanding of  simplifying things - a trait Steve Jobs instilled before his passing.

Yesterday Eric and I wrapped up the sale of a new Mac Book Air that will be here in a few weeks. We spent about 30 minutes talking business, small business, the impact of the Coronavirus and more.  For me, it was the Apple Store Experience I've always had. So while "Temporarily Closed" may be the new status on Google Maps, and the Apple Stores may show up that way, but in this time of "business unusual" it wasn't closed at all. It was business as usual, just working remotely (JWR). 

Maybe Apple Maps should one up Google and add the JWR flag for those businesses like their own because my experience clearly shows that the Apple Store wasn't really closed, just that their team was just working remotely (JWR). 

 

 

What Is The New Normal?

I've been back home for just two days, since a ten day road trip to Boston, Los Angeles and Las Vegas and for me the new normal of WFH doesn't feel strange at all, as I've been working from home since 1992 on a daily basis. But really have been a remote worker since my first job with the Philadelphia Wings way, way back in 1974. Back then remote meant working from the press box at The Spectrum, or from arenas in the USA and Canada reporting the outcome of games to the media when we were on the road, so I guess I can claim the title of being one of the earliest road warriors, so the idea of being home isn't strange. Just the prospect of not going on the road again for a while is. Welcome to my new normal.

Watching all the news, seeing all the companies and people I've touched past and present adapt, and getting comments from colleagues and friends about being "ahead of the curve" as Dialpad founder and CEO Craig Walker texted me during an exchange, or hearing over lunch in Vegas from Xceptional Chairman Larry Johnes "that no one will ever question how much early you were into the idea of  remote work" were all nice to see and hear. But this new normal is a big change even for me.

My day is more filled than ever with video calls, conference calls and scheduling things. My life is now more Zoom, UberConference, Slack than even before, not because I didn't use them--oh I did for years--but now others who used to be more "weekly call" centric are now engaging more often throughout the day with others, who like me are not, in their company offices and having me join those sessions.

I'm finding that creating Shared Slack Channels is a great way to boost communication flow. People who were previously texting me are now moving into Slack. Files exchanges, previously emailed or sent Google docs/sheets/slides links are now being shared inside Slack. And on a personal note, those closest to me are now calling me more via FaceTime, Messenger, WhatsApp and Google Duo. I've got clients using Signal too. My iPhone or iPad are now is no longer relegated to the kitchen charging stations, as one is usually with me more when I'm using my Pixelbook simply due to iMessage, but back in their normal place when the Mac Book or Mac Book Pro is in use.

Now more than ever, tools like Woven and Calendly are becoming staples for scheduling. Alerts and reminders are key as getting the "ten minute" warning about a scheduled call allows me to gracefully (sometimes) end a call. I'm also finding that I'm setting more meetings to be 25 minutes, not thirty, allowing time to catch up on IM's, emails and even listen to the occasional voice mail for those that leave them.  Most people I know now are texting and asking "when can we talk" and then after agreeing on a time, one of us sends off a calendar item with the appropriate conference bridge based on who, where, and personal preference.

There's also a growing sense of time-shifted communications between friends to help overcome the loneliness of sheltering in place. More and more friends who were short form writers or photo posters only are sharing more on Facebook. Instagram is becoming the creative outpost. LinkedIn is becoming more and more the haven for help and business advice, not simply a job seekers best friend.

What's Next? More Zapier and IFTTT - the two services automate routine tasks and manage services. Already I use them to open my door when I come home. My lights turn off when I go too far from home, and can be programmed to turn on when the lock opens. With the two services I can get notified when someone tweets me, retweets, send me an email to one of my accounts I don't live in during the work day and more, by having the alert sent to me either in Slack or via SMS. With now thousands of combinations of integrations, all based on APIs, the two services allow us to focus on the tasks that need our attention, while the bots do the repetitive work.

Yes, for many, the new normal is a major adjustment, but for me, the adjustment is really about giving in to not getting away to work from anywhere. It's now about "AWFH"--always working from home.

Making The Right Moves

The New York Times has a story this morning about Microsoft and their CEO's decision to move to a Work From Home (WFH) approach in their Redmond HQ and elsewhere. These stories are going to become more and more commonplace. It's not though just about having people working from home, it's what you do with your workers each day.

Here are ten tips to help keep work going:

1. Have a daily audio team stand up. Put it on the calendar.
2. Be available by having your comms apps and services both on your desktop/laptop and your mobile devices
3. Provide your team members their own conferencing service access. Assign each person an account of their own.
4. Know how to check quality of the home internet. Run tests that ensure your connection is stable regularly.
5. Keep things charged. This includes headsets, mobile phones tablets and laptops
6. Make sure access to data is possible. VPN's and other remote access tools will allow work to keep going.
7. Don't over communicate. If you worked part time remotely with your staff don't change the rhythm, but be ready to help others who used to work only in the office.
8. Be respectful of workers private time. Allow them to go into DND (do not disturb) mode throughout the day.
9. Make sure your devices are regularly checked for malware and viruses.
10. Teach your team proper security protocols to allow for safe, private and protected

Uncertain times brings opportunity, with those being managed. Right now the opportunity is to define the future of work and in turn the future of business.

Making Working From Home Work

Two days ago, I wrote about the free offers coming out of telecom companies to help with the Coronavirus situation. Today, I'm seeing that longtime friend, repeat client, and leader at Dialpad, Craig Walker, has penned a nice piece on what Dialpad is doing in light of the Coronavirus with regards to his staff around the globe as well as showing how they are helping businesses adapt to the workplace changes brought on by Corona. As a shareholder in Dialpad, Craig's candor and approach to what he and his team are doing for their staff really comes through.

The reasons for both messages are clear and simple. All companies have to keep going, as they all have lots to lose, and like so many others, Dialpad can use what they sell to keep their staff working. Equally rewarding to me is to see how Craig and the Dialpad team have basically resurfaced "Dialpad Free" a program I helped launch back in the early winter of 2017 as way of attracting new business. 8x8 has done something similar pushing out a reminder this week about their free video meetings service they announced back in November.

SignalWire also has a good post on being experienced via FreeSwitch when it comes to working from home.

 

 

 

Free Offers Being Made to Get Market Share

Inc has an article on how the major service providers with tools for remote work are all jumping in around the Coronavirus situation, by offering free trials of various services. Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Hangouts and LogMeIn are all looking to gain market share with the free offers. The moves are smart marketing as "stimulating trial" is one of the most successful tactics that can be deployed by a brand. The offers also have a second benefit. They may promote some brand switching as a result because now if you're a Slack based organization, but a Microsoft house, you have no excuse to not give Teams a shot. And if you're a G Suite user, you may want to see what's up with it.

For Cisco, it's an opportunity to showoff and possibly win back some former WebEx users. A lot has changed with WebEx over the past few years, so capitalizing on Covid-19 to get some traction isn't a bad move at all.

But remote work is going to need more than Teams, GoToMeeting, Hangouts, Zoom and WebEx to make people "productie remote workers." The sharing of files, uploading of documents, notifications about actions, all have to be integrated too. New zaps from Zapier that enable richer notifications, updates to documents, and other alerts will start to become the norm. Tracking all this in some reference capable format will be needed. Documentation of who did what, who said what will also become a necessity, as remoteness can lead to both freewheeling, or overlooking of the details.

While Zapier can be looked at as the connectivity between apps that automates routine tasks, the platform is really the connective tissue of so much data being moved from one bucket to another, all in a way that anyone with a basic sense of moving this from here to there can master. Tools like HighTail, WeTransfer, TransferNow, Firefox Send and more are going to see more use too as people working remotely find that not being on the same LAN is slowing them down when it comes to sharing. Slack's file upload to a thread, group or individual is also good as is their integration with Google Drive and Microsoft's OneDrive. 

For coordination between home and work balance, tools like Calendly and Woven will take on new uses. Before when mom or dad was working in the office, hours were pretty well set in place. Now, with parents or spouses working from home, family members and even neighbors need to understand that WFH doesn't mean a day off. Using  preset calendaring tool links will make it easier for family and friends to see when mom or dad can help with something, like a ride to school, a pick up after or a lift to meet up with friends. It will also allow kids to not schedule friends over who could be making more noise than mom or dad is used to when working in the traditional office. 

Tools that help make remote work happen aren't the end of the solution. It's about putting all the pieces together to allow for home/work balance and easing the frustration that the new remote workers may experience from the start. 

P.S. It was fun to read Shelly Palmer's article on becoming a remote working badass. In reading it I was checking off how much of what he's suggesting I've been doing or the services we're using for as long as most have been around.  Here's my list of what I've done or are doing personally, and within the business:

• Workspace
• Hours
• Rules for Others
• Morning Ritual (I have end of day rituals for different days too)
• Time Management
• Daily Quitting Time (it varies by day, time zone or location)
• Different Phone Number (Google Voice is ideal for this)
• Conference Calls
• Solid Broadband Connection (I once bought a house based on who the provider wasn't)
• Collaborative and Messaging Tools (I can still remember when introducing Slack to the team and Skype as our primary way to communicate)
• Project Management-We have been using Basecamp since Basecamp 1
• GSuite-what a war it was to get some people off of Office or Outlook.
• Acting like you're in the office -now in an apartment building vs. a freestanding house this is key for deliveries and more
• Scheduling calls like meetings -I use UberConference for most of my scheduled calls, sometimes Zoom and even Skype or
• Signal depending on who I'm talking to and have for years.
• Voice check ins--it's like managing by walking around without the exercise
• Daily Stand Ups-even when we don't talk, a short chat solves a lot of issues before they arise. We hold one every day 30 minutes everyone has officially started their day.

I'll add a few more:

• Softphone for your laptop or desktop
• Quality headset
• Desktop lighting to look good on a conference call
• Mobile app connected to your cloud voice provider's phone system
• Desktop or travel size speakerphone
• HD webcam, not just what's in your laptop or tablet
• iPad -my mini is my all around mobile device of choice 

Where Remote Working Is Smokin'

Down in tobacco road, cities like Ashville North Carolina and Roanoke Virginia are becoming hotbeds of remote work. Today's Roanoke Times has a long article where it highlights a series of local residents who all work remotely, showcasing why the people have chosen Roanoke as their home base.

Key factors are obvious. Quality of life. Affordable housing. Close proximity to transportation that allow the workers to get to the Washington, D.C.  and northern Virginia areas.

What's missing from the story? There's no reference to the quality or providers of broadband. Residential Roanoke is is served mostly by Cox with a bit of the city covered by Xfinity. There's also DSL, not fiber, from Verizon and fixed wireless from All Points Broadband. Wireless carrier coverage, and how people in the area make use of both also wasn't mentioned.

Telecommuting workers need to be able to do more than just log on remotely and be working. The quality of broadband, and wireless, directly impacts how well you can take part in conference calls, be visible in video conferences or video calls. Nothing is worse than starting a call on your cell phone and having the call degrade as your cell signal dissipates due to the "totem pole" effect of mobile communications. Outside of "messaging platforms" none were really highlighted, not even the type of technology used.

I also didn't get a sense of what type of "remote workers" the interview subjects were, or what the actually do. Terms like "consultants" and "software engineers" are bit vague. For example, I can easily be considered a "consultant" but I'm also a virtual CMO. Some consultants and engineers do nothing but coding and writing, but what about supporting the customer, internal or external. How much real time communication is there? How do they do that? Is that work done the one day everyone goes into the office?

Overall the story paints a good picture on why someone would want to live in Roanoke, but before you can decide it's the right place to work from, a richer and more complete picture of the infrastructure is needed to help make a highly informed decision.

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Salesforce Tells Workers to Work From Home

Yet another tech market leader is going the Work From Home (WFH) route in California. This time, it's Salesforce.

The move comes a few days after they told their Seattle workforce to begin working from home. While the move is for now, just for the month of March, it does call into question what happens to the new SF HQ if the WFH approach continues. All that money sunk into what is now SF's tallest building.  Perhaps it can be converted into to low income housing for the SF homeless.

Benefits of Remote Work

Krisp, the audio enhancing plug in for better conference calls, has a nice recap of facts and stats supporting the benefits of remote work. From a longtime remote worker and remote manager's perspective I'll share my take on their findings below.

1. Remote Work Boosts Growth-in the hay day of Comunicano we were growing in staff and revenue, and remote work led to it as my overhead was people, not real estate.  We paid better and got better. 
   
   
2. The Environment Angle- that angle has been around forever. When we worked with SightSpeed back in the 00's the whole idea of less travel cost and less driving to and from the office was one we regularly pitched to media. 
   
   
3. Employee Productivity-without question. We had soccer moms working while watching their kids play soccer. We had people working from beachfronts on tablets and laptops. There were people working while driving between homes in different states on mobile phones and tablets. We never saw anyone being unproductive. Clients we're happier with our approach of "always" on as we were in all 4 time zones and able to manage their work.
   
   
4. Freelancers-not exactly. A lot of "freelancers" only work for one company. This makes them employees. A good tax accountant  (CPA) for your business will help keep you on the right path. The key is being able to have the freelancers demonstrate they have income from other sources.
   
   
5. Working from Where-I've worked in my houses, apartments, in WeWorks, Regus suites, Airline lounge conference rooms, hotel suites and of course cafes, wine bars and restaurants all over the world but WFH (working from home) is the easiest and always the most relaxing. Back in 1976 when I was working for the Philadelphia Flyers I had a very big and expensive answering device from Bell of Pennsylvania that I could remotely access in my bedroom so I could be attending high school hockey games and calling in the scores from others that were reported to me nightly. This continued for 14 years where I could be anywhere, and still get the games results into the newspapers. As early as 1974 (when I was 14) I was working in the Press Box of the Philadelphia Wings. Reporters worked from there covering the games. Fax machines were their way of "sending" in their stories or they "dictated" to the sports desk.  Those were early examples of remote working that gave me an easy path into working that way the rest of my life.
   
   
6. Happiness-people who work remotely seem happier. They can be more relaxed in attire, there's no stress of a daily commute and there's less need to "look good" for others. It also gives people more of a voice and the feeling of being heard.
   
   
7. Flexible Work Schedule-Totally. But it's more than just flexible hours, it's the ability to work around your life. For married people with school age kids, being able to work around drop off and pick up hours means a lot to a parent. We scheduled conference calls around those hours and rarely did team members miss client calls. With UberConference in use, and before that GoToMeeting, we recorded the calls and people "caught up" by reviewing the call we uploaded to BaseCamp.
   
   
8. No Commuting- this is another point we made with SightSpeed way back when. But it goes farther. When people can WFH they start their day when they would have driven in to the office and work during what would have been the ride home. That earlier start allows for matters to get handled often before others are working in the office. 
   
   
9. Collaboration, Communication and Loneliness-while tools for collaboration have improved thanks to Slack mostly, which has replaced Skype, as the virtual watercooler and bulletin board. With app integrations that we never had with Skype, Slack has become the center of the "virtual" office. Collaboration tools are getting better, but still are not there. While lots of improvements have been made with conferencing apps, the issues are still remain.  
   
   
10. More Money By Working Remotely - without question the cost of working from home saves businesses money, but also saves worker money as well. No driving, means no gas bill. You don't have to wear business clothing so you save money on dry cleaning bills. Eating at home is cheaper than eating out.

As a proponent for remote work, and as a practitioner of it from an era that didn't have the category until today, the ability to grow the business, and to have your people grow is all about how you approach things. Remote work works.

Being Away Working Anywhere But Now I'm Back

It's been about two years since I posted on this blog that was way ahead in its' early days. In that last post back then I suggested that Regus, along with WeWork needed an affiliate model. Someone at Regus was obviously reading and listening as I just read how they are doing exactly that using a franchising model.

As a long time remote worker, I've watched things change, for the better. Between my local co-working membership and my Regus membership, I'm rarely trapped in the "coffee shop only" mode of finding a place to work. Having those options means I can get out of the house and work in a communal environment, or book a day office if I need some privacy.

Remote working, long a male dominated sector of the workplace world has seen changes. Back in the 00's I pioneered having women working for me from their homes on a consistent basis. One described working for Comunicano as her dream job as it gave her flexibility around her two young daughters. Over time we hired more and more people to work remotely, and some in my home. Eventually, all but one person was "remote" and that person was more of an office admin keeping track of the 20-30 people in the agency at any one time, and more importantly, looking after the business affairs as I was on the road as much as 285 days one year.

Now, as Zapier points out, working remote for women is much more commonplace, and just as we saw in the agency, more businesses are realizing how much more work they can get out of remote working women.  Today, on my team at SkySwitch where I serve as the company's virtual CMO, two of my team now work from home two days a week, and have a flexible afternoon schedule that has them in the office in the morning and then going WFH from 4-6 pm to avoid traffic. In three months of working that way, productivity has been better and quality of work has only gotten better.

While some businesses resist, or just can't be virtual, having worked remotely, some or all of the time since my days in pro-sports, remote work, with the right players, can really be good for a business.

WeWork and Regus Both Need An Affiliate Model

When it comes to co-working spaces WeWork is the elephant in the room. They are the giant. The monster. The leader far and away. About the only organization that can compare, albeit with a different goal and model, is Regus, perhaps the first mover in the world of co-working. But both have gaps in their location maps, which in turn presents opportunity for others to fill the gaps.

Over the past few weeks as I've been leading a nomadic life of sorts, I've realized that both co-working companies lack any type of affiliate model, so while I have memberships with both, it's often been my discovery that their isn't a location for miles and miles, sometimes even no location at all in some states in the case of WeWork.

Unlike the gym and workout world that developed an affiliate membership model early on, in the case of the two giants, its all or nothing. But the digital nomad isn't going to always end up where WeWork or Regus are located, which is why models like those from Croissant , the League of Extraordinary Co-working Spaces (Lexco) and CoPass all are ahead of the game. They function much like traveler lounge leader Priority Pass does, where you join the "club" and get access to all the rest, sometimes free and sometimes for a daily rate.

Now here's a thought. If I was running the Centurion Lounge Program for AMEX, I'd quickly work out deals with Regus, WeWork and CoPass, and extend mutually beneficial access rights (as long as the member has an AMEX card) and immediately expand the footprint of the Centurion Lounges.

Co-working facilities need an affiliate model...no one company can be everywhere, and given how the concept is past taking off, it's time to go beyond land and expand, and simply give members one more reason to stay members.

Starbucks: One Place to be Working Anywhere

When Starbucks first arrived on the scene I’ll admit I was a bit late to the party. When it came to coffee I was more of an after a meal coffee person, not a coffee addict. In reality, it was Wi-Fi that got me hooked on Starbucks. I would spend time locating the Wi-Fi locations that in their day were powered by T-Mobile and take the tiniest of laptops I had, and even some Wi-Fi enabled phones, and do all I could to work from a Starbucks.

Along the way I quickly learned that Starbucks was not really ready for Wi-Fi or what would become “Conference Room S.” They didn’t have enough tables for co-working, nor did they have enough power outlets. While that may still be an issue is some older locations that have not been updated, I have to say, if any company has embraced the Anywhere Worker concept of where people can be Working Anywhere it has been Starbucks. And if any company missed the mark in keeping that cultural workplace shift, and is now playing catch-up, it was T-Mobile who had the real estate, and as Machiavelli wrote in “The Prince,” so well, “Territory establishes control.”

And now that T-Mo and Sprint are merging, Wi-Fi installed in all of their locations would have made Starbucks even more essential to the Anywhere Worker. But I digress. Starbucks to me has always been the McDonalds of coffee. They nailed the concept of consistency early on, giving customers a uniform experience all over the nation, and now around the world. Even more so, Starbucks has really grasped the concept of being the place people meet. It can be for a catch up, for a first date, for a short, informal business meeting or even where students of all ages meet and gather to work together. While Regus and WeWork may be the “co-working” hubs of many, Starbucks, like libraries has been the co-working spot of choice of so many for so, so long.

Like McDonalds, Starbucks has embraced the concept of the drive through. Over the past week, I have sat inside many a Starbucks as I have gone on the road, taking my restored sports car for a spin….a long one at that, and as I have watched first hand, the drive throughs are Starbucks boldest and best move yet. While the mobile app lets you order and pick up, the drive through phenomena is really interesting.

Just as when Starbucks first went with Wi-Fi, they’re still learning. The number of staff focused on mobile often leaves the inside the coffee shop line waiting to place their order or receive it in many high volume traffic locations.

So, while the drive through is high on convenience, it’s often low on speed, especially if you use the Starbucks app while heading to your favorite location.  Yes, you can order on your mobile, time your arrival, and be sitting in line while someone ahead of you orders their fresh milk, double shot, mocha, cappuccino, extra foam, cinnamon and extra something, while all you ordered was a double shot espresso and a bagel. McDonalds this past year solved the long wait vs. short delivery time and regular drive through order, with a waiting area for those who have more challenging, larger or more complicated orders.

When Starbucks does that, they will have perfected the drive through and pick up the order experience. But, until then, the lines will grow, and the experience will only get better…...

Co-Working In Unique Places: Libraries

As a child I would go to the library often with my dad. Back then, the library was like being in a house of worship. Silence was the golden rule. Sure there were a few places where people could talk but those were few and far between. That said, when I was in high school, the Northeast Regional Library was where high school class groups would usually meet up to work on projects together. Little did I realize I was co-working in the 70s in a co-working space.

Fast forward to today, the public library may be the lowest cost co-working place around.

Women's CoWorking Spaces Are Growing With Good Reason

I grew up in Philadelphia and was a regular guest of many friends who were members of The Union League, Racquet Club, Rittenhouse Club and The Locust Club back in the 70's and 80s. Back then, the Union League was THE power broker club and was "Men Only" until the mid 80's just like the famed New York Athletic Club that back in 1989 broke the sexism barrier and allowed women in.

When I read about "Women Only" co-working spaces in Time I first thought back to how hard women fought to gain entry to Men Only clubs like those. There was an outdated (and by then outdated) reasons why the "Clubs" kept women out at first, but times and women changed. As more women had entered the workforce and were in leadership positions their being denied entry, curtailed them from the opportunities and dealmaking that was going on the "clubs."  But the more I thought about it, the more I like the idea of women only clubs even if it walks back on what women wanted in the prior generations. With all the upsetting news about sexual harassment and gender bias in today's society (and it isn't going away), giving a woman a place to feel safe, work without the wandering eye or groping hands of men is really good for them. They need sanctuary, much like the men did in their clubs away from the women. The clubs are about business. Not the search for Mr. or Ms. Right Now.

At the same time, it won't be a surprise to me if we see a rise and return of the men only, so called power clubs, like I grew up having lunches at with friends who were members (I was never a member though was asked a few times to join them,) as there can't be a double standard.  That's because clubs and private membership groups can only be one of two things. Inclusive or Exclusive, but not both. 

When In Roam

Grind TV has a nice summary about the Roam Co-working and co-living operation that currently have three properties up and running in Madrid, Miami and Bali. The company, which is promising more locations in the near future, has raised over $3 million dollars to fuel property acquisition and growth around the globe. 

Far more than a hostel or hotel, Roam is creating workspace/livespace communities for the digital nomadic community at relatively modest prices. Given the locations, $500 a week or $1800 a month for a private room and all the co-working facilities is fairly reasonable, especially given the promise of blazing fast, business grade Wi-Fi and Internet connectivity, and a full-time on site manager.

The winds of change in work, travel and residential living are here now, and properties like Roam and WeLive from WeWork are going to become the next phase in work, life, reside. It's only a matter of time and place.

Wi-Fi Coming to More Flights In Europe

Business Travel New is reporting that IAG, the group that owns and operates British Air, Aer Lingus, Iberia and Vueling will start to roll out Wi-Fi on Airbus 321s and 320 starting in 2017.

My travel the last few years in Europe has been rather frequent, and I've always been amazed at the lack of Wi-Fi on planes other than on Norwegian Airlines and the occasional plane that was really a long haul piece of equipment. The big reason was always the short duration of the flights and the cost to retrofit so many planes. But with more new satellite technology coming on board, and with smaller, lighter and more efficient on board the plane technology, the interest has finally blossomed. 

With this type of news, one has to wonder just how soon the Asian airlines add Wi-Fi with regard to short haul travel.

The Anytime Worker is Working Anywhere

Dialpad had Altimeter Group's Brian Solis author a report on the "Anytime Worker" who is "working anywhere" they can these days. With coworking spots the rage all over the world, and more remote working going on all the time, the report is rather timely. 

Sign up here to get your copy...and read away...Anywhere you want to.

A Man Wakes Up in A Room Without WiFi

We've all become so used to hotel WiFi being there, that when it's not we might go bonkers. But that doesn't always have to happen. At least not when you bring your own broadband.....I'm telling you this because this morning I woke up here in Seattle at the Coutryard by Marriott and the WiFi was connecting, but there wasn't any IP connectivity. I was too tired to care, didn't feel like being the IT guy for the hotel because thankfully I packed my AT&T LTE pocketspot! 

A few hours later, it's all back working. Someone must have called and gotten it fixed, but in the meantime, I wasn't disconnected. Besides, it's Saturday and time to go out and smell the coffee.

Let's Face It, You Get Hungry

Working on the road often means room service. Sometime, working on the road has you staying in extended stay hotels like Homewood Suites by Hilton or Staybridge by IHG. Those offer small kitchens but shopping for food isn't always convenient. Thankfully, today we have options that solve both the "I'm hungry now" and "I need some food in the fridge" for many of us.

For the hungry now crowd, there are now new services like GrubHub, Delivery.com and Doorstep Delivery, all of whom make it easy to have hot, or cold food, salads and beverages delivered usually within an hour.

For those who feel the need food to cook, or simply need things like shaving cream, mouthwash, toothpaste, deodorant, soaps and more, there's now Amazon Fresh in more cities. With Amazon Fresh you can order what you need, in advance or even in some cases, same day, and have it waiting for you. Just make sure there's a way to receive it, where you are staying as some AirBnB or VRBO locations may pose challenges for delivery.

Options on the road for the road warrior are changing, and getting better for us. All it takes is a little knowledged and some planning.

How Design Influences Travel Experience

The web site Future Travel Experience gives us a good look at what may be possible for our air travel, from check in to exiting the airport, exposing what we will be seeing and feeling. Much of this "experience" derives from design, which is all about setting up the "user experience" that we desire. Unfortunately, often the experience falls short due to poor implementation or skipping steps that are important to the passenger, or adding layers to the experience that either complicates or inconveniences us all.

As someone who regularly has taken the EuroStar and the Heathrow Express in France and the UK, as well as being a regular Amtrak passenger here in the USA, it's great to see how design is being thought of by the railroads. The Eurostar has always been at the forefront of a good travel experience once you get on the train, but after you check in, the experience is never smooth, as it feels more like a cattle call than a leisurely entry to the train. In the railway car, you'll find in seat power with both EU and UK outlets varying by seat, comfortable seats that recline with ample leg room, non-obtrusive service and for the most part, a quiet journey. Now, ten years later, the experience is being upgraded and design is at the heart of it.

By the way. This week at GigaOm's Roadmap is all about exposing more deeply how design and experience are changing everyday business for us all. If UI, UX, Design or Product Development and Delivery are in your wheelhouse, you'll want to look at what gets said there

 

 

Brands Want You To Buy Your Loyalty

I'll be the first to admit that I've lost my love of brand loyalty programs. You know, the ones like American Airlines Advantage that pretty much kicked it all off. Well now, American and Southwest in the past two days have both offered to boost my status by my buying my loyalty level. 

To me this is a number game, not a loyalty game. If the airlines offered me things like no cost redposit of my scheduled flights that I had to change, the ability to do name changes for business tickets (we do change people in companies sometimes), no hassle booking for seats that are available on all flights using points/miles, a resumption of seats that are not so squeezed together where you can't work in coach I might think about the program's value.

So, rather than pay for what are perceived benefits, I'd rather simply use the pay as you go approach, and put my money into paying for a better seat, than hopefully earning a better seat because if I'm being offered the move up to the next level, you have to realize those above me are being offered even more.

 

Wi-Fi-For Marriott It's All Hacking For Profit. This Is How You Hack Back

Marriott wants your business. Directly. And to get it they're offering free Wi-Fi to lure you, like a fish. The catch? You have to book via their website, using the mobile app, the call center or the property directly. But, if you're a business traveler, who has a corporate travel agency working on your behalf, you better have them negotiate the free Wi-Fi option or you'll find yourself paying.

This is in Marriott's mind, about loyalty programs, or in their case, Marriott Rewards. For the business traveler who has racked up thousand of miles, nights and bonuses, turning in a bill for Wi-Fi is sometimes aggravating, especially when the promotion about "free" Wi-Fi has attracted so much attention will cause grief.

This means that corporate travel buyer has choices. They can negotiate the rate directly with Marriott, or they can work with a Corporate Travel agency, but what's clear is Marriott is working to leverage their loyalty program, and put the power back into the hands of the traveler to let them do their own booking.

The way this can be done is with the business traveler using the rate code vs. booking it through the travel agency. The rate code insures the negotiated rate is applied, but there's no comission back to the agency. For agencies, they need to work on a fee basis, vs. the commission basis. That means negotiating for their clients vs. buying for their clients. They have to manage, not just sell.

For in house travel departments this isn't a problem. The travel manager can establish a direct relationship with Marriott vs. going through their agency. For the agencies, they see this as one more effort by the travel industry to catch up and flatten the business model, squeezing out more profits vs. paying commissions.

What Marriott is doing is hacking the travel purchase model, doing pretty much what Uber is doing with transportation and Amazon is with shopping. They are breaking down the model to change what the middleman does and how they make their money.  At the end of the day, this all means the traveler needs to establish better relationships at the properties they stay at. Here are some tips on how to do that:

1. If you're a one time only guest, don't bother. Use your status and ask for as much as you can get in perks.

2. If you're a guest who will be regularly staying at a property, take the time to meet the hotel GM, Rooms Manager. When you know you're returning, given them a heads up as soon as you make your reservation, or better yet, let them book it directly.

3. When you are on property, ask to meet them for a coffee or a drink. Spend time, let them know what's going right, and wrong with your stay. Share other hotel experiences, both good and bad.

4. Become their favorite guest. As you visit other cities and if you stay in the same brand or family of brands properties ask them to give their peer a heads up for you, and let them share what you like, and don't like. The idea is to get you treated as well in the one time property the same way you do in your home away from home.

5. Be nice and be helpful. If you have some way of returning the favor do it. If you learn of someone's birthday, send them a note, or a small gift. By taking care of the people who take care of you, you'll win.

The key to all this is about what I call property loyalty. It goes well beyond brand loyalty because people in the hotel industry move around, and as they move around, you're reach and benefits of personal relationships will benefit you, and your business.