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Taken from the BBC wesbite today,

Labour’s shadow business secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey has said she doesn’t use taxi app Uber because it is not “morally acceptable”.

Here is the link to the article – http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-40567387

I have a few issues with this… and let me share them with you here…

1. Rebecca is the ‘Shadow Business Secretary’ – which means, she’s in the Shadow Cabinet (for those outside the UK, this means she’s not in the governing party, she’s in the opposing party), and the duty of the office holder is to scrutinize the actions of the government’s Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and develop alternative policies
   1. What’s my issue with this? – Well, Uber has been a massive success story… in the short space of time it’s been up and running, it’s today worth over $50bn!
   2. This is surely the future! – And it must be doing something right…
   3. Rebecca and her team must look at companies such as Uber, understand and work with them… (rather than against them!)
2. “Morally Unacceptable” – Basically saying, the workers are not treated right.
   1. What’s my issue with this? – Well, my father used to be a Taxi Driver. He worked the hours he could, and was paid for those hours. He didn’t receive any holiday pay, or sick leave.
   2. I appreciate Uber takes a percentage of the taxi fare… but then, you wouldn’t be getting those jobs if people weren’t using the App!
   3. Uber even stated that the drivers were making £15/hr after costs… and quote from Uber, “even after costs, the average driver took home well over the national living wage”
3. Don’t we want Flexibility? 
   1. I use Uber all around the World – never have I heard an Uber driver moan.
   2. The first thing they say is the flexibility is great! – A friend of mine even had a ‘mom’ pick him up from the office, because she’d just dropped the children off at school, saw the request come in, and thought why not make a little money before she goes home to do some housework!
   3. I don’t need to carry any currency, just log onto the App, request, and I can even share the journey with friends and family, so they can track that I got home safely, and I don’t need to worry about having the money to pay the driver.

On top of everything – there was a report out recently… that cash jobs such as window cleaning and decorating, were worth upto £6bn a year, which most of was untaxed! – taken from a government review of employment practices by Matthew Taylor. 

You couldn’t make it up, even if you tried.

That’s right – all those ‘cash in hand’ jobs, shouldn’t really be taking place, and all ‘money exchanges’ should be logged or transparent.

How can you do that? – well, if you use a credit/debit card – that’s one way to track all money going in and out. No chance of the odd fiver or tenner going missing.

I feel, we’re not making the progress and we’re not as forward looking, as we could be… we need to focus on being more efficient, more flexible and working with companies… who are doing something right.

Okay, they may need some help, we may need to work with them and say, hey… you guys need to do this.. or take care of your employees by not making them contractors and giving them a different employment status… and this has been highlighted in the report Matthew Taylor has written for the Government.

Let’s work collaboratively… with the companies, that are developing new technology and making things easy for us, like getting a taxi, or finding a room to stay for the night… let’s share with them, what they could do, to make it a better…

Folks, firstly my apologies for not posting on my blog earlier this week.

If you follow me on twitter, you may have noticed, that I was over in Berlin (Germany). I had various meetings to attend, people to see, things to talk about and projects to discuss.

Now, the title of this blog may suggest, I was there for the fashion week…

Those who know me, may take a moment to raise their hand and suggest that I may not be the most fashionable person they know, to which – you may be correct. But my Adidas Pharrell Williams yellow jacket with red dots is something that sure does stand out in my wardrobe!

Back to the Fashion Week… so as I landed at Tegel Airport, there was a sign saying, Berlin Fashion Week… this would also explain why most of the hotels very quickly booked up…

 

This got me thinking… I wonder how much of the Fashion show must be based around technology – or how many garments have some sort of electronics inside them, built in, or associated with the manufacture of them.

We may have all seen the 3D printed shoe… which, we all laughed at when they were being produced a few years back. But it was revolutionary – never before, were you able to design the shoe you wanted, have it printed and then wear it – all in a matter of a few hours!

3D Printing has advanced – and the shoes being printed now are of much better quality and look really good! – wonder if they do them in yellow?!

Then there’s the mirrors, that are able to super-impose a particular garment you like, onto you – so you can see what you look like wearing it… without wearing it!

I’ve seen t-shirts with built in electronics that are able to determine heart rate and other such measurements which then can communicate it all back to your smart phone.

There is so much happening in the space of Tech and Fashion. All the major fashion design houses around the world must be investigating, and looking to incorporate technology into what they are designing and producing. But I feel, the fundamental, underlining and most important element here is, that it must be comfortable!

That’s a customer requirement, right? – to wear something that is comfortable.

Mind you, it’s only a matter of time, before someone works on a camera being inserted into a bow tie – which you wear with your tuxedo to an event. which then is able to identify people you are talking to and automatically find them on social media (Linkedin, Twitter, Facebook, etc..) and share some key highlights with you immediately on your phone or your smart glasses.

Imagine…… Hi, my name is Bal… Hi, my name is… yes – I know who you are… and I know what you did last summer (you went to Majorca with the family, I can see that from the post you tagged yourself in, on Facebook).

Smart Wearable. It’s a term that we are seeing more and more… and here is a video, from Berlin Fashion week, which is explaining a) Why Berlin is ahead of most cities when it comes to Fashion and Tech and b) what is in store for Fashion and Tech…

Yesterday, I tweeted…

I had a few replies, and a few private messages.

What have you done now Bal?… Have you upset someone again?.. You get the picture, the usual ‘banter’ among friends.

So, what was I really doing in a room with some lawyers. Well, the lawyers were from the Legal Team. Whilst, as you may appreciate I can’t go into detail about what we spoke about and discussed – yep, I learnt a thing or two from them… what I can share is a common theme that was being discussed.

I was in the room, not only for my good looks, but for my knowledge and experience in technology.

We talk about many industries and departments becoming more and more ‘digitized’. With that, I mean, more automation, simpler processes through using the latest technology and more importantly.. taking advantage of some of the latest technology that is available to make the department more efficient and effective.

We can clearly, and physically, see it in manufacturing. Robots at the end of a manufacturing line, stacking boxes onto pallets whereas a number of years ago, you had people doing the same job.

Why were these robots introduced? Well, they may have been expensive but they were quicker… easier… and more efficient. The ROI would have been realised within a short period of time.

More and more automation has been introduced into manufacturing.

Along with the robots, and with further advancements in technology, we’ve become smart… we now have wearable technology (i.e. Smart Glasses) to help with tasks…

All this is great. And there’s more coming in the world of manufacturing. But what about other departments and areas?

Marketing… that’s an interesting one. It’s more likely to be called ‘Digital Marketing’ these days.

So, back to, why was I in a room with lawyers from our legal team.. well, it was to discuss, what is some of the latest technology, that we could use, to make some of the processes in Legal more effective and efficient.

You might be thinking, Legal AND Technology? – really? – Yep… it’s happening in all areas. All functions. All departments. Change is coming…

And just to prove the point, here’s a video, from Berlin, of a hackathon focused on Legal, my favourite line from the video is “the marriage of law and technology is interesting”.

It sure is… it’s very interesting.

Last week, was London Tech Week – and on this blog, I shared what it was about, what to look out for and my thoughts on some comments the Mayor of London had said and around Smart Cities.

I was able to go down for a few days… there was a lot going on, and it was great to see how everyone was willing to learn and understand, share and interact with audiences and communities.

First for me, was Tug Life…

A pop-up event, with 12 events, 50 speakers over 4 days… it was great. I was able to listen and learn to some key people. There was some great information being shared, for example, the Four Stages of Creativity…

I was also asked to share a few words, which I gladly did. I spoke about how retail is changing, and how with the advancement of technology is helping us digitally engage with products – and how important it is for customers to experience the journey and story of what they are buying into. Traditional methods made this easy, but now it’s slightly more difficult in the digital space as a) it’s easier to do, and b) how can you stand out from all your competitors.

On Thursday, I was over at the Excel Centre for Tech XLR8…

There was ALOT going on! – and that was only a good thing. Honestly, from the various talks being given around the various rooms in the centre, to the folk exhibiting their latest technology and engaging people to understand and experience…

An example, Daqri had a booth where they had their smart helmets and glasses – folk where coming along, understanding that you don’t need a whole huge infrastructure – you can start small and grow with your needs. This is just one example, there were many more folk showing similar technology…

Then there was the Robotics zone..

I could write 2 or 3 blogs just on what they were showing and demonstrating. Let’s be honest, robotics is becoming more and more popular and the use of robotics in a variety of industries is becoming more and more effective. For example, takeaways, and a certain delivery company using robots for deliveries (rather than humans)…

And then there was my first love… Kodak

who have been using their camera and lens knowledge to develop some amazing 360 cameras, and other new tech… it looks like, they’re beginning to do something effective with their knowledge of cameras.

All in all, a great few days, and more importantly, I was able to not only share my knowledge and experience, but also take in & learn from industry experts, especially around Robotics and Reality (both, Augmented and Virtual).

There were many more events taking place around the capital city.. and next year, i’m looking forward to spending the whole week and participating in more events.

The more we are able to collaborate, the more we are able to experiment on new ideas.

 

So, here it is… London Tech Week 2017!

‘Where creativity, talent and innovation come together’ – and that is so true. There’s a number of events, activities and (drinking/after parties) taking place all week. People are flying in from around the world to take part by sharing knowledge and learning from others.

There’s some great events… I’m not going to go through them all (you can find them on Google – oh, who are also hosting some events), but at the Excel Centre, you have have the Tech XLR8. It has some brilliant people attending and fantastic talks each day, every day, this week.

You’ll get the usual in various places.. such as Robot’s welcoming you…

to lots of creative people and activities taking place. The Mayor of London opened Tech Week…

One of the things that were mentioned was how, Sadiq Khan wants to transform London to a ‘World’s Leading Smart City’. He announced there would be some investment, for example the £1.6m investment for the clean technology incubator, Better Futures.

There’s also a new Tech Innovation Centre, that’ll home 800 startups in the East End of London.

This is all great. My thoughts for a ‘Smart City’? – there’s a few key ingredients you need… (and looks like, London has many of them).

1. Smart Leadership – It all starts from the top. With the Mayor opening the week (which is great example of Leadership believing in that technology is key to the City), to the leaders of some major organisations & companies around the World coming to London to talk and learn.
2. Smart People – There are a lot of smart people around London. Many of them are doing events from Tech XLR8 to Tug Life, to many more. Smart people connecting at these events is only a good thing!
3. Smart Thinking – It’s when these connections are made, that they can then foster a relationship and blossom the ideas generated. Thinking together and having opportunities (including Space, Offices, etc…) will help ideas move into a ‘pilot’ phase.
4. Smart Results – The first London Tech Week was in 2014. It’s only become bigger and better over the years – and this shows that there are actions that are taking place and more importantly, delivering results.

I feel, any city, in the UK, can do this. A number of cities (outside of London) are in London, taking advantage of the audience and promoting what they can offer and sharing some of their experiences – most of which are just outside of London.

So, the question is.. Bal, which events are you attending?

I’ll be at the Excel Centre, a few others… but one i’m looking forward to is Tug Life III…

I’ll be there on Thursday morning – which has a great title (each day, there is a different topic) and looking forward to listening to key experts share their knowledge and what they think is going to happen.

Human Vs Machine. Isn’t that so relevant for everything tech related today.

Recently, I was talking to my nephew about jobs. The conversation was centered around how jobs have changed, how requirements are different and why there’s so many new job titles appearing. For example, we didn’t have Chief Innovation Officers that long ago… also, the one I quite like, are Big Data Scientists. Sounds like they are really clever.. and to be fair, the ones I know, are.

Nephew, change is gonna come.

It’s true. In fact, it’s happening right now. For example, if we go back around 20 years ago, most executives and managers had secretaries and administrators to write their memo’s… read memo’s and letters they’d received, schedule calendar events, organise meetings, etc… With technology, the need for a secretary/admin person has been diminished. There was the ‘Blackberry’, sorry, there is the ‘Blackberry’ as it’s still around, which could do most of those tasks. Now, with newer phones and devices, you can do a lot more by yourself, not needing someone.

Talking about needing someone, well you don’t really. There’s even robot’s that have been developed, with whom, if you wanted to, make love to! Who needs ‘Date Night’?!

And with technology, the emotional side of things also increase. For example, Robots being able to pick up emotions, tone of the voice, feelings, etc… and being able to respond back. Don’t forget, they’re all programmed, so what-ever they know, and how they react will be the right way – and on top of that, if it’s unsure of a situation, through a clever learning process, it’ll learn about new situations and events, and act accordingly. And this is especially important for all the men out there – if you’re like me, you’re probably always saying the wrong things at the wrong time in the wrong place.

Yes, there’s been films and documentaries on this. And yes, it is scary. But going back to my point of change.. a lot of the jobs that exist today, will not exist in the future.

Taxi/Bus Drivers – Driverless cars (which are already being tested)

Doctors and Nurses – Computers, Cameras and Scanners  – machinery that can understand and diagnose what may be the problem with your health.

Designers – don’t even need them! – “An algorithm has usurped the traditional role of a designer to generate millions of unique packaging designs for Nutella.”, shown in the video below….

There’s so many examples… look at how retail is changing. More and more grocery stores are opting for the ‘self-checkouts’ in their physical stores. And I say physical stores, because there’s more and more on-line shopping taking place, where you don’t even need a physical presence.

This blog, which is about lean thinking in a digital world, has a header image… I think that answers for a lot that is going on. A lot of start-ups are challenging traditional thinking. A number of entrepreneurs are looking for ways in which they can do something a lot more easier. I think it was Bill Gates who said, if there’s a task to be done, he’ll find the laziest person to do it, as they’ll find the easiest way to do it.

Think of anything. Think of its process. And make it simple. It’s as easy as that. That’s the basic fundamentals of Lean Thinking. The Digital World part… is introducing, if not already done so, new technology to the process. With that mix, you’ve got something exciting…

 

You must have heard of the acronym KISS being used in various ways… the one that I use and remember the most is Keep It Simple Silly!

I’ve spoken previously of how things should be really simple, easy and effective. And on this blog, I share how frustrated I can get when anything.. absolutely anything, prevents a process from being simple.

It could be people, it could be anything.. that makes processes more complicated than what they need to be. We should also be reviewing what is happening and how we can make it easier again. Admittedly, processes and ways of working can get complex over time because various people will input and add their ‘stamp’ or ‘mark’ to the process or procedure.

We’ve seen organisations helping others to make life easier….

One is Amazon, and their dash button. It is so easy, even a baby could use it! – It’s so simple, that a baby could use it! It’s so effective that the parents of the baby would be happy!

This week, I’ve decided to spend a few days by the coast. Whilst checking in, I noticed this…

Based on the same principles of the Amazon Dash… press the button and the taxi arrives at the hotel to pick you up. No need to pre-book, no need to talk to anyone, just press the button when you’re ready and the taxi is on it’s way. There are some restrictions – if there’s more than 4 passengers, give them a call… which is fair enough because you’ll probably need a bigger car.

Personally, I think, we need more of this!

Even the process of entering the hotel, providing my information (name, etc…), credit card (for payment), etc.. could be made a lot easier.

I was thinking, what about a self-check in station… similar to what they have in restaurants (McDonalds, etc…) where you can walk in, use a screen to order your food and patiently wait.

Ok, takes the personal feel out… but it’d be quicker and easier for those wanting to check in quickly. Or what about the hotel having an app – everything is done on the app – to the point where your phone could unlock the room!

The possibilities are endless…

Isn’t it great, when you are offered something for free?

For example, I was in Brussels Sunday and Monday gone. When I arrived at the Hilton Hotel, and whilst checking in, the lady said Thank You for being a loyal Hilton customer and here’s a voucher for a free drink at the bar.

Wow – free drink! I’ve not been offered one before in all my stays at the Hilton in Brussels. Not sure why I was offered one on this occasion, but I’ll kindly accept. Thank you.

Now this is customer service, and got me thinking – have they been reading my blog? – picked up on my experience at the Mercure Hotel? – do they remember from previous visits, that once upon a time, I wasn’t happy with the service of the staff at this same hotel? or is it, that I’ve been staying here so many times they’ve decided to reward me?

Well, I could have kept on thinking but I didn’t, as I sipped away on my free large beer…

Why do companies offer ‘freebies’?

Well, there’s a number of reasons. Some mentioned above – to reward loyal customers, to keep them engaged with the brand, etc… usually, it’s when there’s a new product or item being launched and free (usually smaller versions) of the product are sent out or provided to people to taste, sample, enjoy… so they’ll remember it next time they are shopping.

You even have websites dedicated to free items, such as http://www.latestfreestuff.co.uk/ or http://dealnews.com/freebies/ – there’s many more like these out there.

And this is not a recent thing…

Big brands have been doing it for a while. Enticing the customer in… giving them a taste and marketing it in a way they want more.

I think it’s a great way to drive business because customers know what they want and buy their regular items. For something new, they’ll need to learn about it, the benefits (this could be healthier choice, something more enjoyable than their regular item or it’s a lower cost without compromising quality).

Not just consumables, photographers, designers, whatever you do, you could do something free for a few folk, or even do something free for charities, where your talent is showcased and people know what you’re capable off. If they see something you’ve done, and think… wow! – they’ll a) remember you and b) compare you to others they would have noticed.

And that’s exactly what businesses and organisations want. To be remembered.

For me, I will be staying at the Hilton again, when in Brussels.

Though, not expecting another free beer. But hey, if they offer me one… I won’t say no.

Sunday just gone, I was at BBC Radio Nottingham. This was my second time here – first time I was on, I was sharing my views on all things great about Technology.

Invited back, I shared some more thoughts about technology – mainly centered around politics, social media, how the Police are using data and why we should maybe take a break from Facebook, every now and again.

If you didn’t get a chance to listen – it’s available on the BBC Nottingham website – listen back to Kaval Vaseer’s show.

Now, at this point, you’re probably thinking – Bal, there’s got to be an easier way to listen back – rather than finding the BBC website, finding the show, finding last Sunday’s episode, then listening to all the music and great conversations till I get to your part….

Yes there is.

Click below 🙂

As you know, in this blog… I like to share all sorts of examples that happen to me, have happened or things I feel would be interesting to you guys.

One thing that really gets to me is bad customer service –

Why? – because the customer is the one paying you, and if they have a bad experience, what are the chances of them coming back? – that’s right – zero to none.

On Sunday night, I checked into the Mercure Hotel in Brighton.

Upon check-in, i’m informed, car park charges – £18 (which I wasn’t informed at the time of booking) and breakfast is included (which at the time of booking I wasn’t informed).

I ask the receptionist twice – are you sure about the car park charges (because, being honest, I could’ve got another hotel, elsewhere which had a free car park) and are you sure about the breakfast?

Twice she said, Yes – car park £18, and breakfast included.

It was about 8.30pm and too late for me to find another hotel so I agreed to the car park charges.

Went to my room – and stayed the night. In the morning, I scheduled my day, to get up, have breakfast, check out, (already looked on Google Maps the time it would take me to get to the location I needed to be at for my meeting), and planned it out.

So, Monday morning, I’m up head towards breakfast, and sit down. About to tuck into my bacon and i’m told that my room is with ‘breakfast not included’.

The lady on reception is the one who was there last night. I informed the breakfast staff, the reception informed me that breakfast was included. I asked twice and she said Yes, it’s included. The lady then denied knowledge of what she said.

Unfortunately, the manager of the hotel does not start till 3pm. So, the one in charge until the manager comes over. I inform him what happened, the lady again, denies knowledge (though other people heard her and my colleague was there heard her). The caretaker manager then says, sorry, as it’s not included, you can’t have it.

There was no apology.

There was no compassion.

There was… nothing.

Now i’m in a situation, where I have to find breakfast, potentially be late for my meeting and on top, still pay £18 for the car park.

I explained this all to the person in charge, but there was… nothing. A shrug of the shoulder and I receive…  “nothing I can do mate” response.

Firstly, not your ‘mate’ and secondly, not only will I not be coming back, but also, my colleague won’t be.

On top – I tweet the incident, only to find, friends have had similar ‘bad’ experiences with Mercure Hotels.

What would I like to have seen?

Sorry Mr Bansal, there’s been a mistake, it’s taken a while as you’ve been stood there for 5-10minutes, you’re probably getting late, let me get you a croissant as gesture of goodwill and hope you will stay with us again where we have the opportunity to serve you and make things right.

Cost of a croissant – £1

Cost of a night in the hotel – £80

Cost of losing 2 customers (who are coming back to the area) – £160.

Cost of losing more customers who read the tweet and other social media, influencing the decision – (for example, 10) – £800 +

This is why, Customer Service is so important. You are losing a guaranteed £160 for the sake of £2… and potentially over £800 in revenue due to 2 croissants.