Newsletter

At Foviance we’re becoming increasingly involved with gaming clients who are capitalising on new growth technologies – such as mobile.

Some of our clients are still investigating what their users want from mobile games and how and when they will be played. Some have developed prototypes and others are a long way down the path, simply looking for assistance in improving what they have already. Read more about: Mobile gaming: the state of play

Welcome to your latest edition of the Foviance newsletter. This issue sees the whole team mobilising to gain a more footloose and fancy-free perspective on the customer experience.

Frank Ma, our man in China, offers a fascinating insight into the mobile state of play in his own vast marketplace. Chris Holmes takes Apple’s latest toy home for the weekend but fails to be seduced by its good looks and charming first impressions. Jamie Barnett examines why Betfair is odds-on to turn its first-to-market mobile betting advantage into solid returns. And finally, Guy Stephens explains why ‘on-the-go’ points to a bright new future for customer service.

I would be very interested to hear from you directly with any feedback.

Paul

In this issue:

Mobile habits made in China

My weekend with the iPad

Gaming cuts loose

Customer service ‘on-the-go’

The most recent estimates of mobile phone penetration in China suggest that there are now in excess of 780 million handsets in use, including an increase of 30 million new phones in the last quarter alone. You might think that a mobile community larger than the total population of the US and Japan combined would also make it one of the most advanced markets in the world – but you would be wrong. Read more about: Mobile habits made in China

I was asked to field test Apple’s iPad presumably as penance for mouthing off about how impractical and uncomfortable I predicted it would be to use. While I haven’t changed my mind about the iPad, I’m also pleased to say that I was wrong about many details. So just like Jacob Nielsen recently did, I can now reveal my first usability findings for the iPad.

For the record, I started writing this article on the iPad which I was given to test-drive for the weekend, but its not currently very easy to get any copy off the device when typing in Pages, I had to give up and resort to my laptop. Read more about: My weekend with the iPad

Despite being one of the most robust and fastest growing markets for fixed-internet users, online gaming/gambling has been slow to be adopted by the mobile revolution.

There are many reasons for this; different screen sizes, platforms, functionality and overall complexity of delivering to different handsets, but one other reason for this neglect is the attitude to online gambling generally in the major US market. Although the industry is still worth many billions of dollars in the US and it is not technically illegal, there has been a stuttering history of acceptance to say the least. The most recent twist could soon make it illegal for financial institutions to knowingly accept payment in online gaming transactions, under a law that is set to take effect next month. Read more about: Gaming cuts loose

The increasing ubiquity of smartphones, innovations such as the iPad, and a fresh recognition of the importance of apps, has resulted in the possibility for a new kind of customer service: ‘on-the-go’.

This notion that a company can provide customer service ‘anytime, anywhere’ was really brought home to me last year. I was on a train checking for the latest tweets mentioning ‘Carphone Warehouse’ via Tweetdeck’s iPhone app when one particular tweet caught my attention. It was from someone who was trying to find out how to take the SIM card out of their iPhone. I had only recently done this myself, so I tweeted a link to an instructional YouTube video I had used. Read more about: Customer service ‘on-the-go’

Welcome to the latest edition of the Foviance newsletter. In this issue we focus on the continuing evolution of social media and its impact on customer experience.

On that subject I am delighted to introduce Guy Stephens who joined Foviance this month from Carphone Warehouse, where he helped improve the customer service function by utilising social media channels. He is now advising Foviance customers in the same field as part of our wider social media offering.

This month Guy has written an article considering the implications of time in the immediate worlds of the Twitterati, Billie keeps tabs on the often torrid relationship between social media and technology, while Jonathan attempts to steer dazzled app fans clear of the permanent beta trap. Finally Catriona backs calls to ensure professionalism and standards are developed as we all grow up in the social media spotlight.

I would be very interested to hear from you directly with any feedback or subjects you would like us to cover.

Paul

In this issue:

Twitter: to SLA or not to SLA?

Don’t fall into the permanent beta trap

Seven year itch for social media?

Industry Action Required – Sharpening social media practice

Recently I’ve been thinking about the impact Twitter has had on how time is viewed from a customer service perspective.

Companies continually strive to achieve greater levels of efficiencies, extracting what insightful nuggets they can through the detailed analysis of call volumes, first time fixes, abandonment rates, average handling times and more. Customers on the other hand, armed with increasing ubiquitous smartphones and a rich plethora of tools for self-expression, are becoming ever more vocal and more demanding. Read more about: Twitter: to SLA or not to SLA?