Posts Tagged ‘Fuzion’
Protected: Credit Control Warrior
April 10, 2010Students “Doing the Business”
March 29, 2010
I had the honour and pleasure of being one of the judges at the Cork Schools Enterprise Finals at CIT in Cork this month. This initiative was sponsored by Cork County and City Enterprise Boards.
It basically consisted of transition year students starting a business and running it as a project as part of their development. In my section I was judging the City entrants with Natasha Lynch from Essential French and we had 6 good contestants to review. It was a pity there weren’t more entrants from the City but I guess the schools are quite busy these days – I would recommend it to any school as it seemed like a fabulous experience for all of them.
It was incredible meeting these enthusiastic students, who showed us their business plans, their ideas, their “inventions”. They shared with us their real-life experiences including “power struggles” and disagreements, disappointments and successes along the way. They poured their energy into all of their projects and already you could see how these unique experiences will stand to all of them.
To all of those students, their teachers, CIT and the Cork City and County Enterprise Boards – I salute you!
To the winners (which from my point of view was everyone who participated and learnt valuable life lessons) well done guys, you deserved it. To the guys from my old school Spioraid Naoimh, keep up the good work – next year you might be in the prizes!
Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion Communications
Get Results – Complain Online!
March 1, 2010This is just a very simple follow up piece on an issue that I was having with Eircom, which was dragging on and on forever.
Basically I was pretty much getting no satisfaction, I was being passed from pillar to post and getting nowhere fast.
In the meantime I read an interesting article about how many years ago a guy in the States blogged about lousy service he had received from Dell Computers. Once he had blogged the post was noticed online and soon there was an avalanche of people with the same problems & eventually Dell spotted the commotion, reacted and more importantly took the issues on board and sorted out some serious issues they were having.
Eircom Business
I took the same approach and put my frustration on my blog (I circulated this through Facebook & Linkedin) and found that while no one in Eircom was listening through the normal channels the story online was quite different!
Within hours I had a guy onto me directly from Eircom responding to my blog post. The issue that had been dragging on forever was sorted within a week (well hopefully, when I get the credit I will know it is sorted).
On the positive side the issue was sorted, on the negative why did it take an online post to get a reaction?
The power of online media ..
Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion Communications
Have we less to say to our Customers?
February 15, 2010
Billboard Advertising in Ireland
I am amazed by the amount of empty billboards that I am seeing around the country at the moment.
In what I consider to be quite a good location quite close to where we live there are three billboards and they have been empty pretty much since the start of the year – eventually this weekend two of them were filled.
There are clearly huge cutbacks going on by the big mainstream advertisers.
Why did we advertise last year? The year before?
Is now a time for advertising less?
Is now a time for not talking to your customers?
Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion Communications
What would Darwin think of Nama?
February 9, 2010Charles Darwin the English scientist who passed away in 1882 had a very famous quote “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change”
What would he make of our property industry? In the muck for the best part of two years and no new initiatives, besides reducing prices and passing the buck from the developers to the banks to Nama. Is this the best that we can do?
Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion Communications
Eircom Business – Are you listening to your customers (part 2)
February 8, 2010
Eircom Business
This is a really strange one.
If you recall on my last blog on this issue I was sharing a huge frustration that I was having with Eircom Business for quite a while and quite politely getting nowhere fast.
I am not sure if this is good or bad? – Eircom actually responded literally within hours – ‘to my blog’ and not to my actual complaint.
The caller from Eircom Customer services, quite a nice lad Vince wanted to know in detail the nature of my complaint – this I guess is good?
Eircom cared enough to track what was being said by customers online and responded by tracking me down and listening to what I had to say.
On the negative side you must wonder why the ‘official’ channels don’t seem to work as well as the ‘online’ and unofficial public channels.
The issue still isn’t resolved, which is quite staggering, but I did get a response, which I guess is hopeful at least.
I will keep you posted ..
Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion Communications
Michael Courtney Tribute
February 1, 2010
We will meet again
Last week (26th January) a man that was very special to us sadly and unexpectedly passed away.
We were working together on the Hugh O’Flaherty Memorial Committee in Killarney for the last two years. Michael Courtney, a Councillor in Killarney and Chairman of the Committee brought energy, warmth, commitment and a unique sense of humour to the project. The whole team have made terrific strides since we began the project and in Michael’s honour we will be even more determined to achieve our ultimate goal.
Michael always appreciated our input to the project and thanked us in such a way that made you always feel very special.
We will miss him greatly at our meetings and we will especially miss the cup of tea afterwards in the restaurant at the International Hotel, where he always spent half the time chatting to pretty much everyone who entered the restaurant!
Michael, thank you ..
Greg Canty is a partner at Fuzion Communications
Blackberry Problems
January 3, 2010
Blackberry - Rollerball Problems
I heard before about a blog that was written by a guy about terrible problems that he was having with his Dell computer, which resulted in a huge reaction from others and eventually a reaction from Dell itself.
I am having a simple problem with my Blackberry, the rollerball is sticking. Ok, small problem but I can’t check texts, emails without spending ages repeatedly rolling and rolling and rolling.
Of course I popped into an O2 store who told me that there was a problem but it would have to be sent away for a week for repair. I have too much information on it and use it too much. I will probably be given a new one but you always end up with a huge pain in the backside of transferring contacts and losing some photos etc.
The friendly guy in the O2 store “off the record” suggested using a pin to poke out the rollerball and then use some cleaning materials on it. I failed miserably at my attempts to squeeze the rollerball out.
I should have known … I had the same issue with the previous model and still agreed to switch to this one!
I put my trust in a Google search to realise that loads or people are having the same problem – surely Blackberry know that this is a huge defect but are not dealing with it officially.
I have decided to switch to an iphone but as an experiment I am writing and tagging this blog to see if I get any reaction from Blackberry!
Blackberry are you listening to what is being said about your products online?
Let’s see !
Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion Communications, Marketing & PR
2009 – The Ultimate Business Boot Camp?
December 22, 2009
2009 – The Ultimate Business Boot Camp
Pretty much anyone who survived business in 2009 has had to dig deep, start operating really efficiently, offering good service and value and genuinely appreciating their customers. It has been normal and a matter of course to demand the same from suppliers, looking for value and quality service from everyone. Business practices have had to be sharpened in every area – to survive the services provided have had to be excellent and no longer just ok.
We have learnt more about ourselves this year I suspect, our resilience, our adaptability, our ability to deal with adversity and worry, our ability to work even harder, our customer knowledge, our staff motivational skills without writing cheques, our negotiating ability and even our credit control skills!
Has 2009 been the ultimate Business Boot Camp?
My dad was in the US army for 2 years and he always talks about how the Boot Camp period at the beginning was absolutely terrible but he will always say how is was totally valuable and necessary.
While it was incredibly challenging and really tough we are now better equipped than ever to face the future and reap the rewards of the upturn when it comes. I look forward to it!
Greg Canty is a partner in Fuzion Communications
It will get better when we stop saying it will get worse.
November 30, 2009
Getting Better
It will get worse before it gets better!
What was he thinking when he said this?
I am talking about Brian Cowen of course, the leader of our government, the leader of our country. I consider myself to be one of the very lucky ones in the last week with the floods. Except for a leaky roof in our office and a lack of running water, no floods and pretty much business as usual.
It is difficult to empathise with people who have had their houses flooded and their livelihoods effectively ended or at least seriously threatened due to the floods. What is it like to be exhausted after days of battling with flood water, struggling with no water to drink or wash, trying to clean up and rescue what you can from the debris? I can only imagine.
In that position I imagine I want to hear things like: “Don’t worry, you will be looked after”, “We will have it all sorted really soon”, not “It will get worse before it gets better” – that must make your hole seem ever deeper. Hope or despair?
Come on Brian, have some cop on will you? Bring people hope not despair. Besides managing how about leading for a change?
You made the same comments after the last budget – why do you think most of the country is half petrified about the economy and their livelihoods. Confidence and positivity will bring optimism, will loosen the purse strings and assist recovery not “It will get worse before it gets better”
It will only get better when we stop talking about it getting worse..
Greg Canty is a partner of Fuzion Communications, Dublin & Cork
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