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On the road to social finances

October 23, 2009 / Arne / 0 Comments

I love the road. Whether it is the open road for driving or the roads to the future. Last year, Ford and I teamed up for the pitchstops on the road to the Web 2.0 Expo. Today, I am happy to announce that Ford and I will be getting on the road again. This time I will travel to the Somesso conference in Zürich on the 2nd and 3rd of November.

Somesso focuses on corporate social media and this time has a very clear focus on the combination of social media and finances. And as Somesso is held in Zürich, it is a perfect conference to visit if you are into finances. So far, many of the main financial institutions will be attending to learn about the combination of social media and finances.

I know that many have their own thoughts on how social media should change the way in which we approach money. This is why I have chosen to use this trip as a platform to share these thoughts. This time you can climb in the back of Ford’s luxurious Galaxy to share your views on how social media could change the financial sector. Anyone and everyone with a clear vision on social media and finances is welcome. Naturally, we would love it if you have taken action on your vision and have a business that leads the way. If not? We would love to hear your vision anyway.

All the interviews we will record during the trip will be posted on www.pitchstops.com. I say “we” record as I will be joined on the road by Steven Kruyswijk who will be on camera duty during the trip. And besides posting the videos on the site, we will also be officially presenting them to the audience at Somesso, on stage. So, your thoughts will be heard by a very influential group of financial professionals. Another reason to take part.

For our last trip you needed to be present to take part. This time however, I have decided to broaden the scope. After all, the financial sector has had a huge impact on our lives over the past year. This has gotten a lot of people thinking about alternative ways to organize finances. If you have your own view, but cannot make it to the car, you can still participate. Make a short video of yourself of three minutes maximum, upload it to youtube and send me the link to the video. Yes, I will be screening the videos first, but all worthwile contributions will be added to www.pitchstops.com.

So, lets get shooting! The Pitchstops car will make its first stop in Amsterdam on Friday the 30th of October. After that we will stop in Antwerp, and possibly in Brussels, Luxemburg, Strasbourg and Zürich. None of these stops have officially been planned yet, so give us your ideas for a great location that does not take long to get to (from the highway) and get people to come join us in the Ford Galaxy.

The Ford Galaxy

Vodafone Mobile Clicks and the augmented reality of tears of joy

September 26, 2009 / Arne / 0 Comments

The room was dark and the heat got to both the presenting startups as well as the audience. The setting was the Vodafone Mobile Clicks finals at the Picnic festival in Amsterdam. Up for grabs was 150.000 Euro’s. A big amount in anyone’s book, but for bootstrapping startups the three prices would mean a lot more. IT would mean a new window of opportunity and the possibility to take their company a step further. Finalists Audioboo, Layar, Woobius, My Name is E, Rummble and Mobypicture battled in front of a very critical jury, but never lost that comradery that comes from being a startups together. The emotions ran high with tears for both victorious startups and startups that missed the top three positions. To Audioboo, My Name is E and Rummble all I can say is, guys you’re all on my phone and I loved your presentations.

A great addition to the pack of startups was Woobius, the third place winner. As the only one aimed at an enterprise market, Woobius aims for an audience that is rarely represented at this kind of event. It was awesome to see the surprise of the group, who saw themselves as underdogs, when they heard they could come up to pick up their third price. Congratulations guys and lets stay in touch, I will have some leads for you.

Mobypicture hardly needs any introduction. Mathys has been a friend ever since I met him and I just love his service. During the finale Mobypicture launched no less than 6 new features. An awesome step and something to be proud of. Your second place was well deserved Mathys and I love your passion for shoot and share.

One of Layar’s demonstrations for their new 3D technology is a rocket taking off. It could not have been chosen more appropriately. Since its launch, Layar has swept the world of its feet with its augmented reality browser. The world has been at their feet ever since. Maarten did a presentation which harnessed so much passion that it was impossible to beat. And the rollercoaster continues. Taking first price, the Layar team has seen a great reward for following its dreams. And for Maarten, the last year has been the ride of his life.

Congratulations to you all and I will be seeing more of all of you, I am sure.

Sorry, our product wouldn’t work, but theirs would

September 1, 2009 / Arne / 0 Comments

Sometimes, helping your customers means not selling them anything. Last week I came across a great example of that when I was in Dieppe, France. I had deliberately not brought any other electronics than my iPhone to make sure I would not do any work. And that is when you know you will run into another problem. My problem turned out to be the memory cards of our digital camera. When we drove into Dieppe on our first Saturday to enjoy the festivities around La Solitaire du Figaro, we noticed that we forgot to empty our Xd memory cards. As our camera is almost five years old, it is regarded an ancient relic of the days when 5 megapixel pictures were great.

Stretching my French, I went around a mall to find a number of shops who were very willing to sell me a 2Gb Xd card for my camera. However, as a true Dutchman, I had found that prices for the card ranged between € 17,90 to € 34,95. So I decided to visit a last large electronics store to see what their offer would be. And I was rewarded as Darty did have the cheapest 2Gb card there. However, to my surprise I was approached by a salesman as I took the memory card off the rack. He asked me if he could help and what camera I intended to use the card for. I explained the situation to him and said that I needed to have a card as we ran out of space on the others. He assured me it would not work on my camera. Being stubborn, I decided that I wanted to buy it anyway as I had not seen any cards smaller than the one I had in my hands. But my salesman insisted that I wouldn’t buy it and he called a colleague over who went through great lenghts to explain to this foreigner where I could find a small photo store that would stock 256Mb cards that would suit our camera much better.

I came out of that store a happy man. Not only was I prevented to buy a product that would not work for me, I was also pointed at another store that would have the product that I needed. The two salesmen were great, because as I decided I was going to give it a try anyway, they insisted that I should not buy from them, but go to a place which suited my needs much better. And it did. As a result, next time I am in Dieppe and I need electronics, I know I will head out to the Darty store.

De klant als verstorende factor in het perfecte productieproces

August 17, 2009 / Arne / 0 Comments

Voor sommige mensen is de klant soms gewoon lastig. Als zij lekker aan het werk zijn moet een klant ze niet storen met triviale zaken als vragen of verzoeken. Er wordt gezucht, gesteund en soms erger. Er wordt gezegd dat mensen er niet zijn, omdat dit interne stuk eerst af moet. Voor mij is het een ergernis. Uiteindelijk is het de klant die de organisatie bestaansrecht geeft.

Vorige week heb ik daarover in een twitter discussie een uitspraak gedaan die Jacqueline Fackeldey heeft aangegrepen om een hele goede en terechte blogpost te schrijven. Heel herkenbaar en goed om te lezen. Een aanrader.

Mijn tweet – met dank aan Jacqueline Fackeldey voor de screenshot.

Travel made easy

August 4, 2009 / Arne / 0 Comments

Travel made easy

Lately I have been using public transport more and more. To help the experience, and to save some money, I bought myself an NS discount card. To my surprise the discount card is now loaded on an OV chipcard. A card which helps you pay for public transport around the Netherlands. Or that is the plan. Right now it just works in Amsterdam and Rotterdam on metro’s, trams and busses. Catching a bus today I decided to try the card as I did not have anything else on me. To my surprise it worked and paid my trip without me charging it beforehand.

Back home I decided to dig into what seemed to be a very customer friendly solution. I almost expected the NS (Dutch railroads) to have delivered a card with an automatic charging solution which would enable me to travel without having to think about recharging the card. Alas, upon further investigation it turns out that the NS has the possibility to charge the card, but they choose not to do it. So I dug into the NS site to find where I could switch on automatic recharging. But to no avail. Apparently the only way to do it is to register on the official OV chipcard site and to set the options for charging there. A missed chance for NS customer service if you ask me.

57 channels and nothing on

June 29, 2009 / Arne / 0 Comments

57 channels and nothing on

Watching TV is a particularly frustrating activity. I seldom really watch TV and if I do, it is frustrating. No, not because of the commercials. Simply because when I have time to watch the TV there usually is nothing on that is worth watching. It is amazing to see that TV schedules seem to be focused on making sure nothing worth watching is going to be on when I am free to watch.

The strange thing that we have grown to accept is that the TV dictates our lives. If you want to see a movie, you have to sit in front of the box at the time the programmers decided it has to be showed. I know people who have a television schedule. They sit down on Monday to watch this, this and this and then Tuesday is off, Wednesday it is this and so forth. In the Netherlands, having an evening coffee usually coincides with the eight o’clock news and nobody seems to remember which one claimed that timeslot first.

TV is an entertaining medium is the mantra. So, it is entertainment that you can consume passively. If it does not coincide with times you are available, you should get yourself a harddisk recorder the suggestion goes. Is that what we have come up with in this day and age? I have tried that with VHS and believe me, it didn’t work.

In my opinion, TV channels are a thing of the past. something that we need to get rid of as soon as possible. I want a TV with just one channel. My channel. A channel where I select what I want to watch and what broadcaster I get it from. So I might want to see the latest updated news broadcast at seven and then watch a movie, followed by an episode of a series and finishing the night with a documentairy. Or when I feel like something else, I want to be able to select that. I want to be the boss of my TV. I want to tell it what I want to watch when. And in my opinion TV broadcasters should listen to this trend more. I don’t just want to see the same program half an hour later, if facts change, I want to see an updated news broadcast. Commercials I am not bothered about, though if prompted I might want to pay a little money to watch a movie without them. But I want to be able to decide what I do with my time and when I watch what on my digital tv. My.Channel, please launch

De heffing is geweldig. “Overheid, help!”

June 23, 2009 / Arne / 1 Comment

De heffing is geweldig. “Overheid, help!”

Vandaag stond in Trouw te lezen dat de commissie Brinkman vandaag adviseert om een heffing op internetaansluitingen in te stellen vanuit de overheid. De heffing moet gebruikt gaan worden om innovatieve initiatieven in de krantenwereld te financieren. In april besloot de Stichting Onderhandelingen Thuiskopievergoeding (SONT) al om een heffing in te voeren op digitale opname en afspeel appraratuur met een opslagmogelijkheid. De heffing is geweldig.

Het klinkt misschien wat overdreven, maar ehct, de heffing is geweldig. De heffing is het enige middel dat er voor zorgt dat een verouderd businessmodel toch kan blijven renderen. Want uiteindelijk komt het daar op neer. Het internet is immers niet nieuw. De kranten hebben al heel lang aan zien komen dat er andere maniere van nieuwsgaring gaan ontstaan. Ze konden op hun klompen aanvoelen dat het businessmodel dat is ontstaan rond 1605 met Relation, wellicht de 21e eeuw niet zou gaan overleven. Ook omdat het delen van nieuws via het internet al een van de meest populaire activiteiten was.

Op een andere manier geldt hetzelfde voor artiesten. De structuren die de afgelopen eeuw zo succesvol zijn geweest, worden langzaam onderuit gehaald door het gemak van downloaden en bestandsdeling. Ook hier konden de platenmaatschappijen al jaren geleden aan zien komen dat de huidige manier van verkopen langzaam zijn einde zou gaan vinden. Half jaren negentig waren muziek en films al te vinden via de ftp sites van diverse universiteiten. En hoewel de kwaliteit toen nog te wensen overliet, was te voorzien dat dat binnen afzienbare tijd zou gaan veranderen.

Op het moment dat je geconfronteerd wordt met een verouderd businessmodel en teruglopende inkomsten, kon je maar twee dingen doen. Je kon erin berusten en langzaam ten onder gaan, of je kon je schouders er onder zetten en een nieuw model maken om weer geld te verdienen. Nu is er de derde optie. Je gaat naar de overheid, je klaagt en je stelt een commissie in. De commissie brengt dan een advies uit voor een heffing, zodat je niet zelf hoeft te investeren in een nieuw businessmodel voor je product. Ideaal. Maar als ik heel eerlijk ben, dan zie ik dat niet als meer dan een doekje voor het bloeden. Want succesvolle ondernemingen en succesvolle producten komen voor uit visie. Vanuit die visie komen ook de mogelijkheden om geld te verdienen met je product. En mocht dat niet meteen lukken, dan pas je je businessmodel wat aan, net zo lang tot je verdient. Want consumenten zijn best bereid om te betalen, als het maar is voor iets waarin ze waarde zien.

Iran is on fire, and I am there…

June 19, 2009 / Arne / 1 Comment

Iran protests for the 5th straight day #iranelection

So many people have written about it. Go to google and you will find stacks of blogposts, articles and tweets on how twitter beat CNN and regular media in the race for news from Iran. And it is true. Where other media are in big trouble getting the story out from Iran, twitter brings the news to your doorstep. And not just in 140 characters. It have been the pictures that have really caught my attention. They show the devastation of the people and the way the regime is trying to keep the peace by surpressing any other options. Killing cellphones during the day, raiding dorms and universities, shooting protesters and generally keeping people from gathering by the use of brute force. It has turned from a protest into a battle not just for freedom, but a battle for a humane existence. An existance in which you are free to speak your doubts about your government and to ask them to justify their actions.

Personally, I have not seen anything from this close since watching the TV the day the Berlin wall came down. Not even when I was in email contact with people during the war in Serbia and Bosnia. This is real time, these are people you can relate to. People you can talk to. Ask questions, get answers and live with them through their times of hardship. This is how technology is putting us in new situations. How it is pulling us together and allowing us to do what we do best. Be human and build relationships. Because no matter what your political background or what your interests are, we are all humans and we all care for our families, friends and children. And then it does not matter what country you are in or what race you belong to. You are a friend.

U beschadigt mijn naam. Google zegt het.

May 11, 2009 / Arne / 1 Comment

Gisteren met opperste verbazing zitten lezen over de rechtzaak die Autobedrijf Zwartepoorte heeft aangespannen tegen Miljoenhuizen.nl. Uiteraard heb ik het uit de media moeten vernemen, maar het lijkt erop dat Autobedrijf Zwartepoorte Miljoenhuizen.nl enkel aanklaagt voor smaad op basis van de zoekresultaten van Google. Door “Zwartepoorte failliet” in te tikken en er op te zoeken vind men dat de indruk gewekt zou worden dat het autobedrijf inderdaad failliet is. Doordat de geruchten al een tijdje gonzen, zou de zaak behoorlijke schade ondervinden van mensen die nu geen zaken meer met Autobedrijf Zwartepoorte willen doen.

Het artikel in de PZC

Het is een geweldige rechtzaak die goed laat zien hoe weinig er eigenlijk nagedacht wordt over de manier waarop Google werkt. Maar ook een zaak die aantoont hoe klakkeloos er overgenomen wordt wat op internet gezegd wordt. Bij Miljoenhuizen.nl komt het zoekresultaat blijkbaar voort uit de combinatie van twee comments waarin in een iets wordt gezegd over een ander bedrijf dat failliet is en in een ander wordt iets gezegd over Autobedrijf Zwartepoorte. Een toeval dat een zoekresultaat oplevert waarmee de eigenaren niet blij zijn. En op zich wel begrijpelijk. Alleen is het wel zo dat een zoekresultaat op deze manier nooit voorkomen kan worden.

Ik ben heel benieuwd naar het resultaat en de uitspraak. Mocht Autobedrijf Zwartepoorte in het gelijk worden gesteld, dan stem ik er in ieder geval voor om in hoger beroep te gaan. Want op het moment dat hierover een negatieve principe uitspraak gedaan gaat worden, lopen we met z’n allen een duidelijk risico op beperking van vrijheid van meningsuiting. Want wie weet welke woorden je dan niet meer in combinatie op een site kunt gebruiken.

(Overigens ben ik benieuwd wanneer ik mijn eerste mail ga ontvangen, want in de zoekresultaten kom ik nu ook al redelijk hoog naar voren…)

The masses are dead

May 9, 2009 / Arne / 0 Comments

Ahhhh, the good old days. The days in which every company was there for its own good and was solely focussed on making as much profit as possible. The time when marketing was push and all you needed to do was broadcast the positives of your product as much and as loud as possible. The good old days. The days when you could be a marketing executive and mainly be concerned about the way your suit looked so people would admire you and your success. Your full page adds oozed smugness and glorious satisfaction based on your product. The glorydays of the P’s of marketing.

Snap out of it. There is no more use in trying to find the perfect five P’s to get the largest group of average customers for your product as there is use in going the manual for your dial telephone as a guidline for using your PDA. The average customer does not exist. And these days it shows more than ever. And as a brand, you need to be aware of this. In fact, you need to be aware that whatever you are doing, whoever you are and whatever you are making, you are a brand. And a brand needs to appeal to people. Not to the masses, but to the person.

Do you know your customers? Do you know who they are? Do you know what they are interested in? Do you know what they care about? Do you know what makes them tick? Lets face it, in todays world just sending them a nicely formulated mass mail message with their name on it will not make it happen. And you don’t have to. Todays technology can help you learn so much about your customers. Enough that will enable you to relate to them and dialogue with them, not just talk to them.

Laten we herdenken. En bouwen.

May 4, 2009 / Arne / 0 Comments

Vandaag is het 4 mei. Dodenherdenking. Een dag als alle anderen. Ogenschijnlijk dan.

4 mei gaat over oorlog. Over strijd. Over mensen die hun leven hebben gelaten. Daar staan we twee minuten bij stil. En daarna gaan we verder met ons leven.

Of gaat 4 mei over meer? Gaat 4 mei over liefde, over passie en over verlangen naar een tijd die beter is. Gaat 4 mei niet over de mensen die een keuze maakte. Een keuze om op te staan. Om te weerstaan. Om een vuist te maken naar alles dat ze tegenhield. Tegen alles dat stond voor haat en verdrukking. Tegen alles dat ingaat tegen de menselijke natuur. Die natuur die onszelf laat verlangen naar vrijheid. Laat verlangen naar liefde, laat verlangen naar elkaar. Leven met elkaar. Om elkaar te ondersteunen. Elkaar te laten groeien. En elkaar te laten ontwikkelen tot alles dat we zouden kunnen zijn.

Laten we dat onthouden. Laten we daar voor staan. En laten we samen kijken hoe we technologie kunnen inzetten om te herdenken, te vieren en vooral, om te bouwen aan een toekomst voor iedereen.