Thursday, June 28, 2007

Nespresso Ad

If I post today a video of Nespresso, it is mainly for two reasons. First, because I wanted to try to post a video as it is the first time I do. Second of all, it is because I saw Nespresso was present in the US, even though I have never seen any ads or commercials. I don't think it has a great success here though. Well, here is the complete ad, for people who might not have seen it.

Pub Nespresso - George Clooney
Video sent by cocovin

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Visite de Stanford


Cette semaine je me suis rendu à Stanford avec ma copine. Stanford est connue pour être l'une des plus prestigieuses universités américaines; et donc du monde. Le campus est superbe, très étendue, les locaux magnifiques, notamment l'église multiconfessionnelle.

Stanford est notamment très en vogue dans le domaine des nouvelles technologies, puisqu'elle se trouve au coeur de la Sillicon Valley. Stanford est d'ailleurs l'école où est sortie certains des leaders de cette nouvelle économie, tels que les fondateurs de Google, HP ou Steve Jobs.

Bien sûr, avec des frais de scolarités dépassant les 40 000 dollars annuels, vous comprendrez bien que l'on n'est pas dans la même dimension que des universités françaises, mais l'une des plus grandes richesses de Stanford, qui connait tout de même plus d'une vingtaine de prix Nobel comme enseignant, est bien les fonds privés. Ainsi, Bill Gates (qui n'a d'ailleurs pas fait Stanford) à ouvert une nouvelle structure pour l'école d'informatique, de même que Hewett et Packard ont aussi ouvert leurs propres locaux, grâce à leurs fonds propres.

Ainsi, Stanford est appellé à rester l'une des plus belles universités du monde; et il est vrai qu'on se verrait bien étudier là bas...

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

L'utilisation d'agences de conseils aux Etats Unis

Je voulais vous faire part d'une découverte, ou plutôt d'une confirmation assez surprenante de ma part concernant le monde du consulting aux Etats Unis. En effet, en France, les agences de conseils sont utilisés par les grandes entreprises pour différents sujets, tels que la communication, les ressources humaines, et bien sûr les problématiques de relation client.
L'un des principaux avantages de cette solution est que l'on fait appel à des spécialistes d'un sujet, et qui ont une connaissance large sur celui-ci. Par exemple, pour un spécialiste de la relation client, avoir pu travailler sur des dossiers de compagnies aériennes ou bien d'opérateur téléphonique peut apporter des idées nouvelles à une entreprise de grande distribution par exemple.

Ici aux Etats Unis, plus spécialement dans la Sillicon Valley, il existe une multitude d'agences de conseil et de coach d'entreprise tournée vers les petites structures. En effet, aux pays des entrepreneurs, il est chose courant d'avoir un coach, qui va pouvoir apporter des conseils à des tarifs abordables pour des petites entreprises.

Je pense que cela est une très bonne idée, car les petites entreprises sont celles qui font vivre cette région.

Saturday, June 23, 2007

Working by referral to improve your customer relationship management


Customer relationship strategies tend to consider customers as the main asset of a company, since he is the originator of turnover. Therefore, we need to treat him the best as possible, which requires time and devotion.

I learnt a new system to provide this time to your customer. It is close to the word of mouth, but in the end a little bit more advanced. Looking for new customers takes time but necessary for your business to grow. So what about if it was your customer that would find new customers for you? If you are so good at treating your customer well, they are the first to value your quality. Obviously, the people that would be referred to you would have about the same profile than your current clients that have brought you them.

That is the concept of working by referrals. This is a technique that is trendy in the real estate market. That is the technique of Bryan Buffini, an infamous coach of this business sector, that has based his success on this working technique. The sales manager has to constantly develop the will of its clients to give referrals to him.

That is very interresting how it works, and therefore, I invite you to log on this website, to see the techniques and processes of this strategy.

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Loyalty cards in the US and France


I have seen a very subtile but important difference between loyalty cards in France and in the US as I was shopping in a Macy's close to where I leave. Thus, they proposed me to get a Macy's card, which is free, but not a credit card. However, they asked us our bank credit card to get the account information.

Indeed, with this system, they take your informatino because you have to pay your purchases at the end of the moth. Thus, it is not a credit card because you don't pay with a real credit card, but how ever the use is very lose because at the end of the month you will receive a bill to pay for your monthly purchases.

This is very strange for a French person like me who is not familiar with the system. And what is surprising, it is that most of the stores use the same kind of cards. That means you can't really follow your bank account, because whatever you will buy with those cards, you will have to pay them at the end of the month.

It is also something very important by the way to get some credit cards, because it will allow you to have a credit history, and then offer you the possibility to get loans for your houses. Those credit cards and how you are able to manage them gives important information to banks and your solvability.


I don't really like this system, because I like to get up to date my bank information to decide of my purchases. However, in the country of the credit card, it has become a standard.

Saturday, June 16, 2007

Demystification du iphone


Aux Etats Unis comme en France je vois un engouement incroyable pour l'Iphone, le nouveau téléphone d'Apple, qui devrait révolutionner l'usage du téléphone portable. Il est vrai qu'il réside beaucoup de problématique non élucidé autour de la simplicité lié à l'usage d'appareil portable, notamment en terme de navigation Internet. Ainsi, les pubs présentés par Apple sont très jolies et nous montre un téléphone très simple à utiliser.



- pas de reconnaissance vocale
- pas de memos vocaux,
- pas d’accès Internet 3G (SFR a déjà annoncé qu’il n’était pas intéressé pour commercialiser l’iPhone)
- pas d’applications Word ou Excel,
- pas d’enregistrement vidéo
- ne peut server de modem pour PC portable
- la batterie ne peut pas être changée (« an Ipod… »)
- pire encore, ni le calendrier, ni la liste de tâches, ni les emails ne peuvent être synchronisés avec Microsoft Outlook (donc avec Lotus Notes encore moins j’imagine)
- avec 4 ou 8GB de stockage, on ne pourra pas aller bien loin sur iTunes movies

Ainsi, l'iphone ne sera pas le produit miracle, même si il va proposer des solutions innovantes aux problèmes d'interface sur appareils mobilies.
Toujours intéressant de voir la face cachée des choses...

Thursday, June 14, 2007

Le premier wiki de la relation client

Je tiens à remercier Yan Clayessen pour l'info sur son blog. En effet, le premier wiki de la relation client vient d'être lancé. Il s'appelle Cherclient. Son objectif est de présenter et d'expliquer les problématiques et les techniques de la relation client. Tout le monde peut y participer, le but étant d'être le site référence sur les techniques de la profession.

Bonne chance à ce site !

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Meeting at the BNI

I have assisted to a meeting of the BNI in San Jose with my manager, Jerome Sierra which is part of the organization. For those whom don't know what is the BNI (like me a couple of days ago), it stands for Business Networking International. It is composed by different local chapters. Those chapters are composed by people of different jobs, a real estate, a tax consultant, a house cleaning company and/ or a wedding organizor for example. The goal is that each of them give referrals, and then, become the "salesmen" of the other members. It is a very interresting concept, and it seems to work pretty good. Everything, how the meetings are thought and manage, how people have to interact, has been thought to build efficient networking. I advise you to log onto http://www.bni.com/, to know more about the organization.

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

The use of chatting in a business area


One of the main way to communicate through the Internet is to use instant messages, or in other words, chat. Skype, MSN for the world and Aim in the US are the main software to use. It has become so popular than some teenagers consider the use of emails has-been. And therefore, it is interresting to see that some businesses have adopted the technology.


Indeed, some companies use internal chatting software to communicate. But also, some other companies use them for their after sales services. Therefore, I wanted to let you know about a widget I found meebome, that provides for individuals and businesses chatting solutions to interact with the customers. I had to use it and I must admit it has been efficient.

Seeking for a job in the sillicon Valley

As I am helping my girlfriend to find websites to look for a job in the sillicon Valley, I found three interesting ones, because they are very different and show how Internet can wok :
  • The first one is local. It is called craig list. Craig list is very ugly, but very complete for whom is seeking for anything in the region (cars, houses, jobs...). It shows a good application on how Internet can give local applications.
  • The second one is a titan, which is called monster. Monster is located all around the world, and you can also find all kind of jobs there. They are focusing on added value services to both the business and the seeker.
  • Another one is a search engine : It is called indeed. Indeed is seeking on different websites, local or global, and is giving jobs offers in a specific region.
  • The last one is about a community. Hence, there is in the region a large community of hispanic people, mainly coming from Mexico. I hispano is offering jobs for hispanic people that speak both english and spanish.

I think it shows well how one Internet tool can have different means, for a specific service.

Friday, June 08, 2007

La TNT devient locale

Je viens d'apprendre avec beaucoup d'enthousiasme que le CSA vient de choisir des projets d'ouverture de chaines locales via la TNT. Ainsi, des projets de Hersant, NRJ, Azoulay, Sabeg et 3 chaînes associatives viennent d'être choisis. Je pense, contrairement a beaucoup de spécialiste et aficionados d'Internet, que la télévision a toujours sa place parmi les médias consommés par les français. Je pense cependant que ceci doit se faire par la création de chaînes locales fortes, qui permettrait à des "petits" annonceurs d'avoir accès à la communication télévisée. C'est ce que je remarque tout les jours à la télévision américaine, et ce qui permet à des petits distributeurs de rester en vie et de prospérer.

Paris is turning wi fi too


We have been talking about the free Wi Fi in Mountain View, in Philadelphia... Now Paris will adopt it too! Indeed, the 2nd arrondissement of Paris will test free wi fi for 18 months to understand better the use people can have of it. It is a great news for all parisian, and show one more time the free wi fi scenario is realistic and possible.

Thursday, June 07, 2007

Blog sur le e banking

J'ai poste il y a quelques temps un article concernant le e banking. Je trouve fascinant ce que les nouvelles technologies peuvent apporter comme comfort aux clients. Je voulais vous signaler l'existence d'un blog concernant l'e banking tres interessant. Il y traite des sujets d'actualite de la profession. Il s'appelle tout simplement banquesonline.com.

Wednesday, June 06, 2007

Wonder crops to get rid of desertification


I have said couple of days ago I wanted to add posts about ecology to my blog, and since I am in California, I must say I saw in the local newspapers a lot of information and articles about environment. Especially, on of the Epoch Times, which is a local newspapers of the Sunnyvale area.




It mainly talked about a plant, which is called Jatropha, which grows in arid conditionsm requires no irrigationm and can prevent, or perhaps, even reverse desertification. This article also points out that some experts estimate that more than half of Africa, one of the region the most hardly touch by desertificationm could grow jatropha.
I think this could be a wonderful thing, if it appears it is true, that a plant like that can help some regions of the world to fight against desertification.

Monday, June 04, 2007

Un an d'acquisition pour Google

Google tire ses revenus de la vente d'espace publicitaire en ligne, principalement par le biais de mots clés sponsorisés. Je voulais vous signaler une suite d'article très intéressant du monde informatique, qui revient sur la stratégie d'acquisition menée par Google afin de pouvoir regner sur le monde de la publicité en ligne, et d'ainsi devancer des poids lours tels que Yahoo ou Microsoft. On peut ainsi mieux voir la logique de diversification menée par Google afin de retenir les internautes sur ses produits, et ainsi pouvoir proposer des mots clés à ses clients.

Philadelphia turns Wi Fi equiped


Philadelphia will become the bigger town equiped with a wi fi network. Its 200 square meters will be covered, and it will offer wi fi free wi fi access in public places. Low income persons would be able to get it in the other places for 9.95 $ per months, and for the other one, the fee will be of 21.95$.

Wells Fargo on line banking


As I came back to the US, I opened a bank account at the Wells Fargo, as I did the first time I came there. I wanted to post a comment about the online banking of the Wells Fargo, that I estimate advanced. I realized a report during my master degree on on line banking and how it can you the internet tools to provide the best customer services as possible.

As I was seeking for some foreign on line bank to discover new concepts, I have been marked by the Wells Fargo's site possibilities. Indeed it allows to transfer money from an account to another one on line. You can also set up some email alerts that will allow you to know whenever your balance has reached a certain point.
To me, Wells Fargo provide a high class service to its customer.

News from the US

We visited today Sunnyvale, town where we have settled for the next few days. It is very nice, there was a beer and wine fair downtown, which made it very cool. I start to like the town but however, I am not sure so far to stay there. I did not find my apartment yet. The rent is pretty expensive, and I hope to find something decent in the next few days. I will let you know more later.

Saturday, June 02, 2007

Arrival to the US

I have arrived in the US on May 24th in NYC, but I did not have the chance to get the Internet. That is why I could not feed this blog with news, even though I experienced mny things since my arrival. Today, June 1st, I arrived in Mountain Vew, where I will have my internship. It is a very nice town, the weather is nice, and I think I will fit well here. I will try to give you more information later while I will be more installed.