Saturday, February 16, 2013

Reminder! - Time is the best gift you can give your family

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A man came home from work late, tired and irritated, to find his 5-year old son waiting for him at the door.

SON: 'Daddy, may I ask you a question?'

DAD: 'Yeah sure, what it is?' replied the man.

SON: 'Daddy, how much do you make an hour?'

DAD: 'That's none of your business. Why do you ask such a thing?' the man said angrily.

SON: 'I just want to know. Please tell me, how much do you make an hour?'

DAD: 'If you must know, I make $50 an hour.'

SON: 'Oh,' the little boy replied, with his head down.

SON: 'May I please borrow $25?'

The father was furious, 'If the only reason you asked that is so you can borrow some money to buy a silly toy or some other nonsense, then you march yourself straight to your room and go to bed. Think about why you are being so selfish. I don't work hard everyday for such childish frivolities.'
The little boy quietly went to his room and shut the door.

The man sat down and started to get even angrier about the little boy's questions. How dare he ask such questions only to get some money?

After about an hour or so, the man had calmed down and started to think:

Maybe there was something he really needed to buy with that $25.00 and he really didn't ask for money very often The man went to the door of the little boy's room and opened the door.

'Are you asleep, son?' He asked.

'No daddy, I'm awake,' replied the boy.

'I've been thinking, maybe I was too hard on you earlier' said the man. 'It's been a long day and I took out my aggravation on you. Here's the $25 you asked for.'

The little boy sat straight up, smiling. 'Oh, thank you daddy!' he yelled. Then, reaching under his pillow he pulled out some crumpled up bills.

The man saw that the boy already had money and started to get angry again.

The little boy slowly counted out his money, and then looked up at his father.

'Why do you want more money if you already have some?' the father grumbled.

'Because I didn't have enough, but now I do,' the little boy replied.

'Daddy, I have $50 now. Can I buy an hour of your time? Please come home early tomorrow. I would like to have dinner with you.'

The father was crushed. He put his arms around his little son, and he begged for his forgiveness.
___
It's just a short reminder to all of us working so hard in life. We should not let time slip through our fingers without having spent some time with those who really matter to us, those close to our hearts. Do remember to share that $50 worth of your time with someone you love.

If we die tomorrow, the company that we are working for could easily replace us in a matter of hours... But the family & friends we leave behind will feel the loss for the rest of their lives.
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Sunday, January 13, 2013

OpenTable has a business case for BPM

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Like many others, I mostly use OpenTable to book a restaurant reservation. It provides the convenience of booking most restaurants that accept online reservations from the comfort of my home or office in just few clicks and also gives me double the points on my credit card. A convenient reservation experience till this point.

The overall process goes for a toss when you get a call from an unrecognized number few hours before the scheduled appointment and it hits your voice mail. It turns out that restaurant was calling to confirm your reservation. The host leaves a voice message leaving a different number than from where he called. For guests it is potentially an additional task of jotting down the call back number and then calling to confirm the booking. However at times this small break in the process could mean unutilized table and therefore opportunity lost for the restaurant.

A simpler change in the overall process can not only increase the probability of restaurant getting my business but also provide a great customer experience. Since I booked my reservation online, OpenTable can generate a simple email  (or text) asking me to click the link and confirm. This minor process change  will help restaurants save hours of phone calls to guests, can give higher response rate as compared to phone calls and voice mails. For me, it gives a better experience and streamlines the overall reservation process. Even OpenTable can use this additional confirmation opportunity to take the guests to their website.

Is this not a Win Win for all the 3 parties? Your comments please!
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