Fire the customer, example someone texts in the movie theater

I am sure some of you agree some customers are not work the effort, you want to fire them.

Here is a good example on a customer you would want to fire.  http://hun.ch/nfe3Bd

This customer exhibits many of the signs of one you want to fire.

· The Chronic Complainer. This customer constantly speaks negatively about your product, prices, or service, but still buys from you. Address the complaints, but don’t let it continue.  If someone is complaining to you, s/he is probably complaining about you to others, hurting your brand.

· Captain Rude. No one should have to endure verbal abuse. Don’t be afraid to set clear boundaries with this customer. Communicate your expectations about rudeness, and if this customer breaks the rules, say goodbye.

· The Other Guy Does It Better. Some customers constantly talk about your competition. The really brazen ones may even tell the competitor they’re playing a back-and-forth game with you. If this happens once, it may be worth working through, but again, if it’s happening often, this customer may not be worth the trouble.

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· Can they be converted? Say a customer is giving off a “maybe I’ll change my mind” vibe. If you sense a potential behavior change, retention efforts may be wise even if the math doesn’t say so up front.

· Does this customer mistreat your employees? This must be a consideration – always. If a customer is verbally abusive or harassing one of your employees, let them go in a hurry.

i am sure many of you have fired a customer and agree on this view.

Firing a customer is not an easy decision. After you work hard to earn their business, the idea of cutting them loose may seem counter-intuitive. Check the math and consider the ramifications of keeping them around.

PG&E fires four inspectors - just another example of why you need to audit work in the data center

I am constantly amazed when critical infrastructure in the data center work is not audited.  Domenic Alcaro's talk at 7x24 about submarine maintenance and ideas that apply to the data center, the inspection and auditing of work is standard procedure.

SJ Mercury news discusses the situation PG&E has found when they audited their inspectors.

PG&E fires four inspectors

By Steve Johnson

sjohnson@mercurynews.com

Posted: 09/01/2011 02:07:48 PM PDT

Updated: 09/01/2011 02:54:21 PM PDT

PG&E has fired four inspectors after an internal investigation determined they falsely claimed to have inspected the company's underground electrical gear, and four others were disciplined.

The probe, which PG&E launched in November after receiving an employee's tip about the phony inspections, was first disclosed publicly in June. Over the past two months, the company reinspected nearly 25,000 underground enclosures containing various electrical equipment and found 25 where inspectors had falsely claimed to have inspected them, according to PG&E spokesman Andrew Souvall.

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"In the four instances where employees were terminated, we found substantial evidence that they had not properly conducted their inspections and had falsified records," Souvall said.

Some of my friends and I have been thinking about how to solve this type of problem in the data center, and we are circulating the solution to some early adopters.

CIOs postpone HP IT purchases, as we all know CIOs don't like Risk

WSJ has an article describing how CIOs are postponing HP HW purchases.

H-P's Customers Backing Off

Hewlett-Packard Co.'s recent strategic moves have shaken the confidence of investors. Now customers of the technology giant are also getting nervous.

That applies to Ray Barnard, chief information officer of Fluor Corp., an engineering and construction company that spends around $25 million a year on new hardware and software. Fluor was recently considering buying high-end computers capable of displaying 3D graphics from H-P, as well as doing a pilot project involving tablets with the tech company.

Now, however, "I've put that all on hold" and won't buy from H-P, he said. "It appears that they're lost right now."

HP has created risk in purchasing their equipment by self-inflicting their own damaging situation.

Several H-P customers said they are most concerned about what they see as a lack of a clear direction from the world's largest tech company by revenue, signaled in part by H-P's decision to exit the PC business. H-P is currently the world's biggest maker of PCs by shipments and revenue.

Compare this situation to IBM's Lenovo partnership.

IBM and Lenovo

IBM has engaged in an historic alliance with Lenovo. To bring long-term value for clients, companies need to continually reinvent themselves. IBM's multi-year agreement with Lenovo is broad-based and allows IBM to continue to provide end-to-end solutions to our clients. Lenovo is now the preferred provider of IBM-branded personal computers to our clients, and IBM will continue to provide financing and maintainance services for those PC solutions.

This alliance is consistent with IBM's strategy to be the world leader in providing technology and transformation solutions, for you, our enterprise and our small and medium business clients, in all industries and countries worldwide.

Working with leaders

Lenovo has the leading position in the fastest growing market in the world. Their acquisition of IBM's PC business makes them the third largest PC supplier in the world. In addition, the people of ThinkPad® notebooks and ThinkCentre™ desktops are now part of the Lenovo team -- the award-winning engineers, the manufacturing teams, the sales representatives, the business partners. In short, the people you know. The ones you count on.

This sale moves our PC business from an element in the IBM portfolio to a key element in IBM's network of alliances. It extends IBM's reach and capabilities in areas where you, our IBM clients, are better served through this alliance. Lenovo shares our passion for innovation, quality and service. IBM's strategy is clear. Lenovo's strategy is clear. Together we're a powerful combination for your business and we are committed to your success.

Data Centers, Internet, and Irene what happened to service?

Renesys has a video on the Internet Service areas impact as a result of Irene.

You data center operators probably breathed a sign of relief no data centers were impacted.

Major Data Centers Weather Hurricane Irene

August 29th, 2011 : Rich Miller

Most major data centers appear to have remained online throughout Hurricane Irene, despite leaks and utility outages (Image by likeablerodent via Flickr).

Key East Coast data centers say they weathered Hurricane Irene without any loss of services to customers. In some cases, facilities are operating on generator power after utility outages, while other data centers had to plug minor leaks.

But as the video showed and Renesys discusses in their blog post, there were millions without Internet access during Irene.

Hurricane Irene knocked out power to millions of homes and businesses as it travelled up the US East Coast this weekend. Even as the winds subsided, torrential rains triggered savage flooding throughout Eastern New York state and Vermont, tearing up roads and exposing the telecommunications infrastructure to further risks. The storm's impacts were clearly visible in the Internet's global routing table, as tens of thousands of networks were cut off from the rest of the world.

You can see what happened in NC and DC

And, even though the VA based data centers may be operating. Check out the Internet access for the users in VA.

The author of the post goes on to discuss the importance of Twitter in the emergency situation.

Staying Connected, Preparing to Rebuild

Overall, it seems that the East Coast's power and Internet infrastructure fared pretty well during this storm, with good evidence of restoration after the storm had passed. This is good news, given the important role Twitter now plays in ad hoc rescue coordination, and the importance of the Web for keeping people informed about what they're facing in an emergency situation. I suspect that always-on, ubiquitous Internet access is going to fundamentally change the way people on the ground manage their affairs in the wake of disasters like Irene.

I spent 12 hours picking my way across the ruined roads and bridges of Eastern New York State yesterday, trying to get back to New Hampshire, and I can attest to the fact that the transportation network is now far more vulnerable to disruption by an event of this scale than is the cyber-infrastructure.

As we drove past legions of idle 18-wheeler trucks full of food and fuel, unable to reach their destinations, 3G mobile connectivity kept us connected to the Internet and in touch with the tweets of local emergency management officials and people back home. At one point we were even part of a stream of vehicles heading urgently for higher ground, following a report that the Gilboa Dam had failed. Thanks to Google Maps we knew where to climb to, and thanks to Twitter we knew when it was safe to come down again. You can't eat the Internet, or burn it to keep warm, but compared to the days of the transistor radio and EBS alerts, we've come a long way.

Attending Intel Developer Forum, Sept 13 - 15, 2011

Summer is almost over, and it is time to get back on the road.  My first trip is to Intel Developer Forum.

I last went to IDF 2 years ago, and I know I'll see some great people at the event.

Here are a few of the tracks that look interesting.

Cloud Computing: Evolution of the Data Center

Cloud computing is an important transition and a paradigm shift in IT services delivery–one that promises large gains in efficiency, agility, and flexibility at a time when demands on data centers are growing exponentially. In this track, get the latest insights into Intel’s Cloud 2015 Vision. Hear about advancements in compute, network, and storage for the cloud data center that provides greater security, efficiency, data center simplification, and enabling client-aware clouds. Plus, get the latest on industry-enabling activities, reference architectures, and proven solutions for cloud computing.

Data Center Performance

In today's world of space and power constrained data centers a new class of servers and solutions is emerging that allow users an additional level of flexibility and control over their data centers as well as alleviating many traditional data center concerns.  At the foundation of these new technologies are Intel® server platforms, which fuel the world's businesses while delivering breakthrough levels of performance and efficiency.  In this track we’ll discuss Intel's unique way to address data center performance needs by implementing Intel® technology.

Eco-Technology: Environment and Productivity at its Best with Energy-Efficient Products and Technologies

Getting the best environmental impact, performance, and return from your computer system investment requires consideration of material resources, energy efficiency in design, procurement, asset power management, and deployment. This track offers an overview of Intel’s Eco-Technology strategy. Topics include: developing software that can instrument applications for productivity and efficiency; a case study on designing low-power servers; regulatory issues surrounding energy efficiency; and a look into the future of materials restrictions and positioning strategies.

Intel Labs: Innovating for the Future

Researchers at Intel Labs are innovating today for the new and advanced compute experiences of tomorrow. Learn what our researchers are doing across the computing spectrum to create technology that is more secure, more efficient, and highly adaptive to an ever-changing environment.

Storage Technologies for Tomorrow's Data Center

This track covers data center storage challenges and how Intel® storage technologies enable breakthrough, energy-efficient performance, data protection, and scalability for public and private cloud storage solutions. You'll hear about the key cloud storage usage models and reference rack solutions for the usage models. Also included is Intel's converged storage server technology, including updates on small business/home storage systems and the Intel® Intelligent Storage Acceleration Library (Intel® ISA-L).