Feb 26, 2014

Is a “solo” entrepreneur an oxymoron?

Life and Entrepreneurship 2
YES! Oxymoron means to put together contradictory concepts.
In this post, I explained the case in point of a low price orientated customer that you try to catch using flash sales websites, thinking that after the first visit they will return paying the usual price!
Why a “solo” entrepreneur is an oxymoron? Basically, because an enterprise means an organization and that means more than one person! You have to create a new independent, autonomous and replicable entity. If your enterprise only works when you are there, you have NOT created and enterprise you have created a job!!!  Engineers create airplanes able to fly, Touristologists create tourism enterprises able to survive!
When I was a child I had an introverted personality, as a matter of fact, I still have BUT… I master the science and art of… what I think drives my feelings! So, when I decide… I am the most outgoing person in any circumstance and any place!
I preferred to be with one person than with a group. I also preferred to choose a book and try to memorize it in order to achieve excellence in Programming, in Yoga in Martial Arts…. But soon I discovered that the perfect person or book doesn’t exist. You have to learn from everybody and everything, and then (and only then), make a good selection and focus on it!
In life as in entrepreneurship, If you want to create the new, new thing, You will have to, at least, set up a small team. In the past I tried to create companies with only one partner. Nowadays, I prefer to create a group and become their leader (at the end of the day, to me this is very similar to managing a class!) OR to integrate myself into a small group of leaders.
But Jordi, if the company is successful you will need to create a bigger organizational structure. Yes, for sure Touristologist! Then, It will be time to sell my stock and move on OR delegate the leadership and just cash-in on a weekly basis.
I love innovation and innovators. I get bored with standardization and standarizators.
So, remember Touristologists, keep an open mind talk with everybody, learn from everywhere, then (and only then) make you selection and keep focus from the beginning to the end.
Are you ready? So am I!!!!

Feb 18, 2014

Forget about your mobile... embrace Ubiquitous computing!!!

As you know, I prefer to talk about Ubiquitous Computing rather than Mobile. To me, mobile is just an interesting support for it.  Maybe in this post we can review a few examples related to two seminal technologies: RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) and NFC (Near Field Communication) technology that will make Ubiquitous Computing...well... more Ubiquitous!!!
The first example made me tweet...
“One of the best ideas of using RFID in Tourism!!! If you love to ski you will love it!”

As you have just seen, it’s easier for anyone to update and share information related with his activity, his distance, his altitude…If you have concerns about... “This is a big brother society”... just think that you have the possibility to disconnect!
Leave the mobile, leave the RFID card behind... But Jordi I can‘t live without my mobile... Are you sure!?!?!
We have interesting ideas from Starwood chain of hotels.
First, they provide a RFID card to their guests, now they want to use a mobile app. When you change from a RFID card to a mobile app some problems can appear:
1) Security concerns
2) Battery drain
3) If you share your room...Surely, you don’t have a problem with sharing your RFID card BUT... sharing your mobile???
4) Any ideas? Is there anybody out there?!?!?
Anyway, all these ideas related to Ubiquitous computing can generate doubts about losing the personal touch and also the opportunities that a human being can provide “If  I don’t go to the receptionist I won’t get an upgrade (late check out, better views, powerful Wi-fi... you name it!)”...
Remember an upgrade is a service. Using a RDIF card or a mobile app just means a different physical support in the servuction process. As all my Touristologists learn the first year “ Service is what to offer... Servuction is the way to offer it”
But Jordi! A machine is unable to provide a customized update!  Are you sure Touristologists? Please review our post about Real-Time web for Revenue Managers... See? Masters in Servuction Creation always find a solution! Are you one of them?
We are Touristologists, we are game-changers, we are solutions providers, we are the future of the best sector ever!!!!

Feb 11, 2014

Keep focus from the beginning to the end!!!

Life and Entrepreneurship 1
The past year I was able to avoid illness from the beginning to the end of the course. I didn’t skip any classes, meetings or programming session. I was very happy (Maybe this sounds bizarre for you young Touristologists but, when you are 50 years old these kinds of things are important!).
I only had one class left, I thought to myself well tomorrow it will be the last day…That’s it, l did it!
That night a virus went into to my veins… next morning I feel horrible nevertheless, I tried to go to my class… I arrived BUT I wasn’t able to give the class.
One of the best chess master in the world (Capablanca) said long time ago “You may learn much more from a game you lose than from a game you win! “ So, instead of worrying about if in the future this will happen again, or swimming in a sea of guilt, or crying over spilled milk …. I choose to learn and to be aware for the next occasion.
You have to keep focus from the beginning to the end. Usually it’s very easy to be focused at the beginning BUT remember… near to the end you need to keep the same level of concentration!
And this is not only for my classes, it is applicable to my/yours consultancy projects or my/your ambitious startup enterprises. How many times, almost at the end, I thought “I did it…” then I relax… then I lose?
In life as in entrepreneurship, you don’t assume a battle is won until the end, Touristologists!
Are you ready? So am I!!!!

Feb 4, 2014

Casually… giving away control of the chain of value! Part 2

Touristology and Web-Engineering; Business Model and Technological Scheme… always two hands remember? Are you sure you can allow yourself to forget about the technological hand? I don’t think/recommend/advise so, Touristologists!!!
In the previous post we talked about the kind of drivers (basically, economies of scale and innovation base on controlling a community of users) that unleash a Business Model that will allow you to manage your chain of value.
Now, it is time to deal with the Technological Scheme that will allow you to implement this Business Model.
Ready? Steady? GOOOOO!
If we think about the feature of managing a virtual community and to offer to them the 3 C’s in the way we talked about in the part 1 of this post…  a portal seems a very interesting option. You can analyze the open source solution offered by Liferay or the proprietary one offered by Oracle.
I teach my Touristologists how to deal with the most important social networking sites nowadays BUT ABOVE ALL I teach them to create one of their own. I love to see their faces the first time I say “You have to create communities each one of them will represent a component of your chain of value, then you have to create users, then you have to assign them to the communities and give to them public and private pages, finally, you have to add widgets inside this pages according to the role users have” To them it seems an impossible task to do, but then they began to work, to deal with bad thoughts and feelings and they end up with wonderful presentations like this one… thanks Gerard, Angie, Jonatan, Laura for being EXCELENTS TOURISTOLOGISTS and proudly say “You don’t have ONE website you have a platform able to create, distribute and send the 3 C’s in a customized way to any device”

If we think about the feature of trying to satisfy the tourist from the beginning to the end of the trip, getting 3 C’s from all the members of the chain of value and offering it/them in an integrated, customized and synchronized way using any device. We can use the power of Web Services and Web Scrapping. Nevertheless, a question remains… What kind of technology should we use in mobile devices?
As you remember, when I talked about mobile I went beyond smartphones and tablets. I stand on the shoulders of giants (paraphrasing Newton!!!) and using the vision of Mark Weiser…. I talk about ubiquitous computing using any device, it can be smartphones, tablets, glasses, watches, or any other wearable computing device… At the end of the day, they would allow people to connect to their environment.  When is this connection more necessary than when you are travelling? 
Until now I was undecided about the paradigm mobile web or native application. Right now, I make up my mind…
In the server side access to the members of the chain of value via restful services or webscrapping.
In the client side a mobile web base on JavaScript and optimized with Backbonejs (Maybe you prefer Angular, Ember, Meteor… it’s your choice!) offering Single Page Applications to any devices!
I don’t say that native applications are not good. I only say that in Touristology in order to provide the right servuction from the beginning to the end of the trip, I have to use any device in a personalized and synchronized way (Web 3.0 remember?). They can be mobile, laptop, smartTV, glasses, watches, boots… you name it! And, in my opinion, this is better achieved with single page applications.
Jordi! I don’t know what the heck you are talking about! Take it easy Touristologists… We have plenty of time to discus all these ideas in class. If you are ready to learn I confidently declare that YOU WILL LEARN!!!!.... And not only that, you will become a game-changer for the tourism sector.
The other day I read an article where an expert in Tourism and Technology claimed that 2014 it will be a regular year…. Not any big revolution will appear… well… let’s see who is right!!!
Interesting times for Touristology and Web-Engineering! A quiet 2014? Expect the unexpected. Welcome to a new era… Touristology one!