Michael Specht

Microsoft Tag a not so new tool for marketing

Last week Microsoft launched a new service/tool/technology called Microsoft Tag. In simple terms it allows you to take a photo of an image with your internet-enabled phone and the related content is displayed on your phone. Very similar technology to the QR Code. But implemented very differently.

The QR Code stores all of the data in the image, for example the QR Code below actually stores the data of the URL for Inspecht. So when you take a photo of the image using your phone, the data is processed on the phone and then you are redirected to the Inspecht web site.

QR Code Inspecht

Microsoft’s tag service does not store the data in the image. Instead after taking a photo of the image the Microsoft Tag application on your phone communicates, via the Internet, with the Microsoft servers to figure out what to do next. The image is based on technology our of Microsoft Research called High Capcity Colour Barcode or HCCB for short. Microsoft has released reader applications for many different phones, head to http://gettag.mobi to find out more.

Microsoft Tag Inspecht

Both provide very similar functionality.

Pros

Microsoft Tag allows you to create much smaller images than QR Codes
Microsoft Tag has significant in built error correction for partial or blurry images
Microsoft Tag is reportable a better user experience, personally I am not sure about that as I have found QR Codes very easy to use
Microsoft Tag makes it easy to get a reader application on your phone, I had to search to find a QR Code reader for my Treo
Microsoft Tags can be set to expire after a certain period, great for marketing
Based on my limited testing it seems you can change the data (URL, vCard etc) that the tag points to without needing to change the tag image
Microsoft Tag is support by the Microsoft marketing machine

Cons

Microsoft Tag requires full colour over QR Codes minimum requirement of black and white.
Microsoft Tag requires an Internet connection to work
Microsoft Tag requires Microsoft to store all of the data about the code and resulting data
Microsoft Tag is proprietary and after the beta period you will likely charged for using the service
QR Codes are very popular in Asia and have growing support in other locations, such as Australia

From a mobile recruiting point of view there is not a lot of difference. However the dynamic time driven content of the tag service makes the Microsoft offering a better choice for job ads or career fairs. For example here is a tag to a Seek job ad that will expire on 11th Feb 2009.

Seek Ad Tag

In Australia Telstra has been pushing QR Codes, under their own brand Telstra Mobile Codes marketed to only work on the Telstra Next G phone, which of course is not true as they are standard QR Codes. It will be interesting to see if Telstra drop the QR Code for Microsoft Tag.

Update: Anothy from Aussie startup QMCodes mentioned in the comments that the pro’s are all covered by their existing service Q-Lytics http://m.qmcodes.com/qlytics good to see a local company ahead of the big players.

Are you adapting your services to stay relevant?

An old saying by Heraclitus a Greek philosopher that “Nothing endures but change”. If this was true in 500 BC, then today if you are not preparing for change you are dead in the water. Period!

Today I was reading a Gartner research report by Thomas Otter, aka Vendorprisey, The Effects of Social Software on Your Employer Brand (Hat Tip: Amit Avasthi) which got me thinking about change.

Then I came across a post by Don Tapscott on Grown Up Digital about how libraries in the US are having to adapt to encourage Generation Y to visit. Resulting by the way in a 25% increase in attendance!

So what do these two things have in common?

Customers are changing and so you must evolve to survive. Even more so in tough economic times.

Now how are you changing to stay relevant? Depending on your view what do employers, candidates, employees or the board really want from you in 2009? How can you deliver it?

What should you be upgrading? Your employer branding? Your careers web site? Your referral program? Your Resume? Your Compensation programs? Your Performance Review programs? Your strategic plan?

Think about getting a 25% improvement by changing to suit your audience.

If you want to learn more about how to deal with change read Who Moved My Cheese?.

Photo credit: nguyenanhquan from Flickr.

The Closing of 2008

Just a quick final post for the year.

Firstly wishing all my readers a great break and a fantastic new year, be safe and make sure you spend time with your family.

Now to look back on 2008.

The year started with a bang working fulltime as Senior Project Manager for Nortel looking after Corporate Systems for Asia Pacific. For followers on Twitter they would have seen my crazy tweets working until 2am and then starting again 5am.
By June I was out on my own and had set up Inspecht, with far more control over my hours, but a lot less money
The blog & Inspecht both have traffic around 9,000 visitors a month, compared with around 3,000 a year ago
I became PRINCE2 certified, as well as Certified in the Principles of Change Management
As part of my work on Inspecht
- I have built 4 different one day workshops to help HR departments get going on technology projects on project establishment, change management, risk management, and in flight project health checks.
- Published a report on job referrals (which is being updated in the next month)
- Published numerous checklists to HR and recruiters
- Published an eBook on recruitment today
Finally created the HR Futures Conference which will be held in Feb 2009

Overall a successful year.

Recruitment eBook available

About a month ago I decided to create an eBook based on some themes from my blog. After looking over the posts I decided to focus on the new trends and practices in recruitment. The eBook is finished and available for purchase at A$15.

Why am I charging if it is based on my blog that is free? Well first up I have pay rent somehow ;-).

No actually the eBook pulls together many of the key trends in recruitment today in a single easy to read 40 page document. I also believe that people tend to value and pay attention to something when they part with money.

Below is a short overview.

There are many ways to find the right candidate and like most things in life, some are more effective than others. Over the last 10 years, the process of finding candidates has moved from predominately print media to online. While this migration has been significant, the real changes have only just begun. With the Internet changing the way we work and communicate, how you find and engage with the workforce to identify the right candidate is also changing.

Some of the key trends in recruitment

Where candidates can be hiding

How to engage with candidates and get them to want to work for your organisation

How to use free tools to identify potential applicants

To which aspects of social media you should be paying attention

Social media in big companies

A couple of months ago Telstra joined Twitter via their ISP Big Pond, I and others wrote harshly about how the implementation had been a failure. Since that time the Telstra team have been taking on board the feedback and have made significant changes to the way they engage with people online. After initially trying to go alone they have engaged with some of the best minds on social media in Australia to change their approach. The changes have been so dramatic I am surprised and impressed.

The original engagement via Twitter was:

@bushgeek Got a BigPond® query?! Ask about BigPond® via this link http://tinyurl.com/ 5ufhvf & a BigPond consultant will email you back.

Now this is a typical customer engagement via Twitter:

@jackmcintyre It’s a known issue being worked on,we suggest keep calling Tech to get it more attention to get it fixed quicker.

They are also having a bit of fun with people, yesterday was games day:

@BigPondTeam Wow! There are some fast people out there. #1 track currently is ‘Poker Face’ by Lady Gaga for $0.99 and its DRM Free! about 17 hours ago from TweetDeck

@BigPondTeam Who can tell me what is the #1 track on BigPond Music, and how much does it cost to purchase? about 18 hours ago from TweetDeck

@BigPondTeam We are going to try a few different things today, so feel free to play along!! #BPS

They are generating interest in some of the services on offer and yes this is marketing but in a fun way. I played along and to tell you the truth will go back to the Big Pond site to check out what is there.

Telstra also ran a short survey yesterday to get feedback from a number of people on how they were performing on Twitter. Before filling in the survey I thought I would ask my Twitter followers their thoughts as well. Here are a few.

pollyemj @mspecht my only interaction with @BigPondTeam was a bit spooky – just weird to be contacted randomly after i mentioned them in a tweet about 19 hours ago from twhirl in reply to mspecht

joshsharp @mspecht after a terrible start they very quickly took on feedback and turned it around. they’ve actually done a quite good job.. about 19 hours ago from twhirl in reply to mspecht

jurgen @mspecht I think they’re doing a good job. It’s personal and personable. Friendly and forthright. Not just an announcement stream. about 19 hours ago from NatsuLion in reply to mspecht

ourfounder @mspecht I’m obviously across the big pond,but looking over their tweet history I like the voice and regularity of the posts. Good info too. about 19 hours ago from TweetDeck in reply to mspecht

After further clarification from @pollyemj I found this interaction was at the start during the corporate robot response period. The overall feeling matched mine. Terrible start, great improvement.

This gets me to wonder, the employees at Big Pond who are working with their customers in a more human and open fashion are they more engaged employees? Do they now enjoy their job more? Do they trust their employer?

Great places to work in Australia

The Great Place to Work Institute has launched their 2009 program partnering with BRW. They have over 20 years experience in measuring employee engagement from all over the globe, they define a great place to work as one where trust exists.

At the heart of our definition of a great place to work – a place where employees trust the people they work for, have pride in what they do, and enjoy the people they work with – is the idea that a great workplace is measured by the quality of the three, interconnected relationships that exist there:

The relationship between employees and management.

The relationship between employees and their jobs/company.

The relationship between employees and other employees.

The 2008 Great Places to Work in Australia were:

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare
Dow Corning
Google
McDonald’s
Morgan Stanley
NetApp
Russell Investments
SEEK Limited

Nominations are open now, so if you feel your workplace is a great place to work head over and nominate it!

Looking for a job? Meet Steve Jobs from JobFeedr

I ran across YAJS (yet another job site) today which is in very early stages of development, they started building it roughly 15 days ago! The site is jobfeedr.com built by two Sydney guys Mike Nicholls & Dale Hurley.

From their about page:

Jobfeedr.com aggregates Job Postings from major job boards in numbers of major cities in Australia, USA and UK it then posts those to custom Twitter channels and RSS feeds by city by and job type.

Basically it aggregates jobs found by type and city into a Twitter feed and an RSS feed. Each combination of city/job type creates a “channel” for job seekers to watch to find a specific job.

My thoughts.

Strengths

Light weight solution focused on a single goal
Global reach
Given Twitter primarily has the Tech crowd and early adopters as users they tend to flock to new tools, so this could be a winner
Economic downturn means many people will be looking for jobs
Pushing jobs to candidates as they are posted

Concerns

Twitter & RSS are still only in the Tech crowd and early adopters
It is a very crowded market place, standing out will be an issue
Monetization, other than ads I just don’t see it
Economic downturn means not many jobs

Summary: Interesting, slightly innovative but not unique.

Having said that no one has really cracked the job market from a candidate’s point of view. We have all sorts of niche job boards, email agents on the large boards and vertical boards all trying to deliver but failing. With some changes they might just be able to do it.

Oh and Steve Jobs is their mascot

Jobr.com.au using comment spam?

Today I woke up to find some comments waiting for approval from a site jobr.com.au, a small job board here in Australia. The comments were typical of someone creating comment spam (such as nice site and 🙂 ) and on posts about a competing job board, all from the same IP address but with different mail boxes at the jobr.com.au domain.

I deleted them as they add no value to the conversation on this blog.

Did I do the right thing?

Have you heard of the Velociroflcoptersaurus?

There is a silly little game going on with some fo the IT folks here in Australia, basically to see who can own the word Velociroflcoptersaurus in Google by Jan 13 2009. Given I know very little about SEO I figured why not play and see what I could learn.

I was a little late into the game and some of the key sites on were taken, such as the .com, .net, .blogspot.com & .wordpress.com. But I was able to snag http://velociroflcoptersaurus.org, which is now the official Velociroflcoptersaurus Fan Club!

Now how about a little love from my readers and a link back to http://velociroflcoptersaurus.org? There is even a very badly designed badge you can place on your web site.