Response to last weeks presentation

When Mr. McKinney in "The Commando Way" argues that "we would spend 20% of our time on strategy and thinking and 80% of our time on rehearsing and doing" he is obviously not talking about how we do our job. As an ex Royal Marine who slipped into a business consultant suit the following statement is paramount in that it resonates with UM's Branding objectives: "Make your values personal and real; focus on your vision, follow the mission, build the spirit to win, live up to the responsibility of leadership and make sure it works". Lets talk about Leading in Learning?

My last presentation triggered opposite reactions which I try to reconcile with no success. I doubt that UM's resistance to innovation is only matched by the obsolescence of its teaching methodology. But it is hard to find factual evidences that would contradict that statement. There is a sense in which online forms are vital to the operation of a business school. And there is a sense in which they are not. But the fact is that no improvement will take place as long as there is no willingness to ask important question about elementary processes.

For one "inspiring" and another "a creative way to get fired". 

The major points of surprise were for 1. that I did not involve the house style department for the programme pages redux 2. that I offer a service to the rest of the family which I already offer to my nearest cousins of this faculty. My honest comment that I am bored with talking about online forms that don't work, personal profile pages that after two years of planning don't work properly, the impossibility of online payment, agenda items that cannot be sorted by dates and disappear suddenly, RSS feeds that don't deserve the name, a webTV implant that cannot be fit onto a page without loosing its user insulting navigation and more, all well documented in this blog, did not excite anyone. Or that all the projects I presented are discussed already in 2011 in a report I wrote and published on this blog as well. I send this report around to gather feedback with no response whatsoever. "I come into the business world and it is about 90% planning and meetings and 10% in actually execution" said Damian McKinney. His former experience thought him the opposite.

Updating the programme pages before consulting the house style department saves time and costs. And it has a major benefit: You see what you talk about! I will certainly consult the house style department and if necessary implement major changes or take them down. Like in so many other areas where taste is involved it is the Good and the Bad that takes refuge from wit. It is often the case that blind people talk about Picasso's paintings when the same people discuss websites or web designs. This is to say that it makes it easier for everybody involved in the process to judge things they experience first hand - implemented and ready.

I offer "Free Web services" that include Hosting, Domain-name, Development, Content Creation, Support and maintenance of websites to the school. For this purpose I printed a Flyer and distributed it to all pigeon holes. The idea behind this service is to maintain effective control over the school's web presence by offering a compelling service as compared to my competitors. The only condition is that the website's intention or purpose has to relate to the first money stream. Competitors are one.com, webhosting.nl, nederland webservice and a host of New Media agencies that offer their services to the department secretaries and faculty members. The service is a complete package that involves more than the hosting solution offered by ICTS for 100 Euro/year and support costs for 65 Euro/hour. I go to people and discuss their needs, I give them advice on what they need and should have or what is not necessary at all. Most of all I give them the feeling that they are in control of things. And maybe the idea that building a website is not so difficult and does not need to be expensive at all. During this process I make sure that the UM logo is on their and that the basic house style (font type and colour scheme) is considered. That the website adheres to contemporary expectations and is overall functional. Since for most of the web-thingies it is a side project and should not cost too much time.

All of this is not offered by ICTS. It's offer is a "one size fits all" hosting package which is not competitive. All the hosting companies mentioned above offer more for less. Take one.com for example: 5 GB web space, Unlimited Traffic, MYSQL database, Control panel to install Joomler, Wordpress, Typo3, Web user interface and 24/7 Support line for 35 Euro per year. This also includes a standard domain. Support is important and one of the aspects ICTS is often criticized. However, this "soft fact" is not important since only the price matters. The plain fact is that for one third of the price that ICTS charges one gets more of the same ICT service + Free support instantly from One.Com!
This is also the reason why many of the schools domains and websites are actually running on One.Com. Since over 15 years it provides services that ICTS starts offering effectively next year. In a room full of reasonable, educated people this fact is not discussable. It's as if ICTS has bewitched everybody to believe that security can justify monopoly. It obviously can do so but the price is high! And when I offer services in addition to ICTS hosting package to faculties of the same university I am a heretic. Because only a heretic is asked the WHY question. A strong apologetic of the conventional believe system is never ask this. Its presupposed by other members of the community. It's as if I try to compete with ICTS with my free service. There is no way I can do so nor do I want to do this. Does One.Com compete with ICTS? Well, as a hosting provider it obviously does so.