Inside looking out

No more fretting, the summer is here, the sky is blue and so there is no reason to fret. On either side, ok?

Now, we often moan about problems with communication. When one is relegated to just emails it can be easy to foment misunderstandings that run and run.

Many companies are using internet chat programmes, you know, Yahoo, Google Talk, MSN Messenger etc. to communicate with their clients. We thought of trialling this for our clients.

The other day I was using a chat program like MSN to try and get to the heart of a problem. This is harder than it seems. We developed, it seemed, an ongoing tension that left us circling the problem for what seemed like hours. God knows what they pay staff in these companies, but I think I took up most of the other person's morning.

Did we solve the problem?

Nope.

What did we do?

We resorted to a phone call! Yep, Graham Bell may have said that people would not want to speak on the phone, but if you need to, it is second only to the face to face meeting.

Should we adopt a chat client? Have someone stuck to a desk all day when a two minute call would fix the issue and injet a bit of "human" into the process?

No thanks!