Chisholm and Harper | Creating businesses of the future

The Federal Government’s My School website copped some more negative press today (http://www.theage.com.au/national/my-school-site-poorly-planned-20110420-1dov8.html). Dan Harrison reports in The Age that ‘the agency responsible for the My School website lacked understanding of independent schools, was too ''inwardly focused'' and failed to plan effectively’.

Unfortunately, at Chisholm & Harper we see this all the time. As strategic consultants in the online space we find too often that we aren’t brought in until things have gone seriously pear-shaped.

The inward focus mentioned above prevented the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) from consulting with key stakeholders in a way that highlighted the fears and concerns that exist around obviously sensitive areas like funding and performance.

If ACARA had acknowledged these fears upfront, real planning around stakeholder engagement and communication would have been possible and perhaps some of the negative rhetoric could have been avoided. Instead there has been constant negative press and the site has become a political ‘hot potato’ despite its potential usefulness to parents and students. Chisholm & Harper includes stakeholder consultation, engagement and communication planning as a core part of its strategic approach to specifically mitigate these types of problems.

The Age also reports that the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority ACARA had a serious lack of resources to manage the development of the My School website. When assisting clients to establish web project governance models we ensure that there is a careful examination of internal resource capability. The true cost of any project must include both vendor and client costs. For the client this means hiring key project management roles or moving people around and back filling their roles.

O’Reilly, who coined the phrase ‘Web 2.0’, has never really discussed how be built the most influential technology publisher in the world, O’Reilly Media.  In his speech yesterday at SXSW, he talked about himself, his values, and what’s next for him.

O’Reilly has a huge passion for ‘big ideas’ and the good it can achieve for both individuals and society as a whole.  He feels that it is this passion for ideas that visionary leaders who ‘wrestle problems out of love’ rather than chase the dollar, that makes organisations such as Facebook and Google so successful.

One of the most interesting comments made by O’Reilly was that he sympathises with those trying to move large organisations;  ‘if I were Bill Gates, I would quit and go work on other more interesting things’.  He went on to make the analogy that governments which typify this slow moving type of organisation, were like vending machines where the public’s taxes went in, and the output were products and services.  He claimed its not about how much you put in, or what products come out, but reinventing the vending machine itself to get rid of the ‘cultural virus’ that makes it so slow moving and resistant to change.  Interesting stuff.

As one might expect, thousands filled the room to hear what Google is up to. Marissa Mayer, previously VP of search now in charge of location and local services, gave us the low down.

1. 3D imaging in Google Maps

Marissa did a demo of new capability that creates 3D imaging of the buildings around your point of interest. Another key aspect of this view is that you can now navigate around the perimeter of any building, so you can see it from all angles in relation to its surroundings.

2. Google Maps – directions in peak hour

When asking for directions to a destination, Maps will serve you with three routes, specifying the distance and amount of time it expects it to take you based on up to the minute traffic conditions. The graphic layer of this information is represented by colour codes (no congestion, moderate congestion and heavy congestion) along the recommended route.

This product was launched just two days ago in the US. There are also plans to integrate Outlook calendar information (for example, flight information) with map data to automatically generate date that informs you when you should leave home to get to the airport on time, based on current traffic conditions. Very helpful!

3. Enriching the user experience through ‘contextual discovery’

For Google, augmented reality means ‘adding a digital layer on reality’ to enable ‘contextual discovery’. In Google’s terms, augmented reality means supplementing of the experience in reality with an additional layer of information that enhances the experience.

4. Incentifying check-ins

Google are working on a location-based check in application that actually gives users a meaningful reward when they check in.

5. Privacy

Google’s approach to privacy is guided by three principles; transparency, choice and control. Transparency means ‘hear is the data that we have about you’. This data can be accessed through Google Dashboard. The second is choice; it is the choice of the user as to what services they want to use. Third is control; Google allow users to delete their search history so Google cannot track it.

Update: there have also been rumours of a soon to be released social product called Circles. The very existence of such a product has been denied by Google, let alone the release date. Stay tuned!

Last year 36,771 attendees from 73 countries converged upon Austin, Texas, to be inspired by 2,705 of the world’s web gurus, filmmaking geniuses, and crackerjack musicians.

This year, Laura and Beth will become two of these attendees as they jet off on Thursday to attend this year’s SXSW® Interactive conference, which gets bigger every year.

From March 11 – 15th, we’ll be keeping you up to date on the latest in emerging technology and what the most creative business minds in the world have to say about it.

Pull your cowboy boots on and get ready for the ride.

Media Release

21 September 2010

Chisholm & Harper to help Essendon Football Club improve engagement with fans

Chisholm & Harper have been contracted by the Essendon Football Club (EFC) to review the club's current online activities and identify ways it can better meet the needs of fans through Internet and mobile technologies.  

Chisholm & Harper will conduct research into EFC’s extensive online fan base, which comprises approximately:

• 76,000 Facebook fans,
• 6,000 Twitter followers on @Essendon_FC,
• 125,000 visitors every month to www.essendonfc.com.au; and,
• 60,000 email newsletter subscribers.

They will also review the effectiveness of EFC’s current online activities with a focus on membership and merchandise.

EFC’s Chief Commercial Officer, Richard Burnet sees the review as an opportunity for the club to better engage with its members and supporters. “We see the Internet and mobile as priority channels for engaging with our one million fans and 40,000 members,” Burnet said. ”This project will help us identify ways in which we can enrich the experience of being an Essendon fan through the use of emerging technologies.”

Laura Chisholm, of consulting firm Chisholm and Harper said, “We are delighted to be working with EFC who are regarded as a pre-eminent digital marketing sports organisation nationally, and this association will keep EFC at the forefront of new thinking in this space.”