Thursday, September 13, 2007
Learn From My Mistakes. Your Business Might Benefit Big Time.
It has been awhile since I last communicated with you on this blog. One of the reasons for the delay is that my business virtually stopped for a period of time due to my Internet Service Provider (ISP) deleting my email address and with it my access to the internet.
And get this, it is an undisputed fact that their negligence caused the problem (the ISP has actually accepted this fact).
But here’s the rub - at the end of the day it was my business that paid the price and I take full responsibility for this happening.
So What happened!
Now I won’t go into all the detail here about my experience dealing with the ISP other than to say the error made by them could really have been made by any ISP. The problem was more about the fact they could not (or more to the point ‘would not’) restore my email address for me.
What basically happened was the ISP received an email address cancellation notification from a customer with the same name as mine and who also ended up living in the same suburb as I do. What they did wrong was not checking the address before deleting my email address.
Now mistakes happen and I am the first to accept this. But I was astonished to find out that adequate checks and balances were not in place given the effect of the deletion on a customer (in this case my business).
By deleting the domain name the ISP claims it was not possible to reinstate it (I of course question this, I feel they just do not want to reinstate it, possibly because it might be costly to do so). The impact here was not only lost communication with my customers and provision of all the services I had signed up for using this email address but also I was informed to my horror my internet access would also be stopped as a result because it was also linked to my email address.
Needless to say I have commenced a formal dispute with the ISP in question that is still pending.
Just as an aside the organisation treated me as the criminal here, promised to do things to correct the situation, at times refused to talk to me, made promises and did nothing, had me on phone many times and on most occasions for over 4 hours at a time only to promise again to do the things they had previously promised to do and of course did not follow through - I think you get the idea...
The whole experience I had here with Telstra Bigpond left me feeling that I had been treated as a ‘criminal’ and left me emotionally frustrated and feeling like they had deliberately set out to break me down just to get me off their back.
As another aside on a much more positive note I actually experienced a glimpse of what it must be like and the powerlessness people must experience when living in a political environment controlled by self centred arrogant dictators and I genuinely appreciate much better better how lucky I am living in a beautiful free country.
So What Was My Mistake!
Well I learnt many lessons during this period but the main one was that I realised my business was dependent on a service provided by an external body that I had no control over – BIG MISTAKE!
I could not imagine the financial damage this situation would have caused if I continued my current ways and it happened several more years down the track.
It also brought home to me other areas where I am even more vulnerable – such as a major computer crash, internet hosting companies ceasing suddenly ceasing their services not to mention scumbag leaches who think the world owes them a living using the legal system to get a free ride at my expense.
I now know managing these risks is really important and you can bet I am focussed on identifying them and putting safeguards in for each of them.
My Message!
The risks for your business will probably differ to mine and you probably already realise the impacts they might have on your business if they happen But do you really GET IT? And what have you done about it?
My message is simple – learn from my mistake and don’t wait for an event to happen before doing something about it. I am not talking about the day to day operation things that happen day to day, I am talking here about the major events that are critical to your business.
The above has lead me to rethink my whole emailing system and the way I have it set up. I have therefore now researched a new way of doing it and in my next post I will share with you more details about what I have done. Hopefully this will help save you some time and start you thinking about your set up.
By the way, if you have been trying to contact me but have been unable to do so please use this email address – info@biztoolz.com.au
As usual I look forward to your comments.
Wishing you every success for your business.
Kev
http://www.biztoolz.com.au
Labels: marketing on internet
