Tag: journalism

Allstream takes flight with WestJet contract renewal [Portfolio]

/ Gary Hilson

Though its name may have changed, Allstream is still the right fit for Canada’s fastest growing airline.

Calgary-based WestJet has renewed a relationship with the company formerly known as AT&T Canada with a two-year, $4-million contract for a range of telecommunications services. Allstream will continue to provide data, Internet and long distance voice services to the national airline.

While cost was a factor for WestJet, culture was too, says Rosanna Imbrogno, director of customer service.

“They fit WestJet very well,” she says. “We are a unique culture and we need someone who understands what our culture is and how we drive our business model.”

The company has already been with WestJet for four years, and while the airline felt it was time to take a quick look to see what other vendors could offer, it made sense for WestJet to stay with Allstream for another two years, says Imbrogno.

“We didn’t feel it necessary to move away from Allstream,” she says. “We partnered up with someone who understands us.”

Keeping costs low is what keeps WestJet competitive, says Imbrogno, “and we innovate like crazy. You have to have an entrepreneur in you to do that.” WestJet sees the same qualities in Allstream.

Among the services provided by Allstream is its high-speed network that connects between WestJet’s head office, data centres, hangars and call centre facilities. WestJet serves 26 cities across Canada, and employs 3,500 people, 2,000 of whom work in customer service, an area Imbrogno says sees a great deal of benefit from the Allstream relationship.

“We’re doing more and more sales on the Internet,” she says. Currently, 65 per cent of bookings are done online, and WestJet expects that to increase, which pushes the call centre to become a more rounded contact centre, says Imbrogno. “We’re going to have to use different technology. (Allstream) has people in their organization who understand call centres very well.”

Imbrogno says it made sense to only sign a two-year deal with Allstream since WestJet is rapidly changing. While WestJet is evolving, focused on innovation and cost-conscious, says Imbrogno, it’s not looking to lead the technology. Voice over IP, she says, is still not something WestJet is willing to embrace.

“No one’s really perfected it yet,” she says.

One leading edge technology that has aided WestJet, says Imbrogno, is ResponseTek, which enables the airline to gather feedback from its customers.

The deal with WestJet is Allstream’s first major customer win since its rebranding two months, says David Grixti, Allstream’s sales vice-president, Western Region, and in terms of size and scope is one of its top 100 customers.

WestJet’s potential to bring more revenue and business to Allstream is significant, he says. “It opens up opportunities to expand the network. WestJet is growing and expanding the cities they fly into and we are growing with them.”

AT&T Canada relaunched itself as Allstream in June to reposition itself as a national provider of connectivity, infrastructure management and IT services. The name change follows AT&T Canada’s successful debt restructuring plan last April.

Original printed in Computing Canada, August 8, 2003, Vol. 29 No. 15

Touchy remote software [Portfolio]

/ Gary Hilson

Having access to your personal files from anywhere in the world is promised by a number of technologies, usually with the help of wireless or broadband Internet.

Mississauga, Ont.-based 01Communique’s latest version of its I’m InTouch software makes use of the latter to let users access their Windows-based PC from anywhere, letting them access and edit files, read and edit contact and calendar entries and run any desktop application.

And while broadband access is a big part of making this possible, it’s also the software’s Achilles heel.

But let’s talk about trying to install the software first.

It took (count ’em) five attempts — both using the provided CD and a downloaded version — and we still couldn’t get the green light. Specifically, a little green satellite in the taskbar that says the machine is available for remote access.

To the company’s credit, tech support was quite responsive, but it was still very much a trial and error approach, with particular focus on the fact the Windows 2000 test machine was connected to a home office LAN with a Linksys router.

Ultimately, the solution was a minor setting change in Internet Explorer — unchecking “detect settings automatically” was all that was standing in our way.

Once it was running, we tried accessing the system from a Mac machine at CDN’s offices. While we had no trouble logging in to the computer remotely, once we tried to make use of any of the functions, the Mac froze up, whether we used Netscape Navigator 4.0 or Internet Explorer 5.0.

These problems would appear to be the fault of the Mac system, since the next step was to give it a whirl on a Windows 2000 machine here in the office. Success! This also meant that our failed attempts on the Mac did take the remote system down.

But the thrill of victory waned quickly once bandwidth limitations were realized. It’s painfully slow to do anything on the remote desktop, whether it’s manipulating files or checking e-mail via Outlook or Outlook Express. Memories of accessing the Web via dial-up came flooding back.

Accessing files remotely, in theory, should be a productivity gain, but waiting several minutes just to load the remote desktop was enough to realize that remote access software is only really effective in ideal conditions.

I’m InTouch obviously loses points for installation headaches, but it does have all the right elements remote access software should have.

Unfortunately, bandwidth limitations simply kill its usefulness, which is an issue that in all likelihood is not unique to 01Communique’s efforts.

It’s important to note that having the remote system on a LAN was one reason for slower access, and that the company is addressing bandwidth issues in the next release.

Originally published in Computer Dealer News, June 13, 2003, Vol. 19 No. 9

McAfee VirusScan Professional 7.0 [Portfolio]

/ Gary Hilson

Despite one or two niggling annoyances, McAfee’s VirusScan Professional looks as though it’s the comprehensive tool for keeping your PC secure.

Installation initially appeared to be quick and smooth, until discovering it needed to download 20 minutes worth of upgrade patches (this is a typical installation using a broadband connection).

Designed to work on Windows 98 and up with 32 MB of RAM on a 100 MHz processor, I tested VirusScan Professional on Windows 2000 with more than twice the minimum horsepower. While running in the background there was no visible slowing of system performance; however, opening the software’s control panel was slow.

File scanning is quick, though, thanks in part to a feature called File Scan Caching: the software makes sure processing power is not wasted looking at previously scanned and unchanged files.

VirusScan Professional 7.0 has a browser-like interface, with back, forward, and home buttons — pretty much unchanged from version 6.0.

A notable change from its predecessor is a tool allowing you to schedule scans of individual folders, particularly ones that change frequently, such as My Documents.

But VirusScan Professional 7.0 is much more than just an anti-virus tool. It also includes a personal firewall — essential for those users with an always-on Internet connection, as well the ability to protect a PC during PDA synchronization and to permanently remove private files.

It also boasts instant updating of virus definitions — which most users have probably come to expect from any anti-virus software — but has the annoying habit of issuing a daily alert that an update is available and sending you to a Web page with no instructions on what to do next, despite that fact that the automatic update feature was enabled.

Aside from minor quibbles, McAfee VirusScan Professional 7.0 is a very complete solution for protecting PCs against viruses and other nasty bugs — the only drawback might be that it’s too much for the average user; power users will have no problem.

Estimated street price is $72.

Originally published in Computer Dealer News, March 21, 2003, Vol. 19 No. 4

Royal Bank rewards in real time [Portfolio]

/ Gary Hilson

With its launch of a year-long pilot program in B.C., Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) is upping the ante in the credit card customer loyalty game by providing selected Visa cardholders with instant rewards when they make purchases with their cards.

Powered by point-of-sale (POS) technology developed by Ernex Marketing Technologies, a Vancouver-based firm acquired by RBC last year (see “Royal Bank buys loyalty program provider,” Strategy DirectResponse, July 19, ‘99), the Royal Rewards program is said to be the first program of its type to be offered by a North American bank.

Selected Royal Bank Visa Gold Preferred and Platinum Preferred cardholders in Vancouver and the Lower Mainland of B.C. are eligible for enrolment in the Royal Rewards program, which debuted Sept. 1.

The program allows shoppers using RBC-issued Visa cards to get instant loyalty point status updates on their cash register receipts, and to redeem their points for instant rewards from participating merchants. For the first three months of the pilot project, cardholders can accelerate their points-earning capability by making repeat purchases with participating merchants. The program also incorporates a Swipe ‘n’ Win component (currently offering a grand prize trip to Hawaii) and custom-couponing capabilities.

The RBC program marks a departure from the standard approach of many retail-oriented loyalty marketing programs, which require customers to wait for their monthly statements to see their points status.

Marlene Thompson, vice-president, value-added programs at Toronto-based RBC, says the Royal Rewards program creates a win-win situation for both the bank and participating merchants because it builds loyalty among the bank’s cardholder base, while providing merchants with an effective tool to attract and retain customers.

“We always want to build loyalty for our products,” she says, adding that RBC had examined the possibility of implementing more traditional promotions – such as coupons – but decided it would be best to develop a loyalty program that would be simple and attractive for customers and merchants alike.

Vancouver was a logical location for the pilot, says Thompson, since it’s a sizable city and Ernex was already well-entrenched there – many of the 74 merchants participating in the pilot already have their own in-house loyalty programs powered by Ernex-enabled point-of-sale terminals.

“It really fit well for building Ernex business with Royal Bank business,” Thompson says.

The development of a new loyalty program for credit card holders can hardly be viewed as a response to declining credit card use, since, according to Visa Canada, there were 22 million active Visa cards in Canada in 1999, up 12.8% from the year before. However, there has been pressure from other fronts. Most notably, perhaps, U.S. MasterCard issuers MBNA and Capital One have both moved north in recent years, flooding the market with introductory offers of low interest rates.

“There’s a lot of competition and, in the last few years, it’s exploded in the Canadian marketplace,” says Thompson.

That may be so, but at least one analyst believes the threat from MBNA and Capital One is less serious than some might imagine.

Michael Szego, a retail industry consultant with Toronto-based J.C. Williams Group, says Canadians are smart consumers, and while many sign up for the cards to take advantage of the low introductory rates, lots of people are quick to dump them as soon as those rates go up.

He says that building long-term loyalty among cardholders, such as RBC is doing, is a much better strategy.

Szego says that, to date, no other Canadian credit card issuers are offering anything comparable to the Royal Rewards program.

“The key is the program’s real-time element,” he says. “Instant gratification is always better than deferred gratification.”

But it’s not just the structure of the Royal Rewards program itself that makes it stand out. Ernex technology also provides valuable consumer data that can be leveraged by Royal Bank and the participating merchants.

According to some of those participating in the trial, the Royal Rewards program has already created some new marketing opportunities. Superstar, a sporting goods retail chain with 25 outlets in B.C., says the program has provided the company an opportunity to broaden its reach beyond its core base of hardcore sporting fanatics.

According Joe Calvano, vice-president of Superstar, the Royal Rewards program is a great way to entice new customers and keep them coming back.

“Once they shop with us once,” he says, “they’ll continue to do so.”

Originally published in Strategy Magazine, October 9, 2000