The best of 'Reader Comments': the mystery of Ginger and call centres' great expectations

We ran several pieces looking at the speculation around a new invention. It's top secret, well-backed and ultra-hyped. But will Ginger change the world? Readers made some predictions (http://www.silicon.com/a42048 )

--The everlasting...hype?
From: Mustafa Alrawi

Cities will be built around it? Well the only thing that I can think of that will revolutionise civilisation more than the internet is some kind of everlasting power source. Otherwise we are all victims of the latest Blair Witch-style internet hype.

--Anti-gravity flow?
From: Neil Cottee

Gravity - Inertia - Nullifying - Gyroscopic - Electromagnetic - Radiation

A machine that can nullify the inertia due to gravity via gyroscopic electromagnetic radiation. Basically here you have the conversion of the acceleration of gravity (9.8 ms-2) into an everlasting energy source. Once developed, a basic concept can be grasped with a simple model (presumably already accomplished), and the general populace will be able to adapt virtually any existing electrical machinery to run off this new power source.

Obviously, now that gravity can be 'overcome' or 'equalised' another use appears, and that's for transport. Vehicles can use a Ginger drive not only for power, but for anti-gravity flow. Basically, if you push something without any friction it will go, and go, and go (wind resistance will still count though).

So that is what it is for, yes definitely. Or it could be a banana-peeling machine, yes it could be that as well!

--Anti-gravity flow?
From: Philip Steedman

If a flop, how about Great. Idea. Never. Generated. Enough. Revenue.

--Bad acronym& GINEGR???
From: Gordon Wilkinson

How about Gyroscopic Invention for Neutralising the Effects of Gravitational Regions.
Probably a one man hover scooter based on a gyroscopic force field.

--Cold fusion revisited?
From: Chris Boreham

This seems similar to all the hype surrounding the alleged 'cold fusion' experiments a couple of years ago - call me cynical if you will but I'm sure these guys will make a lot of money selling the book.

--Not a new car
From: Paul Catling

If it were a new car why did he assemble 2 in 10mins? Even if it were a new form of mini city powered hang glider, you would only need one to show it off. So! It must be a transporting device about to turn all of us into 'The Fly' or a way of hiding road works...

--It shall wipe the streets
From: Josh Horton

What about some kind of modified street sweeper? You did mention that IT will "sweep over the world" affect "old line companies" and will be an alternative to products that are "dirty, expensive, sometimes dangerous and often frustrating, especially for people in the cities".

Street sweeping doesn't quite rival the internet though, does it.

--Promotion?
From: Kevin Cook
I think that it the first product to benefit from zero marketing and that hype built up around the world mainly by the internet, means that whatever Ginger is, be it scooter hover board etc, by the time it breaks cover it can not possibly live up to expectations.

--Air con con?
From: Adam Mackay

In my opinion, G.I.N.G.E.R. is something to do with air conditioning. It is to be standalone so you can take it with you (hence the quick assembly time) and you don't have to damage your property and it will run on waste, having almost no running costs.

--Who is he talking about?
From: Dominic Bradbury

Perhaps it will be a life-size cut out of an irritating TV and radio presenter. It will clear a path in front of you when people see it coming and emit nothing but hot air into the atmosphere.

And a story we ran about why call centres often disappoint also raised the collective blood pressure. It can be found at http://www.silicon.com/a41767

--Not what they are, but how they're managed
From: Keith Hunter

Plainly this guy hasn't had the pleasure of actually using one of these centres in anger.

That being said there is nothing wrong with the call centre as a means of service provision. My experiences suggest that management use the system to keep customers very much at arms length and give themselves an easy life. Not the fault of the system but of how it is used.

--CRM needs planning
From: Anon.

It's a bit rich for Graham to blame CRM for promising legions of happy customers and then not delivering. If companies don't develop a clear 'customer service proposition', work out how to deliver it, invest in the infrastructure and then tell their customers what to expect, they will disappoint - CRM or no CRM.

Businesses have to appreciate that whilst customer satisfaction has great benefits it also requires planning and excellent implementation of the customer service strategy. It's not rocket science, just professional management.

With regard to who should 'run' call centres, I think Marketing and Sales Managers are every bit as dangerous as Telecoms Managers when it comes to delivering service. Marketing and Sales people are usually the ones who come up with the instant schemes which lead to service shocks. Leave running call centres to Customer Service and Operations professionals who can deliver, and more importantly argue the corner for service.

--A place for everyone...
From: James Burns

Customer expectations MUST be met. Knowing what these are and building the call centre around them is essential. Telecoms managers have a role to advise on the technical aspects of call management only, surely.

--Whose fault?!
From : John Schoonie

I cannot believe that he could say that it is the customers' fault. This company certainly won't be on my shortlist for outsourced call centres. In case he doesn't realise, a call centre is supposed to deliver a BETTER service.