Justify those stereotypes

The World Bank's Doing Business survey is a great way to waste a few minutes - and for anyone doing business overseas will feel surprisingly accurate

The UK is the 5th easiest economy to do business - although only the 16th easiest for setting up a business. Hardest is the Central African Republic at 183th - strike that off our global expansion plans!

I'm sure it's just a coincidence

I've just logged onto our international banking / currency trading system and was presented with the following message:

Dear XXXXXXXX User,

XXXXXXXX's operations in the UAE have been affected by an IT incident today, Wednesday 25th November 2009, which has resulted in a backlog of transactions which have not been processed. The timing of this unavoidable incident is unfortunate, coming just before the Eid Al Adha holiday.

Any UAE dirham transaction that you or your business undertook with XXXXXXXX on Tuesday 24th or Wednesday 25th November may not be processed until Monday 30th November, due to the closure of the UAE Clearing systems for the Eid holiday. For any non-GCC currency denominated payments, we will be working hard to try to clear payments on Thursday and Friday 26th and 27th November, before the western weekend.

We deeply regret any inconvenience that this may have caused, and assure you that our teams will be working round the clock over the holiday to get the problem fixed in time for the next banking day.

In the meantime, if you have any specific concerns, please do not hesitate to contact your relationship manager. We will be ensuring that as many of our staff as possible are on hand over the holiday to assist you, and to ensure any inconvenience is kept to a minimum.

Apparently this went up a couple of days ago, just about the time that the news came out that Dubai was about to go bust. I'm sure it's just a coincidence but I'm glad I'm not waiting for a payment to clear!

We Know Where We're Going

Esendex has carried on rolling forward, despite the best efforts of the recession, but it had become clear that there was no unified view of exactly which way (forward) we were headed: the original vision for the business was no longer relevant.

After much internal debate we've refined our vision:

To be the world's best business messaging service.

We've agreed with our management team the steps we need to take to get there. And we've agreed a set of company values that underpin them:

• Entrepreneurship
• Integrity
• Highest Quality Service

Entrepreneurship doesn't always sit well with the other 2 but everyone really seems to have taken them on board. The challenge now will be to make sure that we really do practice what we preach!

A Big Jump - A Bigger Swim

A guy that I met on the boat out to the start of the Escape from Alcatraz tri sent me this video. I'd forgotten just what chaos the start was - scroll forward to 2:15 to see the first "action".

The Esendex Tri Team is planning a return in 2011.

Getsatisfaction - how satisfying

We're launching a new service soon - MoZoop - that will allow users to transfer contacts from one phone to another - for free.

It's a completely different market and business model from Esendex but is a great opportunity to try some new techniques and technologies.

I saw the founders of Getsatisfaction talk a few years ago and had hoped we'd get an opportunity to try their service at some point - and this is it.

Getsatisfaction.com/mozoop was live within about 10 minutes. Although it's going to need sufficient volume to get the support community going, it seems like a really powerful tool and I look forward to using it in the weeks and months ahead.

Call for Involvement

For a couple of years now I’ve been involved with the Strategy Implementation Board of the UKTI ICT Marketing Strategy – there’s a punchy title!.

Definition of scope has been difficult – “Technology” covers areas as diverse as a company like Esendex that delivers a service via the internet, to hardcore chip manufacturers. Representation on the Board is equally diverse – from the IBM and O2s of the world down to SMEs like us.

Nonetheless, there’s a real will to do something – and a sense of traction.

As part of this initiative, there is now considerable effort, led by Many by Many, into investigate setting up an independent network that helps companies identify and engage in profitable markets outside of the UK. On the basis that larger organisations probably [ think they ] know what they are doing, the focus will be on the SME sector.If you’ve any views, or would just like to keep a watching brief, please join the UK Technology Global Markets group on Linked In

I'm not sure I recognise myself

A very learned article about The Economic Sociology of Triathlons by Brooke Harrington - first time I'd heard the word Panopticon!

An interesting read - but am I part of a self selecting group of affluent, highly motivated individuals, who spend countless hours forging bonds through the competitive, grueling, and socially cohesive ritual of endurance athletics?

Sounds alright to me!