June 25, 2009

You Can Be Part of The Crowdsourcing Book



As many of you already know, I'm currently authoring a book on Crowdsourcing. Me and my research intern have been spending the better part of the month researching and writing. The book is taking shape very well.

We are now throwing the doors open and encouraging you to be part of the book. Not just because the book is on crowdsourcing, but because I have long realized that my intelligence is limited. I look upon your wisdom to enrich the book.

I invite you to be part of the book. Here's how you can participate.

Tweet about your views on Crowdsourcing. Remember, your personal opinion is what matters.

It can be anything related to crowdsourcing. It could be about its usefulness, tips, your experiences etc. Don't hold yourself back.

You can send in as many tweets. Preferably if its within 140 characters. But, don't worry if you cannot. Just send it. We'll do word play later to get it in line.

If you need two tweets to convey a certain message, that's fine.

Alternatively, you can also email it to me at Kiruba[@]Kiruba.com. Or SMS me at +91.98415 97744. Or just leave a comment in this post.

20% of the book, that's 28 tweets of the 140 tweets, will be from you all. I've done most of my part of the book and now look up to you for your wisdom.

For each selected tweet that makes the cut, your tweet will be published in the book along with your name and twitter ID. Your photo, your profile and link to your Twitter ID, blog, Facebook page, Flickr account will be published in the companion website. Once the book is complete, you will be amongst the first to get the PDF version of the book.

I look forward to collaborating together.

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June 24, 2009

Announcing My New Book - CrowdsourcingTweet



A lot can be said in 140 characters.

That's the premise behind my new book, CrowdsourcingTweet.

The book is a compilation of 140 tweets. Each tweet less than 140 characters.

The book is part of the #Th!nkTweet Series published by HappyAbout, a California based publishing house.

The inspiration behind the book stemmed from Rajesh Setty, my mentor and author of the first book in the series.

I got sold on the idea of authoring a book via tweets for the following reasons:

- We now don't have the time to read big books.

- I've always enjoyed reading small books that I can finish on a plane ride.

- It's much easier to write a small book!

- I found a great publisher and mentor!

- I truly believe in the 'Wisdom of the Crowd'.

In the true spirit of the book, 20% of tweets will be crowdsourced. An opportunity for you to participate.

When we listen to a lecture, we take notes of important points. Treat this book like a compilation of those points.

The book is in its final stages of completion. It will hit the stands in early September 2009.

In case you didn't notice, this post was written in tweet sized sentences!

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The Cleartrip Experience - Part 2

This is a follow up post to my experience with ClearTrip during my trip to Kuala Lumpur. Please read the first part if you are new to this. Also read the blog post by Hrush, Cleartrip's co founder. ( Apologies for the delay in writing the second part.)

After a harrowing experience at the Chennai Airport and a thrilling last minute rush, me and my wife were on board the Malaysian Airlines flight to KL. As soon as I landed, I had to rush to the conference venue. This kept the bitter memories off my head as I was fully occupied with the conference.

Once the conference got over, later that evening, I wrote a detailed post on Cleartrip's Customer Forum. I knew that forum posting will have to meander through layers of authority and hence I followed it up with emailing Hrush, the co-founder and Nikhil Godbole, Senior Manager, Operations.

Prior to this, I also made a tweet venting my frustration. I wanted to make a detailed blog post but a combination of complete lack of sleep the previous night and a draining day at the conference left me with little energy. That's when I realized the importance of Twitter. You get to say what you want to say in quick time. No wonder Twitter is cannibalizing blogs!

I wasn't expecting a prompt reply. Cleartrip surprised me here. Nikhil wrote an apology email and confirmed that my tickets for both me and my wife will get taken care of. I was asked for my hotel phone number and soon enough, he gave me a call.

The next day, I received an email with the PNR details for our return flight. Nikhil called me up once again to give me the confidence that they had double checked the tickets.

To me and my wife, having a confirmed return tickets was a major source of relief. We could now enjoy our vacation without worrying about nasty surprises.

On the morning of Day 5 in KL, the day we were to fly back, I received an email from
Cleartrip saying that they have bumped us up to Business Class. They explained that they were sorry for spoiling our Wedding anniversary and wanted to make up.

We were spoilt bad on Business Class. Pampered would be an understatement. There were just two other passengers in the entire Business Class. This meant that the stewardesses out-numbered us.

I consciously ordered Champagne. As we toasted, we couldn't help but think of the stark difference between the two experiences. What started on a disastrous note ended on a fairytale.

Important lessons learnt.

It's natural to screw up. But it takes courage to admit one's mistake.

I'd give credit to Cleartrip for following up and resolving the issue. The phone calls and prompt reply helped.

Before making the blog post on Cleartrip's blog, Hrush wrote to me seeking my permission to take this incident as a case study and to explain the reasons. I agreed. He earned my respect for following this simple courteous gesture.

I will continue to use Cleartrip to book tickets. But from now on, I will take the extra effort to make a phone call to the airline to confirm the tickets. Definitely so, if its an international one.

Twitter is indeed powerful. I no longer look at it as a ego-massaging, narcissistic tool. It's a fantastic community tool. Just this morning, I had requested for an illustrator for children's book and I got over 20 personal references via email and Twitter. Now, that's usefulness.

Twitter is useless if it is used as a PR announcement tool. It's strength comes in when corporates engage in genuine conversations. Cleartrip gets a thumps up for that.

You need balls of steel to point your customers to vent their frustration and complaints on your corporate website in full public view. At first sight, it looked like having the public Customer Forum on Cleartrip's site is like shooting your own feet. At least that's what most PR folks at a conference in Bangalore said when I took Cleartrip as a case study. But look deeper and you will notice that they use it as a transparent tool to show resolution of complaints. And they are using the public scrutiny to their advantage to resolve issues.

I'm looking forward to the reimbursement of the ticket money from them. I'm assuming that's under process.

Also, looking forward to the changes that Cleartrip said they will be making based on the learnings from this incident.

Like they say, Alls well that ends well.

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June 16, 2009

The ClearTrip Episode : My Experience

A month ago, I got an invitation to speak at The Cost Effective Advertising Conference in Kuala Lumpur. The date clashed with our 9th wedding anniversary. I sensed a wonderful opportunity to spring a surprise on my wife. I decided to take her along. I wanted to wait until the tickets were booked before I broke the news to her.

My first choice was Cleartrip. Over the last few years, it's been the only site I've used for my flight bookings. Mostly domestic though. Great experience, everytime. All my international tickets, however, were either booked by clients or conference organizers. This was my first experience booking an international flight ticket on ClearTrip.

As soon as I paid Rs.24K for the tickets, the first surprise I got was a message that said that the tickets are only blocked and not booked. To confirm booking, I need to present the copy of the Malaysian Visa along with the passport photocopy. This was new to me. And they gave me exactly a day to get this done.

I rush to the Malaysian Embassy to get my visa and they throw me a stump. They said they will only issue a Visa if I have confirmed ticket booking.

Huh?!

Reminded me of the chicken and egg syndrome.

I tried to convince the Malaysian embassy officials of my predicament and with the rest of the documents (like invitation letter, conference brochure with my name on the speaker list etc), it was in vain. I even fixed a meeting with a senior official the next day.

The next day, I got a call from a ClearTrip support staff who said, "Sir, your online booking is now void because it is past the deadline. Would you like me to refund your money minus cancellation charges or would you pay Rs.8000 extra for booking new tickets?" I found the casual tone of the message annoying. I did not like either of the choices she offered.

I explained to her about my embassy discussion and that no embassy issues a visa in one day and told about my desperate measures to get the visa (which was a requirement for me to get tickets from Cleartrip).

That's when she said that visa is optional. Optional?? That was not mentioned in the email I got from Cleartip. I tell her that and she replied, "Oh, that's standard email we send out".

Standard?? That casual tone again. Ohh!

What I did not understand was why did she have to wait until AFTER the deadline had passed. If she had called me at least an hour before the "deadline', I would have understood that visa was not compulsory and could easily have just given her the passport copy alone. It could have saved me tons of stress.

But she shrugged her shoulders. So did her team leader. So did the manager. Each time I had to repeat the explanation. But I must give it to them for patiently listening to me.

You know, when you pay Rs.24,000 of your money, the least I would expect is to be told in advance if the tickets was going to expire.

I accept its my mistake that I did not call them up and tell them about my visa problem. At the same time, it would have been nice for someone to have called and warned me about the impending 'cancellation'. Calling me AFTER the tickets have been cancelled isn't helping me at all.

After much discussion, cleartrip came up with a solution. I pay 50% ( Rs.4000) extra and they will book my tickets. I hated doing it but I really wanted to give my wife a vacation. I coughed up the money.

I get a confirmation mail from them saying that the tickets have been booked. Received the PNR.

Now, here's when the real incident starts.

On the day of departure, I land at the Chennai Airport two hours before check-in. I hand over my passport and the online booking printout to the staff. The staff took an unusually long time to process my tickets. I sensed trouble. The staff did various rounds of discussions amongst themselves. Half hour passed.

Then the official came to me and said my wife's ticket is ok and mine has been cancelled. Cancelled?? I told him that can't be because we booked it together. He took out a printout and showed me the dreaded word. "VOID".

You will realize how complicated the scene is when you listen to this. I booked my flight tickets through ClearTrip.com on a Jet Airways flight, which is operated by Malaysian Airlines and handled by an Air India Staff. And each one shrugged their shoulders and said its not their problem. I called ClearTrip but their customer service counter closed at 10 PM.

Now, there was only half hour to go for the flight to take off. I get panicky. I offered to buy a new ticket, but they refused to book a new one because they close the counter one hour before departure. An airport staff said I could still book it through a travel agency outside the airport. I run across to this agency. They said they cannot book the ticket because its just 20 minutes for take off.

I rush back and the guy at the counter gave me another idea. I could book the ticket for the next day and the airline will honour my ticket for today. And so I run like a mad man across the airport to this travel agency again and booked a new ticket. By this time, it was just 12 minutes for take off.

With the new tickets in hand, we had to wade through the immigration check and the really long security check line. You have no idea the number of "please' and "excuse us" I had used to go past the long queue.

With just 5 minutes before take off, we were the last people to enter the flight. I was panting and awash with sweat. My wife was really hassled. This is NOT the kind of experience I wanted to give her on her vacation.

-------

I'll update the second part soon of what took place after I reached kuala lumpur.

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May 12, 2009

Got a Question for MD of Microsoft India?

Today at 3PM, we will have the privilege of having Rajan Anandan, Managing Director of Microsoft India, as the guest at 'The Kiruba Show'.

'The Kiruba Show' is a podcast interview series with CEOs and top brass of Indian and international companies. The show follows a friendly conversational tone. You can find the old podcasts here and the new site will soon be launched with the fresh set of podcasts, which includes interviews with SAP MD, Jeffrey Archer and many.

I'm a firm believer that the collective knowledge of the audience is far higher than just any one individual. The show extensively uses Social Media to have the readers actively be part of the program. You have the chance to ask questions and we will pass it on to the CEO on your behalf. Due credit will be given. While asking the questions, your name and your profile will be mentioned. When the interview eventually gets published, your blog, twitter and LinkedIn profiles will be linked to.

Quite honestly, I've been meaning to give due credit to people who contributed with your questions and I plead guilty for not giving enough credit. That's one area that I really will be working on correcting it.

If you had the chance to meet the MD of Microsoft India, what is the one question you would like to ask him? Here is how you can pass on your questions.

Twitter: Please send in your questions as Tweets with @Kiruba.

Comment on this blog post: Just drop your question to Rajan in the comment section below this blog post.

Facebook: Here is my facebook profile. Just write your question on my wall or send a private message to me.

Email : The simplest and most effective method. Send your question to Kiruba @ Kiruba.com.

SMS: Another effective method. Send your question to +91 98415 97744.

Look forward to your questions.

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May 04, 2009

TwitterCamp on June 21 at Chennai


Pic: tenz1225

Block the date, fellas. June 21st, Sunday. TwitterCamp cometh.

TwitterCamp is a one day unconference where discussions revolve around the concept of Micro-blogging and its various uses. It's an open event. Pretty soon, a wiki will be set up where you can register your name and the topic you would like to speak on.

We have started the hunt for a venue that can hold 150 people. As of now, we have had a very enthusiastic response from US Technologies to help offer their office space as venue.

Calling good designers to help design a logo for TwitterCamp. Please let your imagination fly.

The event is the brainchild of The Knowledge Foundation, the non-profit group that has brought up BarCamp, Proto.in, WikiCamp, MobileMondays etc.

TwitterCamp is a true unconfernce, meaning that anyone can participate and help out in organizing. If you would like to offer a helping hand, please send an email to ganesh @ rupya.com.

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