Podcast: Play in new window | To download, right-click and save/download link
They do things differently in Portugal. Normally the prospect of sitting through a software vendor’s user group meeting would have me grinding my teeth and clenching my buttocks. Such events normally involve three kinds of sales technique: cross sell, up sell and hard sell. But at the WeDo Technologies User Group conference (the “WUG”!) they tried a fourth approach: the no sell. Instead, they took care of customers and every last detail, sat back and let their guests talk about what they do and how they do it. To borrow from an ad campaign for Carlsberg… “WeDo don’t do industry conferences, but if WeDo did do industry conferences, they’d be the best industry conferences…” Let us just say that if WeDo write software as well as they host events, then they must have written some immaculate and smooth-running code. Perhaps the very best marketing technique is just to take care of the environment and allow the customers to talk about what they do (and how they use your products to do it). They say the best advertising is a word of mouth recommendation, and WeDo must be confident they can rely on that. Perhaps they are right – look at what I just wrote!
WeDo amassed a really high-calibre panel for their 2010 WUG. Unfortunately, for all their perfect planning, they did make one mistake – they let me sit on the panel too. Luckily the other guests were so clever and knowledgeable that my insane ramblings only served to make them look even better. Listen to podcast 12 to hear the panel session at WeDo’s WUG, which turned out to be a really entertaining and insightful discussion about the current circumstances and challenges faced by revenue assurance, business assurance and fraud management. Not counting me and my big mouth, the star-studded panel consisted of:
- Tony Poulos, Head of the Revenue Management Sector at the TM Forum, Anchor for The Telecom Channel and too many other things to mention;
- Nick Mann, former Head of Fraud, Risk and Security at Vodafone Group and ex-Chairman of the GSM Association’s Fraud Forum;
- Susan McNeice, Global Director at Stratecast, the strategic research and forecasting division of Frost & Sullivan; and
- the chair was Alun Lewis, respected independent telecoms writer, consultant, and man of deep thoughts as well as fine words.
Many thanks to WeDo for hosting an excellent event, and to both WeDo and my fellow panelists for permitting me to share the recording with you.
Entries (RSS)