Pushing Mail In Japan

It seems the race is on for push email services. Research In Motion is in Japan trying to run their services through NTT Docomo. We have used NTT Docomo for 5 years and put up with constant disconnects and horrible customer service. It may not be wise to go back to that quality of service (QoS) level. In the meantime, we see various other options for push email available in Japan. Some of the options are, Microsoft’s Activesync for the Microsoft Exchange server pushes everyone to Exchange 2003, the Visto solution seems to work, RIM’s Blackberry is definitely the leader, and of course Intellisync, a company that has been around for years who Nokia purchased to synchronize multiple devices. It seems since there are so many options it seems there is become more of an interest in the devices.

For the US, the all around device of choice is probably the Palm Treo. It is unfortunate, but it seems by selling the Palm OS off and marketing a Windows mobile device that Palm threw in their towel to become just one of many other hardware providers. In Japan, we don’t have Palm as an option. Willcom has been very successful with Window Mobile devices from Sharp (the Sharp Zero 3, and Zero3 ES). The Sharp products, although a bit bulky, have actually been quite popular as a combination of great hardware with a very reasonably priced service that is very reliable.

A popular product right now in Japan is the Nokia e61.  It is a copy of the Blackberry but running the Symbian OS. AINEO has started calling them eBerrys internally. Nokia has been smart to design the devices to work well with both the Blackberry server and other push email server applications as well. It is nice as it is both fully Japanese and fully English. There is interesting commentary on the US version (evidently called the e62) on at this site.

So far, the AINEO opinion on the current devices today is

1) The Blackberry is great for executives who need access to their email but are not really planning to install additional applications.  Hands down the best in the market.  Not good for someone wanting to install various applications.

2) The Sharp models for Willcom are great for Japanese only and will run Activesync just as any other Windows Mobile device. The Willcom service is a bit weak out in the country-side, where you normally aren’t at anyway.

3) Generally, Windows Mobile is great for people who want to install applications.  You do get the glorious MS freezes with these devices similar to your PC.

4) The Nokia’s e61 is good device but not really supported by any of the carriers (AU, Softbank, Docomo or Willcom).  Its input is well designed, it currently supports Japanese (Blackberry users have at least until June 2007 for that) and can be run carrier independent. That means on either Docomo or Softbank’s Networks can be used to deliver the service. Watch out for those connection charges.  (We got a 150,000 bill from Softbank during our tests for just a few weeks of use).

nokiae61.jpg

As the IT department of many great organizations, AINEO is testing various solutions and hopes to have something concrete in January for our clients to help roll-out to sales people, consultants, and other staff who work regularly outside of the office.

With so many push email service and software provider options, it will be interesting to see which will be left standing in 2008.

© 2006

When No One Is Looking

The world is certainly changing. Some change is a bit scary as what is was once abnormal is later considered normal. However, we are of the opinion that most change is good. Change in an enterprise (or corporate environment) should be founded on the facts of the current business process and making it better. For example, if you service hundreds of customers per day (like AINEO), then how can you make life easier for both the customer and your team? That is what win-win business is all about. Looking at both sides of the coin, and making sure something makes sense for both your customer and yourself. People respect.

With the advent of technology, the internet is forcing people to be more transparent. In the old days, companies could say things and no one would notice. There days, you can’t be a hypocrite (thank God!) by saying one thing and doing another. You will be found out. A large public relations (PR) firm was caught this year doing a fake web log (blog) for a fake customer of Walmart. They were quickly found out. The executive of that company (Edelman), quickly apologized and talked about how bad that was(link). Not shortly there after, the same president was apologizing for doing the exact same thing.

Thanks to the business AINEO is doing, people can no longer blur the truth. CEOs from large firms are now maintaining blogs that tell you exactly how things are. The president of General Motors (GM), who is going through major difficulty is telling people in his blog that ‘its not been an easy year’. This type of transparency was unheard of 5 or 6 years ago.

I recently purchased a book that my teenager wanted. It was a book on how to study and do well in school. I flipped through it an say one statement that said, ‘Honor is doing what is right when no one is looking’. Of course, there are some dishonest people out there. We do our best to avoid them like the plague. But it is also important to do what is right when no one even knows. The word is going to get out, so why bother compromising or even lying when you can do the right thing and look your customer in the face and say you’ve delivered the best product or solution for their needs.

Working hard and working smart is honorable. Honor pays because we all like to work with people who do the right thing whether or not we are looking.

Let’s do the right thing. The world will be a better place for us all.

© 2006

A Tribute to Kaoru Suzuki

November 2006 showed the passing of a great man. Mr. Kaoru Suzuki was a great guy, with spunk, desire to learn new things, and a great leader. I was very sad to hear that he has left this world. He was a great manager to me at RICOH when I just came to Japan out of University. He put up with my developing Japanese years ago, and I tried to understand his interesting English. The point was he made the effort to develop his English.  I am not sure if he ever got his English straight but thanks to him my High School and University Japanese got practical applications very quickly.

He was a great man, that I would see a couple times every year that always had a great greeting (aisatsu in Japanese). He was a great role model for me and our whole team. He taught us how to do business with honor.

I’ll never forget working until mid-night on a proposal for improving a multinational bank’s operations until the last train until midnight. I put a note on his desk saying I would be coming in at 930AM the next morning. As a great Japanese boss, he acted very angry with me for coming in 30 minutes late (even though I usually came to work an hour early every day) the next morning. I’ll never forget my surprise at getting in trouble, and always wonder if he really was mad. If he was mad, it probably disappeared pretty quickly when the bank put their confidence in us to deliver the solution.

Mr. Suzuki, we will miss you! I hope that I will see you again someday.