Aplikacja pomaga znaleźć dobrze strzeżony i tani parking obok dowolnego lotniska w Polsce.

Od pewnego czasu korzystam z aplikacji NaviParking, dzięki której mogę znaleźć w Polsce tani i bezpieczny parking w pobliżu lotniska.
Aplikacja zarejestrowanym użytkownikom umożliwia w ciagu paru sekund rezerwacje miejsca parkingowego na wybranym parkingu. Wypróbowane parkingi można dodać do listy "ulubionych" i jeszcze bardziej skrócić proces rezerwacji parkingu w przyszłości.
Płatności dokonuje się na miejscu przy wjeździe na parking lub po powrocie z podroży odbierając samochód.
Ceny parkingu w zależności od pory roku mogą być nawet poniżej 50zl za tydzień co w polaczeniu z bardzo tanimi i wygodnymi lotami Wizzair umożliwia bezstresowe i tanie wakacje lub podróże służbowe.

One-click parking reservation at Polish airports

One of the problems while traveling by plane  is finding cheap and safe parking close to your airport of departure.
Since a few months I use NaviParking app which helps registered users making one-click parking reservation at the car parks located near every airport in Poland
In the app you can keep all your favourite  car parks including the contact details what is very convenient the day of traveling.
You don't have to bother about payment: you pay when you arrive at the car park or after returning from your trip while collecting your car. Weekly rate for parking can be as low as 10 euro making my travels by my favourite low cost airline Wizzair very affordable.

Customer Experience Management at Avero Achmea needs urgent improvement: my customer journey story

While attending TMForum Live conference in Nice where Customer Experience Management gets lots of attention I would like to share my Customer  Journey I experienced with Dutch insurance company Avero Achmea which clearly demonstrates that some insurance companies can learn a lot from telecoms in the field of Customer Experience Management.
When on 14th April 2015 I decided to sell my life insurance and called Avero Achmea advisory department  I was informed that due to a very busy time I should expect a letter from Avero Achmea, with all required documents to submit my request , within a few weeks. This was the first bad surprise:  why do I need to wait so long for a simple document with value of my life insurance? The letter I received on Saturday 25th April was dated 21st April.
On Monday 27th I sent the documents including copy of my passport to Avero Achmea counting on receiving money a few days later. As I haven't heard from Avero Achmea for two weeks I called Avero Achmea to find out that: yes they received the required documentation on 30th April BUT they have a huge backlog and I will have to wait for my money for a few weeks. This was the first shocking experience for me: why it takes that long to process a simple request. After my remark that when Greece will leave the eurozone the stock prices will go down and I will loose lots of money because of such a long processing time on Achmea side I was told that actually my shares were sold the day Avero Achmea received my request  so I should not worry.

A few days later I got a letter , dated 18th May, from Avero Achmea :

Dear Mr Stawinski, recently we received information about your Life insurance. We aim always to respond within 10 working days. Unfortunately in this case we will not be able to do it.
When you will receive from us our response ?

Within 4 weeks you will get from us reaction. Thank you for your patience

Do you still have questions ?

Please contact our intermediar

Best Regards

Jack Hommel

CEO

This letter in my case was completely out of context.  I am sure that Jack Hommel is not aware that his name is misused to sign such completely meaningless letters which clearly show they are printed in thousands without addressing any specific situation of the customer. I am just waiting for payment of my money, I do not need advisor. I only need information about amount I am going to get and when. 


My customer journey  hasn't finished yet. Yesterday I used the complain form on Avero Achmea portal and wait for the response and for my money.

As former Chief Architect at ABN Amro Bank and UPC  I am sure that Avero Achmea urgently needs help of ICT Architects to improve the Customer Experience Management and can take advantage of developed by TM Forum CEM frameworks.

Google Uber partnership a serious threat to local taxi businesses

A week ago I arrived by Thalys in Paris and used Google Maps to find out how to get to my hotel by public transport. To my surprise, I saw Uber mentioned at the end of the list with the information that I can expect an Uber ride in 13 minutes, with the expected costs of 13-18 Euro. My travel time would be 36 minutes, 20 minutes less than by metro.

I still decided to take a metro, for just 1,8 Euro, which is relatively cheap in comparison with London’s metro.

Last Sunday I arrived at Heathrow Airport and used Google Maps to figure out how to get to my hotel at the airport by public transportation. Again at the end of the list Google Maps informs you that Uber can take you to the hotel for just 5 pounds arriving in four minutes. On my way back Google Maps informed me that Uber would pick me up in two minutes and I could get to the airport in 12 minutes for just 8 pounds. 

This is extremely appealing as the official taxi price at the hotel is 18 pounds and Uber can pick you up without practically any waiting time! Providing Uber information in Google Maps  requires the integration between Google Maps and Uber platforms.

How can local taxis compete with Uber in these circumstances?

Do local taxi companies have a chance to be listed on Google Maps even if they manage to digitise their business? Even if they are listed, can they offer competitive prices?

I am afraid that the answer to both questions is NO. It means that there is no bright future for local taxi companies facing joint competition from Google and Uber. This case is very interesting in the context of the EU Google antitrust case as it looks like in the digital platform era  The Winner Take It All 

My 10 month old MacBook Air refused to boot

Last week during my business trip abroad, I started my day with a not working MacBook Air. It just refused to boot. I could see the light on the back side of the monitor and that’s all. This is the last thing you would expect from a 10 month old computer.

On the Internet I could find some magic key combinations helping me to recover it from this frozen state, but nothing worked. The fact that I was one of thousands of MacBook Air users experiencing the same problem did not help with my frustration. I had to give it back to my store for repair and face ca three weeks of waiting time..

I got the impression that the Apple quality is much worse than during its early days, and the fact that it takes so long to solve such a problem is very frustrating. I had to buy a new MacBook Air model and the only positive experience was that Time Machine has fully restored all my data from the Airport Time Capsule.

The recent rumours about Apple entering the car business, and is “working secretly toward creating an Apple-branded electric vehicle” to challenge Tesla sounds like a fairy tale in the context of the quality problems I experienced with my laptop. 

Watch out for low costs activity trackers sold by airlines

Since my Apple shop visit in San Francisco in November 2013 I am an enthusiastic user of Fitbit.

It replaced my watch on the left hand and instead of the time I started watching the number of steps I made every day. I also discovered a very handy feature: the vibrating alarm which is very helpful to give you a discrete signal to notify you when you about to finish your presentation at a conference or meeting. 

Yesterday after coming back from a business trip my wife proudly showed me the Nuband activity tracker which she bought on Wizzair plane for just half of the Fitbit price. A real bargain she said.

Unfortunately very soon we found out that the Nuband app is not working, we could not even connect the iPhone with the device and the sync up failed to execute.

After a quick research on the Internet we realised that we were not the only ones with a not working Nuband device. Most of them have been bought on a plane flying Lufthansa or Qantas. The iOS Keepfit+ app has no rating and since July 2014 had no updates. Android one has an average rating 2 which is very bad when compared to the Fitbit app which has a rating of 4+.

Be warned,  don’t be tempted by wearables bargains at tax free airlines shops. I think that airlines should be much more careful while selecting their tax free assortment as disappointed buyers will blame them instead of the manufactures for their bad experience.

If anyone knows how to get a working Nuband replacement we would be grateful to hear from you.

Regarding Fitbit, I have just found out that they introduced a new model Fitbit Charge HR with Heart Rate monitoring which I was awaiting since I started using Fitbit to replace my Polar Heart Rate monitor.

iTaxi app helps to join New Year party on time

Yesterday we were preparing for a New Year celebration. Around 22:00 PM my daughter started calling all taxi companies in Warsaw but without result. It looked like the whole Warsaw was on the way. To my surprise iTaxi app, I am using every time when I need a taxi in Warsaw, showed a taxi just one minute away from our home. Ordering a taxi was a matter of just one click. In this way my daughter and her two friends became new customers of iTaxi as they were very happy to join their party on time.

Will iTaxi be able to face the competition from Uber? Uber started its operations in Warsaw last August and I hope that iTaxi will not only maintain, but also increase its market share and it will be a very good alternative for those willing to pay more in return for a better travel experience.

I have just became a registered user of Uber app and will try the Uber travel experience soon.