Virtua Team Talk

You probably won’t have missed the fact that the news this week has been full of references to the Prime Minister’s new baby who has been named ‘Florence Rose Endellion Cameron’.

Her parents revealed that they had chosen the name Endellion after the Cornish village of St Endellion to reflect the county of her birth and the place where they were on holiday. They have two other children, Nancy and Arthur, who are six and four years old respectively.

What seems to spark the nation’s interest is not so much the fact that the Prime Minister has a new baby but it is the obsession and fascination that so many of us have with people’s names.

Names are very much in vogue at the moment with a widespread belief that somehow the name that our parents choose for us will determine our success, or lack of it, in later life. It’s probably true to say that we have all got one or two  friends with impossibly glamorous and trendy names that leaves the Berts’, ‘Freds’ and ‘Tracy’s’ among us feeling somewhat, well, frumpy and outdated. It seems that sometimes life (or in this case, parents) isn’t always fair. But is there really any truth in the supposition that you’re your birth name actually has an impact on your success in later life?

Albert Mehrabian, professor emeritus of psychology at the University of California, certainly thinks so. “Names generate impressions” he claims “just like a person’s appearance can generate a positive or negative impression names also have an impact when you’re not physically present, such as when you send your CV to a prospective employer.”

Over a number of years Mehrabian has researched people’s instinctive reactions to hundreds of first names and has noticed how striking many positive associations some names carry – and how negative the connotations of others turn out to be particularly when it comes to linking names with “success”. By ‘success’ Mehrabian means ambition, intelligence, confidence and other such valuable workplace attributes.

So what kind of name does it take to reach the top of the tree career-wise? Based on all the research Alexander scores 100%, William gets 99% and John 98%. For the girls, Jacqueline rates very highly, as does Diana, Danielle and Katherine.  At the other end of the scale Giles clocks up a mere 26% success rating, while Willie crawls in with just 5%. For girls, if you are an Alice, Bonnie, Sadie and Edith then apparently you are not going to set the world alight.

Unsurprisingly it is celebrities are leading the field in the bizarre forename stakes, with Jordan calling her daughter Princess Tiaamii whilst Frank Zappa’s son is saddled with ‘Dweezil’. Other celebrities prefer Chelsea, Coral , Rupert, Fifi and Jamie. In a recent survey at North London schools Amba, Jordon, Charlee, Moniqua, Shaliqua and Sharday were all popular as well as the weirder names of some football and TV stars.

Here at Virtua we are a fairly conservative lot with three directors named Andy, Brian and Rob. So is our success down to our names? Somehow I doubt it. Though I do sometimes wonder if we’d all be millionaires by now if we’d been named Wayne, Randy and Jason…

Although India is viewed as a huge potential growth market for smartphone and mobile devices recent concerns about national security are changing perceptions about the way such devices are used. In the last few days India has given Blackberry phone maker RIM a deadline of 31st August to give the government access to all of its services or face being shut down.

According to the Financial Times the country is also reported to be considering similar bans on Skype and Google services. In response to India’s concerns RIM has clarified the principles which underpin any request for access to data sent and received by Blackberry handsets but said it is unwilling to do ‘special deals’ for particular countries.

The issue is that India fears the device could be used by militants and insurgents in a repeat of the 2008 attack on Mumbai that left 166 people dead. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) was the first country to propose a block on the devices claiming they posed a “national security risk” because of their ability to send messages and e-mail without the governing authorities having the facility to monitor the communications. The row is the latest in a long running dispute between Research in Motion (RIM) and international governments.

It seems that the central issue is all about whether or not governments should be able to monitor the encrypted traffic from Blackberry devices and if so, how this could be done.

Although India is the latest country to enter the fray following the UAE’s lead, Lebanon, Algeria, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait have also expressed similar concerns with analysts expecting more to follow suit.

RIM’s CEO, Michael Lazardis, defended BlackBerry’s position saying that India’s concerns risked undermining the growth of e-commerce and added “This is about the internet. Everything on the internet is encrypted and if they can’t deal with the internet, they should shut it off.” Mr. Lazaridis said that his devices were being unfairly singled out by foreign governments who were out to score political points and while he would not comment on the status of individual negotiations, be believed a mutually agreeable settlement could be reached.

Government officials in India said that if no solution between themselves and RIM was found, then they would ask mobile phone operators to block Blackberry’s messaging and e-mail until RIM provides access to data transmitted over the handset. Working in the mobile Telecoms arena I can fully understand both sides of the argument. Clearly national security is very important and having the facility to monitor terrorist activity is an enormous advantage for the security forces. Equally, it is reassuring to know that personal privacy is respected by the Telecoms industry rather than having to live in a ‘Big Brother’ society where all personal business can be closely monitored by the government should they wish to ‘spy’ on your activities.

Whilst there is no easy answer I believe that ‘compromise’ has to be the way forward. In an uncertain world there is ample justification for monitoring crime and terrorist activity but not at the expense of civil liberty. Maybe the issue is really about having the necessary regulations and facilities in place to enable access to sensitive data when it is fully justified but not in a way that is open to misuse. There are also some religious and cultural issues that need to be factored in.

Everyone will have their own view on the pros and cons of this. The debate over the privacy of communications and national governments wish or need to be able to monitor communications has been with us for some time. It was ever thus. It’s always been a challenge for governments, law makers and the privacy lobby to keep pace with technology. I wouldn’t presume to see a way through that debate, but It’s pretty clear that the law makers and privacy guardians need to continue to find a way; and to continue to adapt fast. Technology like evolution, just keeps progressing.

Health and Safety legislation is having a hard time at the  moment courtesy of the media. It seems that not a day goes past without someone having a jibe at a new directive that for many people seems unnecessary over-protection from a ‘nanny state’. Yes, it’s true that some of the regulations do seem a little ridiculous at first sight but anything that saves lives and avoids the potential for accidents before they happen is surely better than the alternative.

For me personally, Health and Safety is a serious matter and in my role as a manager I have a responsibility towards looking after the welfare of all my employees – but I have to confess that sometimes even I am shocked by new H&S revelations – particularly so when they are related to the new ‘politically correct’ movement! Take Punch and Judy for example…

I don’t know about you but as a child I was rather fond of watching a Punch and Judy show at the seaside as have generations of children. The script and the characters have remained largely unchanged for a hundred years and even with the advent of ipods, computer games and mobile phones children still love to laugh at the antics of Mr Punch fighting the crocodile for his sausages.

It now seems though that Punch and Judy’s days might be numbered – because in many people’s views the show is neither politically correct nor meeting health and safety standards! It was reported this week in the news that officials in a number of seaside resorts have decided that the time has come to rewrite the script and bring Punch and Judy into politically correct line.

Apparently, instead of violently wielding a club Punch will in future hold a fluffy mop. He will no longer be hitting Judy or insulting policemen and instead of throwing the baby away he will be tucking it up in bed. In short bad old Mr Punch has been ‘modernised’ and, like the rest of us, he will have to learn to be more socially integrated, politically correct and more health and safety conscious.

You might think this is a good thing or, if like me you have a sentimental nostalgia for these seemingly harmless childish pleasures, you might lament the demise of yet another great British tradition. Whatever your view however it seems to me that sometimes we need to get the balance right between making sure that our health and safety policies and our politically correct attitudes are sensible and relevant but also not too frivolous or bureaucratic.

Saving lives and having respect for other creeds and cultures is important for sure – but we must do this without losing sight of common sense. When wonderful old traditions that have entertained thousands of people for sometimes hundreds of years are suddenly changed to meet ‘modern’ standards I think we are in danger of losing part of our heritage and culture.

As Mr Punch might have said “That’s not the way to do it”

On January 15th 2009 an event occurred that changed history forever, though at the time very few people realised it. It was the day US Airways Flight 1549, a scheduled commercial passenger flight left New York City to fly to Charlotte, North Carolina as it had done many times before.

Three minutes after takeoff from LaGuardia Airport the plane struck a flock of Canada Geese while still climbing towards its cruising altitude. The bird strike, which occurred just northeast of the George Washington Bridge, resulted in an immediate and complete loss of thrust from both engines.

When the aircrew of the Airbus 320 determined that they would be unable to reliably reach any airfield from the site of the bird strike, they turned it southbound and glided over the Hudson, finally ditching the airliner near the USS Intrepid museum about three minutes after losing power. All 155 occupants safely evacuated the airliner, which was still virtually intact though partially submerged and slowly sinking. Everyone on board was quickly rescued by nearby boats which had witnessed the whole incident.

The entire crew of Flight 1549 was later awarded the Master’s Medal of the Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators. The award was in recognition of the emergency ditching and evacuation, with no loss of life. The Captain in particular was hailed as a hero, averting a potential disaster and central to this unique achievement in aviation history.

Although the incident was reported widely at the time something else happened on that day which has irrevocably changed the way we define ‘news’ – and the repercussions are now changing history.

On that particular day hundreds of people were out taking a morning stroll beside the Hudson River. There were dog walkers, joggers, people going about their daily business and people travelling to work. As the plane started to get into trouble and change course the people on the ground started to reach for their mobile phones to take photos of the descending plane. Others sent text messages describing the unfolding events, some sent messages via Twitter and other social media sites.

By the time the formal news channels heard of the incident the plane was already in the water – but already people the world over knew what had happened. In other words by the time CNN and Sky News got their reporters to the scene the incident was already old news.

Later that day, in the boardroom of one of the leading TV News Channels, a Senior Manager was quoted as saying to his team “Gentlemen, as of today we are no longer in charge of the news. It is in the hands of the people.”

On that day ordinary people were sending news updates, images and sound clips around the world from their mobile phones. In other words ordinary people were using mobile phones to spread developing news stories faster than the corporate news channels could ever hope to. Suddenly, the News Channels woke up to the reality that they no longer had a monopoly on the news.

Whether you believe this to be a good thing or a bad thing is obviously a matter of personal opinion. What is undeniably clear, however, is that mobile phone technology is not just changing the way we interact with each other. It is now also changing the way the very fabric of our society operates.

Sometimes there are days when there just isn’t enough time to do everything that needs to be done. There’s only so much you can do with two arms and there are some days I wish I had eight arms so I could be more productive. Then again, even if you are an octopus some people still expect miracles – as recently evidenced by a German octopus called ‘Paul’.

As you may have seen in the papers or TV, Paul is the octopus that correctly predicted the outcomes of all seven of Germany’s games plus the Spain-Netherlands final. As a reward, aquarium staff recently presented him with his very own replica World Cup trophy garnished with his favourite food – mussels.

Paul made his uncanny predictions for each game by choosing a mussel from one of two jars bearing the flags of World Cup opponents and quickly became a worldwide celebrity.

Although some people hoped that Paul would continue to make more predictions about German politics and the economy according to a spokesperson from the Aquarium Paul is now “taking a rest from the official oracle business” and going back to his old job of “making children laugh”.

Whatever you think of Paul the octopus and his amazing prediction abilities I’m not sure that making predictions is always a good thing – particularly when it comes to business. Certainly in today’s economic climate there are far too many variables and uncertainties to contend with to make predictions with any certainty. And unlike unscrupulous bankers who like to calculate their bonuses before they have even made their targets I would prefer to wait until projects are finished and invoices are paid before I start predicting outcomes.

So if you ask me how my business will be faring one year from now or even five years from now I could certainly give you some indication based on our performance to date and likely upcoming projects and growth plans for the business. My opinion would therefore be based on real data, experience to date and business strategy which are all reasonable ways of looking towards the future.

But don’t ask me to look into a crystal ball, read tarot cards or check my horoscope because I wouldn’t do that for anyone. Not even for a million squid.

As I am sure you are aware the Virtua strap line is People. Passion. Performance. These three words were carefully chosen in order to both summarise what we do and also serve to convey our company ethos. We are passionate about what we do, we always strive for optimum performance and our business is all about exceptional people delivering exceptional results.

If these three P’s serve to describe what Virtua is all about then our success is also underpinned by another set of factors that can be simply described as the three R’s. They are Reputation, Resources and Results.

In these media dominated times I think it can be safely said that ‘Reputation’ is  everything. Certainly with the proliferation of social media sites like Facebook and Twitter news travels faster than the proverbial ‘wildfire’ and anything controversial or scandalous travels the fastest. We have all seen how individual reputations can be destroyed by negative newspaper or TV coverage (think of how Gerald Ratner’s unguarded comments destroyed the Ratner Jewellery empire). We have also seen how the reputations of large organisations can also be destroyed by negative publicity (think of the recent BP oil spill or the Enron fiasco).

Today ‘reputation management’ is big business but to my mind reputation is not something to be ‘managed’ in terms of ‘damage limitation’ because this is simply missing the point. Reputation is something that is earned like respect. Put simply, if you or your business is doing a good job then your clients and your partners will be enhancing your reputation as a natural by-product of doing business together. In short if you are trying too hard to build your reputation then something is wrong. But if your reputation is growing in line with your business growing then you are doing something fundamentally right.

Resources are the elements of your business that you offer to your clients. They can be both tangible and intangible and include things like people, skills, experience and know-how, time, knowledge, tools and techniques. Sometimes it is one element and sometimes a combination of many elements. They are the key parts of your business that differentiate you from the competition and they are the things that make you stand out from the crowd. Quite simply, if your resources are inferior then your business will be inferior.

Finally, and most importantly, at the end of the day it is Results that count. Whatever your business offering and proposition might be success is ultimately dependant on results. Get the model right and success will surely follow but get it wrong and your business will flounder.

The important thing for any business is never to take anything for granted. If the ‘resources’ you offer your clients are the best available and your ‘results’ are outstanding then your ‘reputation’ will be assured.

And, as I am sure you will appreciate, at Virtua we take these three R’s very seriously indeed.

Although in our line of business we get involved in most aspects of mobile phone technology development and deployment there is one aspect that we have absolutely no control over – and that’s how people choose to use their own personal mobile phones.

With the huge advances in applications technology, particularly in relation to the innovative iPhone or the Blackberry, phones are now the ‘essential’ tool for most professionals and losing a mobile is like losing your computer or your office!

If there is a ‘dark’ or negative side to mobile phone usage though then it has to be the alarming, and growing, number of traffic accidents caused by drivers using mobile phones. This trend has now become so serious that the police recently reported that driving whilst using a mobile phone is now considered a more serious offence than drink driving and have therefore stepped up their campaign to raise awareness as well as raising fines and penalty points.

Using a Mobile phone while driving is a widespread problem, and still controversial. Across the globe different countries have taken a different legal stance regarding the use of phones whilst driving. Some jurisdictions have made the use of a cell phone while driving illegal. Others have enacted laws to ban handheld mobile phone use, but do allow use of a hands-free device. In some cases restrictions are only directed to minors or those who are immediate license holders.

Although there have been very few scientific studies of this subject the data gathered so far is quite enlightening and has tended to prove unequivocally that increased cell phone use definitely correlates with an increased risk of a traffic accident. Also, with regard to texting a simulation study at the Monash University Accident Research Centre has provided strong evidence that both retrieving and, in particular, sending text messages has a detrimental effect on a number of critical driving tasks. Specifically, negative effects were seen in detecting and responding correctly to road signs, detecting hazards and time spent with eyes off the road.

Other studies have shown that driving whilst using a hands-free cellular device is actually no safer than using a hand held cell phone. The increased “cognitive workload” involved in holding a conversation, not the use of hands, causes the increased risk. The message then is very clear. It is our responsibility as individuals to use our mobile phones responsibly and not to put lives at risk by using a mobile phone whilst concentrating on driving. One of Virtua’s major projects is helping the emergency services improve their communications technology in order to save lives.

So let’s all be part of the solution rather than the problem!

Mobile Telecoms specialists Virtua, in partnership with iBwave, are not only developing innovative communications solutions for their clients but they are also changing the way business is done.

Traditionally businesses tend to sit groups of people together based on their job roles and their need to be close to a fixed phone line. For most this is the standard way of working but it is not necessarily the most beneficial or productive way of running a business.

Virtua, chief executive,  Andy Watts: “Today people tend to use their mobiles to conduct business and no longer need to be desk bound. Recognising this fact a number of forward thinking organisations are adopting a new type of telecoms facility called Fixed Mobile Convergence or FMC.“

The technology works by installing a small box on the wall of an office enabling staff to communicate more easily using dedicated mobile handsets at much cheaper call rates.

This way of working could revolutionise the way businesses communicate by freeing up staff so that they can work anywhere within an office complex without the need for a fixed  location.

Virtua are currently using their knowledge of the technology to set up the complete FMC solution for their clients and utilising iBwave’s unique set of technical tools to plan and implement the systems.

Watts concludes: “The most important element of these projects is in the planning and deployment phases and by using iBwave’s tools, coupled with our own experience, our clients can be sure of receiving a cost effective, optimised and  robust phone system that will enable them to work more productively and more efficiently”.

Over the last few weeks the News has been full of alarming updates about the Gulf of Mexico oil slick, now covering an area of sea the size of Scotland. Now, according to news reports, a rig worker has told the BBC that he identified a leak in the oil rig’s safety equipment weeks before the explosion. He said the leak was not fixed at the time, but that instead the faulty device was shut down and a second one relied upon.

BP has responded that rig owners ‘Transocean’ were responsible for the operation and maintenance of that piece of equipment and Transocean have said that the device was successfully tested before the accident.

No doubt the finger pointing and recriminations will go on for years, as will the environmental consequences of this catastrophe. At the heart of the matter though is the simple fact that the most critical piece of safety equipment on the rig – called the “Blowout Preventer” failed. More alarming is the revelation that the disaster could have been avoided by switching to a second ‘contingency backup’ Blowout Preventer. This apparently was not done for ‘economic reasons’.

Whatever the final outcome might be this news story resonates with me because it is all about testing equipment and health and safety. Time and again we read of companies cutting costs or cutting down testing time in order to save time or save money. Then something goes wrong and lives are lost as a consequence. In simple terms, profit has been put before people.

In the Telecoms industry a lot of our time is spent on testing – in fact it is one of the most critical elements of all the projects we work on. Testing is not just about ‘proving something works’ though. Undertaken properly it is about testing every tiniest component of a system as well as all the system interfaces. It is about understanding potential ‘points of failure’ and safety parameters. It is about contingency planning and rehearsing ‘failover’ scenarios etc. Only when every aspect of a system has been thoroughly system and integration tested will we sign it off as ready for deployment.

In an interview on TV some of the BP executives admitted that one of the major problems was the fact that working in deep water posed much greater technical challenges than fixing shallow water oil spills. My reaction to this sort of comment is “So how did you test for deep water problems and what was the disaster contingency plan?”

I’m probably not alone by asking this type of question. Henry Waxman, a House of Representatives Democrat, who is overseeing congressional investigations into the rig disaster, has openly accused BP of taking safety shortcuts to save money.  “BP appears to have made multiple decisions for economic reasons that increased the danger of a catastrophic well failure,” Mr Waxman said.

I think we can all learn something from this sad state of affairs. There is not just the environmental catastrophe that will linger, or the tragedy of eleven lives lost during the initial explosion. I hope we will also learn that putting safety before profit will always be a recipe for disaster and that testing for every possible scenario is time well spent – as we have learned from long experience in the Telco sector.

I don’t know about you but I’ve never really been one for reading my ‘stars’ every morning although I do realise that for millions of people it is a daily ritual. True, my stars might tell me that I’m about to meet a tall dark stranger or that I’m going on an exciting journey but, to be honest, I’m not really that interested.

Mankind has been trying to peer into the future since the days of rune stones or reading animal entrails and today Astrology, Tarot Cards and Crystal balls have never been more popular. For some people having this type of insight into what tomorrow might bring is very important but I like to think that my own future is in my own hands rather than in the hands of ‘destiny’.

Whether these kinds of things have any scientific substance or whether it is ‘mumbo jumbo’ I’m not so sure but I have started to wonder about Telecoms Engineers!

Perhaps I should explain…

Here at Virtua we have recently conducted an exercise to gather more information about all the people that work for us so that we can create some personal website profiles. Basically it is just a list of questions so that we can get to know our people better and understand what motivates and excites them both in the work place and during leisure time.

Going through all the responses I couldn’t help but notice some common themes starting to emerge which caused me to reflect on whether or not certain people in certain professions share some common interests.

Did you know for example that as far as Telecoms Engineers are concerned their predominant favourite colour is blue (which is rather good as it is also the Virtua colour!!!)? Did you also know that most Telecoms Engineers enjoy watching or playing sport and have a particular fondness for skiing, snowboarding and cycling? Did you realise that many Telecoms Engineers rarely read books or watch films but they get really excited about things like the beauty of radio masts and playing with technical gadgets?

Ask them who inspires them and they will point at their mates who are also Telecom Engineers and delight in telling you how their mate managed to decrease a radio interference problem by 17.4%.

Now I’m not suggesting for a moment that somewhere in God’s almighty plan for the Universe there is any reason why Telecoms Engineers should be biologically programmed to have certain similarities with other Telecoms Engineers. But it does make you think doesn’t it?

Now where did I leave my cup of tea? I just wanted to check the tea leaves in the bottom of my cup…