After my first full year in the “real world” I have
managed to learn quite a number of things about users and their peculiar ways.
Specifically the users here in Kenya are even more interesting bearing in mind
that there is the internet penetration issue.
Forget about Facebook and twitter which these days allow people to
create accounts using their phones. Or going further twitter allows one to
tweet simply by sending a text message.
In the modern workplace there is a huge affinity for collaboration.
People need to keep in touch in the work place and even if in one office it
does make much sense to keep on moving from one side of it to another just to
get some trivial information. The alternative is shouting which isn’t a very
good idea. One of the tools that have come out as a silver bullet to that is
Skype. The customer care team in my company use to share all sort of stuff
through a group where they all are members.
Now the interesting thing is, leave for a few who have
owned a Skype account prior to joining the company, most had to put the
technical support team onto the task of installing the application for them. Then
they go ahead and create a Skype account using the Company email. That’s where I
have an issue. Maybe it’s none of my business but consider this. Is the use of Skype
going to be limited to just that? Sharing information at work? Of course not.
Skype is a social tool with a professional touch. It is important to think about life after the company
because the online revolution has happened and these tools will be required
even after one leaves a company. Need I say that the company mail will be deactivated?
It would not be surprising if somebody opens their Facebook
account using their job e-mail!
