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Subject:Re: Computer phobia From:Stuart Burnfield <slb -at- FS -dot- COM -dot- AU> Date:Wed, 30 Aug 1995 12:47:19 +0800
A few years ago, when I worked for the Australian Bureau of Statistics,
I was researching touch-tone voice response systems to see whether we
could use them for anything. I gave a lot of talks a demos to project
groups, looking for one to sponsor a pilot.
I started out saying how new and whizzy it was (well, it was back then :^).
The audiences were interested -- they asked good questions and had good
ideas for applications outside their project. But I had no luck getting
someone to say, "Yes, let's see what we can do with it." They all wanted
to be the _second_ group to try it out.
Later, I'd start the talk by saying that touch-tone response wasn't
really anything new, just a standard PC combined with the technology in
a standard phone. They were familiar with both of these. I got a much
better response.
I figured out that no-one wanted to be left dangling over the leading
edge. They weren't afraid of the technology, but they all had jobs to do
and deadlines to meet, and some of them had been burnt by 'exciting new
technical opportunities' before.
Regards
---
Stuart Burnfield (slb -at- fs -dot- com -dot- au) Voice: +61 9 328 8288
Functional Software Fax: +61 9 328 8616
PO Box 192
Leederville, Western Australia, 6903
