Expat Guru

I have been searching for the longest time for a simple product. One that would allow me to compose SMS messages on my desktop and send them to my iPhone. I was unable to find ANYTHING until yesterday, and BOY did I hit the jackpot. Yesterday I read this article, on MyPhoneDesktop.

A new update to myPhoneDesktop, a tool for sending information from a desktop computer to an iPhone, iPod touch, or iPad, has been released. The updated iPhone application has added compatibility with iOS 4, including multitasking support for running the software in the background. The update has also added a “Clear Data” button to each view, improved the SMS feature for composing text messages on a desktop, and incorporates support for e-mail addresses typed in URL View. In addition, the desktop and web clients have been updated with the ability to open supported document URLs in Mobile Stanza, and to send data by e-mail.

I was intrigued so I downloaded the desktop client here. and purchased the $5 iPhone Application. Initially I had some configuration issues. Primarilly importing my Mac OS address book into the application. I searched their excellent support forum, but could not find an answer that helped me. I opened a support ticket and waited. Past experience has taught me that when buying iPhone applications, Support is a tricky issue. RARE or NON-Existant is more the word. My expectations were low, and I expected if anything, to get an automated response.

What I got was a response from the developer in just a couple of hours. He spent 3-4 hours working with me to resolve the problem, and even invited me to conference with him on Skype to resolve the issue. We ended our call about 2:30am his time. (They are in New York), and in the end the issues appeared to be mine, not with the application! Seems I had some configuration issues with my MacBook Pro.

Now, I am not going to do a detailed product review. I have not spent enough time with the product to do that. I CAN tell you that it does what I wanted to do, and does it very, very well. Last night we discussed a variety of applications for the tool, including various SMS scenarios. But SMS is just a fraction of what this software suite can do. This is a story about SERVICE, in an age where companies have forgotten what service means. For someone to spend 4 hours with a client, on a $5 purchase, and to get personally involved is almost unheard of these days. As we discussed in our Skype call, this is called investing in relationships and longterm customer loyalty. THEY have won a customer for life, and possibly even a partner in selling their product!

The Call Center and BPO Expo I have been working on for the last two months is taking shape and promises to be one of the MAJOR events of the year for the LATAM BPO and Call Center Business. The Utopia Group is partnering with Roaring Jaguar (US and Guatemala), and BlueIT (Honduras), to host an event designed to catapult Honduras into the regions’ thriving Call Center and BPO arena. The event will feature keynotes from high technology companies, a discussion of the state of call centers in Honduras, a country review and exciting insight into the expanding banking sector of call center operations.

We are currently expanding our list of sponsors and presenters, for information review our brochure, and feel free to contact us at info@outsourcehonduras.com.

If you are interested in the Central American Call Center or BPO business, or are a technology or services vendor interested in this expanding marketplace, you dont want to miss this event.

I have spent the last two days playing with a Palm Pre Plus, given to me by a friend at Palm Inc. Been a while since I got any technical swag from my various contacts out there, and this one was very welcome. I have re-fell in Love with my iPhone 3Gs since the release of iOS 4, the new Software for the iPhone. I was able to easily jailbreak the phone and re-unlock the iPhone.

Upon receiving the new Palm Pre, I went about setting it up. There were a few blips in the process. It gave me errors when trying to set up my Gmail and company email, saying their security certificates were invalid. After a Google search, I found that this error was created by the time and date not being correct on the phone. Syncing my calendar and contacts were also a challenge, since I use a Macbook Pro, instead of a PC. Again, with a little research, I discovered that the Palm seamlessly syncs with Google Apps, so my contacts, mirrored on Google, and my Calendar, which is also a Google Calendar, easily synced to the phone without issue.

The phone is very fast. Signal strength seems equal to, or better, than the iPhone when connecting to Costa Rica’s 3G network. Battery life I am not sure of. It seems to be better than the iPhone, but I may just be enamored of a new toy. More testing to come on that end.

My only issue so far is that since my phone was not registered in the United States, I do not have access to the Application Store, and therefor no way to load critical apps for me like, Facebook, Twitter, dropbox, Sugarsync and some other applications I have grown to depend on on my iPhone. Facebook I can live without on my phone. Twitter and Dropbox are two show stoppers for me. They make my phone more than a convenience and more of a business tool for me. The folks at Palm are working on getting me into the App Store. While their are tradeoffs to using the Pre+ over the iPhone, I believe my iPad can fill in the gaps, and I may just make the switch.

I am still interested in the iPhone 4, and may get one in the near future. My goal is to get one that is factory unlocked so I dont have to worry about any tradeoffs by jailbreaking the phone. There are MANY things to like about the Palm Pre+. The seamless integration with the Web, including automatic backup to the cloud is an intriguing and quite useful utility. I am still getting used to the phone so the jury is still out, but I like what I see. Now if I can just get a twitter client…

Now that there is a decent WordPress Application for the iPad, maybe I will blog more! Nothing like lying in bed with a hot cup of tea and blogging on my iPad.

It’s here, and the new iOS 4 update makes me feel real good about giving up my Blackberry. As usual, I sweated through the process of jailbreaking the phone, using the iPhone Dev Team’s remarkable tools.
I was surprised that they released the 4.01 version of their jailbreaking application just ONE DAY after the official release.The process was smooth. Download the Pawnage Tool from the Dev Team site, download the iPhone Update, (Download, dont install!) Convert the upgrade file, and restore it, NOT UPGRADE it, to your iPhone. Once the phone reboots, run Cydia on the iphone, use ultrasn0w to unlock and you are done! The longest part of the entire process was reinstalling all my apps and music.
Now why does it kick ass over the Blackberry? Simple, it is a much more powerful web and multimedia device, with the same push email functionality. I should also add that the upgrade improved dramatically my signal strength, 3G reliability and speed, and it appears, battery life as well.
Jailbreaking and unlocking an iPhone is not for the faint of heart. You can literally BRICK your phone. My advice… DONT do it unless you KNOW what you are doing, AND you have carefully read all instructions on the iPhone Dev Team Site.

For the last 20 plus years of my life I have been building world class Call Center and BPO organizations.

I first came to Latin America in the early 90’s to help Packard Bell Electronics establish a presence in Mexico. In 1994 I came to Costa Rica with Acer America, and was one of the principle architects of the first International Call Center in Costa Rica and Central America. In 2001, I came back to Costa Rica after a couple of years in Silicon Valley. I founded the Utopia Group as a Technology consulting company and began building a reputation and a legacy as a leader in developing visionary ideas. Utopia Group installed the first public Wifi network in a popular hotel in 2002. We led the promotion of wireless technologies including wifi and cellular technologies to promote mobile communication.

Since 2003, I have been involved in promoting and developing the BPO and Call Center industry throughout Central America, and have founded or developed organizations in Nicaragua, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. I was selected by FIDE (The Honduran Trade Development Organization to work with The World Bank in developing the call center business for that country – An assignment I was unable to accept due to prior commitments). I will soon be finishing a 9 month engagement with one of the most exciting new BPO organizations in El Salvador.

At 50 years old, I am proud to have had an impact worldwide on the BPO and Call Center space, and am looking forward to many years more. I am interested in reaching out to members of my network and groups who may be interested in expanding Latin American Organizations or creating new ones. I take great pride in my work and my relationships, (Please feel free to check out my references on Linkedin). If you are interested in having someone jump start your LATAM plans, someone with the experience, contacts and cultural affinity, while maintaining U.S. work ethics and sense of urgency, please feel free to contact me.

I am not looking for a job. I am looking to partner with organizations who would benefit from my experience, knowledge and relationships.

Spammers sure are stupid!

Taking a day off after running all over Central America for the last week. Spending some quality time with my wife! At the movies waiting for flick to start!

One of the things I love about my MBP is that I can use “Parallels Desktop,” a poweful virtualization program to run various OS’s on my Macbook Pro, while running OS X at the same time. I am installing Ubuntu Linux at the moment.

Back from another great trip to El Salvador. The Office Gurus are going to be one of the most successful call centers in Latin America!