eCommunications for global organisations

I must admit this is my first WIZZ AIR customer experience. And some wise people say you should not have high expectations with a low-cost airline. But how can an airline forget about a country with the size bigger than Europe?


I tried to do an online check-in this morning and realized that while even Bermuda appears in the list of nationalities, China does not appear anywhere on the list. So no online check-in for people from China?


Check yourself:

After spending a short while with customer service on the phone they agreed that this is an issue and they promised to send me an email. >> Unfortunately this email did not find it’s way to my Inbox.


After spending some time in filling out the WIZZ AIR ‘online claim form’ I received an automated email that referred me back to the website & call centre (calling from Belgium costs 1.15Euros/Minute) >>> No other actions were taken on the claim. So far the approach to customer relationship management.


I just hope the WIZZ AIR pilot will know the world map better and fly us safely to the destination…

Cloud-computing and ICT technology as such has changed our society. A development of our Web2.0 culture is just one small part of the impact. The way we communicate, the way we interact, the tools we use.


Even if we often are not aware of the environmental impacts of our actions - it is evident, that our changed behavior with the availability of computing tools and new ways to interact has an impact on the environment.


Nothing to be afraid of – there are positive and negative impacts: Did you know that a modern laptop consumes less energy than an old light bulb?


As Jorge Zapico who is currently researching the intersections of ICT and Sustainability at the Centre for Sustainable Communications in Stockholm points out correctly, that there are many ways in which we can enhance the positive impacts. For example an open source approach to sharing information, using the net to mobilize the environmental movement and taking advantage of technologies that make our life more (energy) efficient.


Which does not mean we should neglect the negative ones like the hidden hardware in many data centers that is running our beloved Internet cloud (slide 13). Enjoy Jorge’s presentation on this topic:

This is a crosspost from Ideaplants.org.

Our team has just recently launched a website on Carbon Aware Travel Choice - a project that is co-financed by the European Union under the 7th Framework Programme for Research.

CATCH brings together government officials, scientists and transport experts of cities in Europe and beyond to communicate on Transport issues. The project specifically aims to support cities to encourage climate-friendly decision-making among their citizens, and to showcase learnings from good and bad examples.

As part of the project the CATCH team is developing an online knowledge engine that will help provide further details on carbon emissions which will also be very interesting tool for legislators on Carbon Emissions aiming to increase awareness of the environmental impacts of mobility, map out potential solutions to their management and to enable travelers to make informed climate-friendly travel choices.

The site includes Web2.0 tools like Youtube channel & Twitter and provides an interactive overview on Stakeholder opinions and current developments around Carbon legislation, climate facts and involvement of local authorities on this issue.

No one really seems to have grasped what sustainability really stands for. One of those concepts that is so broad that anything could fit in and so complex that noone really knows how to transform it into something practical.

Especially corporates seem to be struggling in making sense of it and putting the topic in a context that speaks to the individual, to management and serves the company purpose. Let’s be honest here - it’s a real challenge. There’s no off-the-shelf solution on how to turn a successful corpoate business into a successful sustainable one. And it’s surely not about the process but much more about the indivudual that drives change in the organization.

Boston University has built their concept around ‘Corporate Citizenship’. They recently released a report on Leadership Competencies for Community Involvement that shows what it takes to be a change agent in driving a big organization towards taking an active role in corporate citizenship. Have a look it’s an interesting read.

Best wishes, Mira

(This is a cross-post from ideaplants.org)

One of our contacts from EUROPEN recommended this video which reflects in a viral - web friendly way the purpose of packaging.


When it comes to discussing sustainability and product development, packaging is often seen as an easy target for policy makers. There’s a public perception that packaging equals waste. So the more packaging, the more waste is being created. Only few people take into account that packaging also prevents waste and keeps the product safe in a purposeful way (if designed smartly).


Have a look at the video clip below developed by Elipso (the French plastic & flexible packaging association) that addresses this topic.

This is a crosspost from Ideaplants

We are a young and dynamic team of Hyperthinking individuals… helping you to see communications with new eyes and shaping the future of tomorrow…

Our art Director Jesus Azogue is currently exhibiting at the European Commission (Berlaymont building) and gives tips on how to survive the global crisis.


TIPS TO GET THROUGH THE CRISIS is a collaboration project between two young Spanish artists representing opposed conceptions but complementary with the contemporary art appearance, pretending to demand the role of the art in the global reality. In the WORLD CRISIS actual context, art inspects its own language and its social mission to give back the humanity its role consciousness that is the head of the change process.





This ironic and mythic investigation in the power of art is tackled from the academic job Jesus Azogue is realizing about digital media and it’s what pushes us inside a virtual and parallel reality opposed to the baroque objectivity and the incisive iconography of Juan Antonio Rodriguez – JARR. The world hope around the “Yes we can” slogan become apparent in this works of art that gives an alternative to the CRISIS: the other reality creation (Azogue) or recycling the reality (JARR).


Below a video of one of the main works (in Spanish). The exhibition will last until the 28th of January. Please contact Jesus, if you are interested in visiting the exhibition.

Andrew McAfee is publishing his book ‘
Enterprise 2.0: New Collaborative Tools for your Organization’s Toughest Challenges


Below an interview he did for McKinsey last month:


He also talks about the role of business leaders have in the movement towards an open source culture in a company and about the kaizen/beta approach it takes in oder to get things going. On the question ‘how to measure success’ he only has a limited view it seems from the interview but his analysis of the roles of management, CIOs and CEOs is quite accurate. I’m curious on reading the book.

A video worthwhile watching: Ikea’s viral facebook campaign that was solely based on existing facebook applications:

This is a cross post from Ideaplants.org.
I just read an article on China Daily in which Marcos Fava Neves, professor of strategic planning and food chains at the School of Economics and Business, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil, proposes to add another dimension to the model of sustainabiltiy. Normally we consider the economic, social and environmental perspective when assessing sustainability. Marcos Fava Neves proposes to add in the context of organizations that struggle to implement this concept as part of their planning and operations pro-activeness as an additional measure.


When reading the article I started wondering whether pro-activeness is really what we are missing. Companies do most of the time act in different ways. In my eyes the issue is rather a lack of ownership and leadership in the space of sustainability. In a traditional company structure sustainability is not assigned to any specific department and therefore it is unclear who should be taking the lead on this.


It’s not just about what you do but also about how you link individual activites. Ideally an organization has an overall sustainability strategy and links activites to this strategy with the aim to create one real and coherent sustainability story. Transparency and involvement of internal and external stakeholders is key here. This involves HR, marketing, business development, and many other divisions.

Getting everyone on board requires not just pro-activeness but also smart leadership.