Comments on: SpinVox Management: Rubbish, rubbish and thrice rubbish

By: Ben Carter

Ben Carter — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 00:30:57 +0000

For me- as a former marketing/technology journalist who met Spinvox at 3GSM I think many moons ago- it's the classic case of a PR-inflated success story. The service itself struck me as being fairly mediocre and that it wasnt the radical evolution of voicemail that its marketing literature suggested…
Putting my other hat on now as a digital marketing consultant, it strikes me that not only have Spinvox found themselves in a maass media storm but also their radio silence has done lasting damage to the brand. You only have to Google Spinvox to see the impact that the stories and speciulation have had and are continuing to have. It's a classic case of companies not listening, companies not being prepared and companies not reacting quick enough. Crisis PR is not straightforward but surely Spinvox had some early warning indicators of what was to come?

By: Ben Carter

Ben Carter — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 18:30:57 +0000

By: Sean O Sullivan

Sean O Sullivan — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 08:57:50 +0000

SpinVox: totally agree I'm sorry to say - where's the air cover for James? http://bit.ly/Z30J1 @whatleydude

[Original tweet, Topsy page]

By: Sean O Sullivan

Sean O Sullivan — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 03:57:50 +0000

SpinVox: totally agree I’m sorry to say – where’s the air cover for James? http://bit.ly/Z30J1 @whatleydude

By: MikeD

MikeD — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 22:38:21 +0000

Ewan – I'm perplexed that anyone was “cheerleading” for SpinVox in the first place. It was patently obvious from using their system that calls were being largely transcribed by human beings. The kinds of algorithms that they need to use take years to develop and mountains of training data. Poor call quality (especially on cell phones) often makes it very difficult for people to understand one another, let alone a machine. If it were possible to do it well Nuance, Genesys, Avaya and all the other usual suspects would be doing it already. Witness the fairly negative reactions to Google's attempt to do (genuinely automatic!) transcription system….
SpinVox management deserve all that's coming to them and I think it may get very nasty. What were their investors thinking??

By: Ewan

Ewan — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 16:23:10 +0000

Useful, Tim — here's hoping it won't be required for long.

By: TimO

TimO — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 15:48:57 +0000

Links to all of the articles and discussions on this breaking story: http://delicious.com/spinvox

By: AJ

AJ — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 13:58:09 +0000

I am not sure about this. There comes a time when you should resign a post rather than peddle other peoples' lies. At the end of the day, you will end up feeling like a proper corporate whore with very little in return aside from the damage to your own reputation. I am not suggesting that James knowingly lied on other peoples' behalf but he looks ten times an idiot after the BBC's rebuttal. If he allows his name to be used for further press releases he should be smart enough to check the facts first.

By: Name

Name — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 12:47:46 +0000

Just silly, Ewan.

This is when a board member who isn't a shill should step in and level with the public. You can't defend the actions of the CEO and management team. They simply got it wrong. You need to come clean on it all — the company's real financial position, the stock for salary snafu, the truth about Christina and her failed businesses, the real technology story, the true nature of the call centers, etc… Admit big mistakes have been made and a share a plan to correct them. That can save the company. Assuming that there is a company left to save, that is.

By: anonanonanon

anonanonanon — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 12:22:49 +0000

Of course you don't know who the CEO is, didn't you know that until 2008 the org chart was confidential – no one but senior management were allowed to see it

By: pm

pm — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 11:23:14 +0000

The technology-oriented people follwing this story have asked to have independent party check under the hood of the AI system, and that seems reasonable. But given the reports of how call center employees have been treated, shouldn't there also be some transparency on the outsourcing (or “virtual sweatshops” as critics call it). This is comparable to what Nike was forced to do with its factories, not to mention how Starbucks (fair trade) and McDonalds (domestic sourcing, envirnmental concerns) efforts to address consumers ethical concerns about how they source their products.

By: anonymous

anonymous — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 08:06:41 +0000

SpinGate. Like the original WaterGate, it appears that the cover-up may be worse than the original bad acts. In this case, there may not have even been any bad acts at all… it may just have been that the coverup, aka THE SPIN, itself got out of control … big time

By: liljack3

liljack3 — Thu, 30 Jul 2009 05:55:08 +0000

It would be criminal if Mr. Whatley gets tarnished for being a dutiful front line soldier…while the cowards who run the place hide and are undoubtedly pressuring him to carry the flag up the hill in a hail of fire. It may not have been wise to take on the BBC but JW had the moxie to try and brought forth an articulate attempt to be as truthful as he was allowed…let us remember that Ms. Domecq has been quoted saying that they are hunting the malcontents to punish them for rising up. Let's keep focused on the true villains…CD & Co.

Mr. Whatley…best of luck in the future!

By: Ewan

Ewan — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 23:54:41 +0000

Enjoyed the read, Angus

By: Angus Fox

Angus Fox — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 23:41:05 +0000

Ive written my own hypothesis about it – Im calling it SpinGate – http://tinyurl.com/ly6lnd

By: jimwild

jimwild — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 23:23:37 +0000

They could always pay them in shares!

By: Ewan

Ewan — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 23:17:34 +0000

Aye, that bit was tongue-in-cheek, Guy!

By: GuyClapperton

GuyClapperton — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 23:15:46 +0000

> Or even better, offer it pro bono?

That's actually a crazy suggestion. Why would anyone offer their services to a private, profit-driven company (and I regard those things as respectable) for free? It's a ludicrous suggestion. If they have a case and want a professional to handle it, then fine – but the suggestion of pro bono is completely inappropriate. They'd probably agree.

By: Vlad Bobleanta

Vlad Bobleanta — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 22:58:01 +0000

RT @Ew4n: Blog: SpinVox Management: Rubbish, rubbish and thrice rubbish: http://ping.fm/od4zG

[Original tweet, Topsy page]

By: Vlad Bobleanta

Vlad Bobleanta — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 17:58:01 +0000

RT @Ew4n: Blog: SpinVox Management: Rubbish, rubbish and thrice rubbish: http://ping.fm/od4zG