Sage One customers have reportedly received letters informing them that as of April 1st this year, the price for the service will be increased by 50%, from £10 per month to £15 per month.

Greater Value From Enhancements = Pay More.

According to the letter, the stated reasons for the accounting-as-a-service company dramatically increasing the price of its SaaS Sage One (including Sage Intelligence Reporting) service include:

Price / value re-alignment. Sage appears to be saying that product portfolio evolution and enhancements, which are giving greater value to customers, now need to be reflected in the pricing.
Continued investment for more improvements needs to be paid for. The price rise can help Sage to invest in the technologies that can enable more product / service improvements in the future.
What Kind of Enhancements?

According to recent media reports, the kind of product enhancements that could be delivering enough extra value to Sage One customers to justify a 50% price increase could include the increased quality of statements that could help businesses to get paid quicker.

According to Sage however, one key element of their service that sets them apart from competitors (the 24hr telephone and email support provided all UK customers) comes at no extra cost.

Evidence of Sage Investing.

One area where there is clear, recent evidence of Sage investing in the future of a product is in its acquisition of cloud human-capital-management provider Fairsail in order to upgrade its ‘Sage People’ service. Farsail’s more famous customers are reported to include Aveva, Paddy Power Betfair and Trainline. ®, and the integration of Fairsail’s technology into the ‘Sage People’ service could, therefore, provide significant product improvements.

Irony?

Ironically, an article posted on the Sage One blog from a week ago (around the time of the letters informing customers of the price hike) gives customers advice on “Raising prices: 5 steps to take that won’t lose you customers”. As well as suggesting that offering new features could help justify an acceptable price rise (as in the case of Sage One), advice includes “plan meticulously” and “raise the issue in advance”. The article states that a price rise is more acceptable to customers if they know that are getting something extra in return and if an honest approach is taken in informing them.

Expected?

If FSB figures are anything to go by, Sage One customers could (like one in five small firms) have expected an increase of 44% for the price of service from April.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

April may be the time for many price increases but for many businesses, a price rise of 50% with no immediate, perceived increase in value received may be viewed as excessive. The saving grace for Sage, in this case, may be that it is not easy for businesses to switch accounting systems, and that the monthly costs at £15 are still relatively low. This also serves an example to businesses that clear and regular communication of the ‘value’ that services / improved services offer to customers can go some way to softening the blow of any price rises.

The value of a unit of the web-based crypto currency ‘Bitcoin’ has exceeded the value of an ounce of gold for the first time.

Last week, the markets recorded the value of a unit of Bitcoin at $1,268, compared to a troy ounce of gold at $1,233. A troy ounce is an imperial unit measure of the mass of a precious metal.

What is Bitcoin?

Bitcoin is a digital web-based currency that operates without the need for central banks and uses highly secure encryption (a crypto-currency) to regulate the currency units and to verify transfers of funds. Bitcoin uses the ‘Blockchain’ technology. Blockchain is an open and programmable technology that can be used to record transactions for virtually anything of value that can be converted to code and is often referred to as a kind of ‘incorruptible ledger’.

There are approximately 15 million Bitcoins in existence, and in order to receive a Bitcoin, a user must have a Bitcoin address (of which there is no central register). This address consists of a string of 27-34 letters and numbers, which act like a virtual post-box, to and from which the Bitcoins are sent.

The Benefits of Bitcoin as a currency for users are that payments can be transferred easily and quickly and anonymously (because it is outside of central banks and government control), across borders, continents and time-zones.

Relatively New and Fluctuating

As a relatively newly introduced(2009) model of currency, Bitcoin has taken some time to gain popularity.

After a tenfold increase in its value in only two months and a surge in value to $1,163 back in 2013, Bitcoin has had its share of turbulent waters.

Predictions of its possible demise and a fall in the value of Bitcoin were fuelled by its collapse on the MtGox exchange in Japan in 2014 as a result of a hack.

Despite a crack-down on Bitcoin trading by Chinese authorities who feared that it was being used to channel money out of the country illegally, Bitcoin surged to reach new heights.

In January this year, the value of 1 Bitcoin received a 2.5% boost and jumped above $1,000 (£815) for the first time in 3 years. Bitcoin’s recent boost in value means that its total worth of $16 billion is around the same value as that of a FTSE 100 company.

Value Drivers

Currency experts attribute the latest big rise in Bitcoin’s value to a big increase in demand in China due to the fall in the value of the Yuan in 2016. This has been the Chinese currency’s weakest performance in more than 20 years.

Bitcoin is also now looking like a viable alternative to cash in countries that have a shortage of it (e.g. India, which had high denomination bank-notes removed from circulation in November).

What Does This Mean for Your Business?

For businesses, Bitcoin has many attractive advantages such as the speed and ease with which transactions can take place due to the lack of a central bank and traditional currency control.

Using Bitcoin also means that cross-border and global trading is simpler and faster and the ‘crypto’ aspect of the currency makes it secure. Bitcoin’s decrease in volatility in recent times, plus the widening of popularity and potential uses for its underlying technology ‘Blockchain’ mean that Bitcoin looks increasingly attractive to businesses and governments in 2017.

The launch of the revamped Nokia 3310 handset, 17 years after its debut, and unveiling of a new Android-powered Blackberry with an old-school physical keyboard show how phone companies are using nostalgia to their advantage.

Looking Back For A Better Future.

With new product launches in the technology and communications markets, it’s often the case that the styling, as well as the features, is forward looking. Unfortunately, this can mean that competing products can look similar and many of the positive associations that people have with older models can be lost. Particularly with the re-vamped Nokia 3310 re-launch, and with the new Android-powered Blackberry, mobile phone companies appear to be trying to achieve ‘contrast’ and therefore grab attention and headlines and re-ignite positive past associations.

Customers are, therefore, being offered two things in one – modern features, coupled with a styling and simplicity that they have emotional (and therefore engaging) connections with.

The Nokia 3310

The new version of the Nokia 3310 (unveiled at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona) is actually being released under licence by Finnish start-up HMD Global because Nokia now manufactures telecoms equipment but doesn’t actually make phones.

Nevertheless, Nokia’s original 3310 was the first mass-market mobile, and by re-introducing a version of it (updated inside), HMD Global could expect to take advantage of “Restorative nostalgia” (refer Svetlana Boym) i.e. a kind of positive rebuilding of a ‘nostos’ or lost brand (and brand values) home in the minds of customers.

In terms of the features it offers, users may be most impressed by its long battery life, as the colour-screened phone has up to a month’s standby time, and can deliver more than 22 hours of talk time.

Technical commentators have pointed out that users may be less impressed by its 2.5G connectivity, relatively small range of apps, and two megapixel camera. Some commentators have already pigeon-holed it a kind of ‘holiday phone’ i.e. one that is just for essential but would spend most of its time turned off.

One thing the new 3310 has been very successful at is grabbing attention and headlines.

The Blackberry.

The newly unveiled Blackberry, which is also being made under licence (by Chinese phone-maker TCL Communication) is using similar visual tactics by having an older look and a physical keyboard. Tapping into the strong brand values of the Blackberry glory days makes a lot of sense when trying to revive a brand.

What Does This Mean To Your Business?

If you’re a phone retailer for example, these models may be good attention grabbers for your business and may perform well in terms of sales, perhaps attracting older or less technically knowledgeable customers to your store. For any other business, this story illustrates how powerful old, positive, product and brand associations can be in terms of nostalgia, and emotional engagement. This is often the reason why many companies re-release old adverts that remind customers of the company’s history, and of their own associations with a well-loved brand. Simplicity and ease of use are also things that customers like e.g. an old-style keypad phone. Simple products can be non-threatening, attractive, and can enable customers to more easily their advantages.

The newly launched Sony Xperia XZ Premium smartphone enables users to film smooth, slow motion footage at rates that top-end smartphones are currently unable to match.

How Slow?

According to technical commentators, the slow motion footage available with the Xperia XZ Premium is four times the rate possible on competing models from the likes of Apple, Samsung and Huawei.

Why Slow Motion?

Much of the point of the Xperia XZ Premium is to show off the abilities of the camera, as Sony only has very small market share of the smartphone market (around 1%), but makes its image-sensors available to its rivals a year after they debut. In other words, Sony appears to make more money from selling phone cameras to its competitors than selling its own smartphones.

The 960 frames per second shooting ability of the video on the phone is what enables the camera to capture a broadcast-quality smoothness and detail in slow motion. This unrivalled ‘experience’ (due to its superior relative slo-mo quality), is in keeping with Sony’s aim of being able to deliver a clear differentiator in terms of “experiences” that connect with users in emotional and meaningful ways.

For example, at the launch of the Xperia XZ Premium in Barcelona, the audience was treated to a video showing a skateboard topped with glitter, where the skateboarder performed a jump. The idea was to impress, and engage with a display that related to more to what marketers know as the the ‘experiential hierarchy of effects’.

What Else Is Great About It?

As well as the slow motion filming abilities, the Xperia XZ Premium offers the world’s first 4K high dynamic range (HDR) screen. This means that the resolution is therefore four times better than high definition displays and (for example) blacks are blacker and whites whiter on screens, thus creating an image with more depth.

The phone can also offer a very high download capacity and speed. For example, its 1 gigabit per second download capabilities means that whole films can be downloaded to the phone in a matter of seconds.

There is a generous size 5.5 inch screen that has ultra-high definition and colour contrast, thus making for a better experience for the viewer.

What Are the Drawbacks?

According to technical commentators, the two big drawbacks of the phone are that:

1. The user is required to press the button at the exact moment the action is taking place in order to get the super slow motion video capture.
2. Only a small amount of content that can be viewed on a 4K HDR screen is currently available.

The phone is due to go on sale later in the spring, but the price is not yet public knowledge.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

For other mobile phone manufacturers, they now know that the technology for the next generation of mobile phone cameras has been developed and will soon be available to them. For phone retailers, Xperia XZ Premium is a product that technology early adopters, film consumers and those with particular visual, film-making, and multi-media interests (and jobs) will like. Other businesses could use this phone to make broadcast quality videos / films that could be used for promotional purposes on and offline.

At Cybercon 2017 in Plymouth, an independent cyber security consultant and human behaviour specialist told attendees that Teaching IT and cyber security teams about psychology and sociology is key to enabling better cyber security practices.

Users Are A Mixture of ‘Spock’ and ‘Homer’

Consultant Jessica Barker made the point that instead of IT and cyber security teams in businesses being trained by security professionals to expect users to always behave rationally and logically (like “Spock”), they should also be trained to expect that users can also behave like “Homer” (Homer Simpson). This acknowledgement of (and understanding among staff ) of a more rounded model of user behaviour could lead to businesses being better protected against cyber and data security threats.

Protection From Homer

One key point that Barker made was that when people are in a so-called ‘hot-state’ of decision-making, the less rational and more visceral impulses in them tend to overtake the their more rational impulses i.e. ‘Homer’ wins over ‘Spock’. In marketing, a hot-state and the impulsive urge to act can be induced by promotions that tap in to the ‘Id’, and urge people to reduce self-control and act immediately without thought e.g. a slogan like “Hungry? Grab a Snickers’®”

In terms of cyber and data security, training could educate employees to the fact that in social engineering attacks, the attacker is trying to induce this state in the staff member in order to make them divulge information. An awareness that this happens, and the building in of a process that staff can use to a allow rational thought and checking (e.g. empowering them to ask and be rewarded for asking questions) could therefore provide vital protection against costly and disruptive malware data breaches.

Not Just Technical Aspects.

Barker pointed out that in order to provide maximum value to businesses and to deliver maximum effectiveness, IT security trainers need to teach security teams and all relevant staff about relevant psychology, sociology and communication, as well as the technical aspects of cyber and data security.

So-called ‘Techies’ in a company, who are traditionally viewed as being happier with ‘process’ should also be taught about ‘people’ in order to give them a more balanced and effective cyber security skill-set.

What Does This Mean For Your Business?

Just as an understanding of ‘buyer behaviour’ is important in successful marketing of products and services, by giving all staff a grounding in human behaviour as it relates to cyber criminals and those dealing with potential attacks, you could dramatically improve your organisation’s resistance to attacks.

According to Verizon DBIR research last year, human error accounted for most security incidents experienced by organisations. For example, 30% of phishing messages sent that year were opened (by staff), 12% of those people who opened the messages carried on to click on the attachment or link in the email.

If staff are therefore trained to spot the risks, encouraged to ask questions, and able to re-engage the ‘Spock’ in them at the right moment, it could save your business a lot of money, time, disruption, and possible reputational damage.