Dec
8
Ruby on Rails 2.0 is Done!!!
Actually Rails 2.0.1 was released. Just a sidenote to David and his team. Our company wouldn’t exist if it were not for his efforts –> Thanks David…
Dec
6
ServiceGuy Reaches 1000 Contractors
Over the last four months ServiceGuy went from and simple idea to a nationwide service with more than 1000 contractors in ten cities. The 1,000th contractor to sign up for the ServiceGuy referral system was Mike Fox from Norristown, PA who offers landscaping services.I arbitrarily set our Phase One goal at 1,000 ServiceGuys. Now that we have met our Phase One goals we are ready for Phase Two. Phase Two is where we start getting business for our ServcieGuys. Imaginuity is developing interactive advertising for placement on Comcast’s ad network that is slated to start just before Christmas. We are also testing physical placement of ‘tear sheets‘ in grocery stores (400 stores per market) delivered on a weekly basis. Finally, we are testing Google Adwords in several markets. Our goal for Phase Two is to generate 2 calls per day per call queue.
Since early August Mike has made 27 major upgrades (some might be better termed bug fixes) to the system. The final items include some goofy things like allowing users to reset/retrieve their password, providing a method for news/announcements to users and finally an upgrade to the user profile pages. Once these last seven to-dos are finished Mike will be turning over day-to-day management/tweaking to Francis. Mike will be starting another pretty cool project that involves ACH, USB signature pads and data warehousing.
Oct
13
Nip/Tuck Phone Project
The FX team called us (Big in Japan) late Friday afternoon with an idea. Wouldn’t it be cool if we could have a phone at the new McNamara / Troy location in Hollywood? The Nip/Tuck team is moving to LA this year and to promote the move they created a ’simulated’ office in the Hollywood and Highland outdoor mall. The office has some very cool holographic videos of the doctors (so you can see them at work) as well as real live models waiting for the doctors. The only problem? You can’t get in.
The phone would allow people passing by to interact with the promotion. When FX told us about the idea I said, “sound great, when do you need it up and running?” The answer was, “within a week!” I thought to myseld, “OMG, we will never get it done within a week!” Of course we agreed to do it. Within a week we shipped a pre-configured Cisco ATA to the team building the storefront. We then connected it to our FanPodCast system. When you pick up the phone it auto-dials our switch in Dallas and you get the ‘doctors’ IVR. You can leave a message for the doctors if you like: 310.747.3447
If you are in Hollywood, stop by the store and check out those holograms:
Oct
9
Need a computer guy in . . .
Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Washington DC, New York City or Philadelphia? ServiceGuy might be just what you need. (most of these don’t have many providers so if you are not connected to someone try again in a couple of weeks) Give it a try:
- Computer Guy in Atlanta call 404.478.2724
- Computer Guy in Chicago call 773.654.2145
- Computer Guy in Dallas call 214.635.4701
- Computer Guy in Detroit call 313.557.3570
- Computer Guy in Houston 281.657.4522
- Computer Guy in Los Angeles 213.405.5304
- Computer Guy in Philadelphia 267.350.8103
ServiceGuy is a new service the Big in Japan team has been rolling out over the past couple of months. What is ServiceGuy? I wrote about it back in May in a post titled, “Quick Project: ServiceGuy Referral Network” when I was having trouble finding a pool guy. The idea is simple: You need help now. You don’t want to wait to receive a call back. You don’t want to wait for an email response. You don’t want to create an account or provide demographic data. You want to talk to a service provider in your area right NOW! Just call the ServiceGuy number for your area and the service you need. Your call is then connected to a service provider. No voicemail. No email. No accounts. Just a direct connect to someone who can help you right NOW!
Phase one of our launch is focused on seeding each service with providers. We need to find a minimum of 25 providers in each category before phase two can begin. Phase two of our launch is focused on getting consumers to call our providers.
Aug
31
ServiceGuy Offering Explained
The Big in Japan team develops intellectual property to allow brands to create unique interactions with their customers. Our clients include FOX Television, LEGO, TechData, The United States Postal Service and The Federal Reserve to name a few.
Our latest development, ServiceGuy, utilizes patent pending technology to allow for ‘live connections’ between homeowners and service providers. ServiceGuy is a real world example (visit http://serviceguy.org) of the type of interaction that is possible utilizing our technology. Our team is prepared to implement our technology within your brand’s internet presence, allowing for a private label experience for your customers.
Typical referral systems focus on demographic matching, while ServiceGuy allows for ‘availability matching.’ Combined with your existing referral system (or a new system we implement), the underlying ServiceGuy technology will allow you to provide immediate ‘live connections’ between homeowners (users) and contractors (service providers). In many cases an immediate connection is more valuable than a perfect connection. What if you could offer users the ability immediately talk to a service provider 24/7? The ServiceGuy call engine can call 25-250 service providers at the same time, ensuring at least one provider is available to take the user’s call. For example:
Each service provider who accepts the call from the ServiceGuy call engine is prompted to press a key to indicate their availability. The first provider to do so is given answering instructions and is connected to the user. The call is recorded for the service provider’s records.
The system can call the user at a later date (1 day, 1 week or 1 month) and request feedback about the service provider. Feedback can then be used to increase or decrease a providers position in the call queue.
For more information please contact:
Alexander Muse
amuse@biggu.com
1+214.558.1079
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