Think Tank

Computerworld - Chat Provides Competitive Edge

We tend to think of instant messaging as the not-very-important electronic chatter of teenagers and white-collar workers. But an innovative auto-racing team is proving that chat can be a powerful tool outside the office.

The NASCAR and Indy Racing League teams of Chip Ganassi Racing use IM to achieve faster and more productive pit stops. The teams' pit crews use tablet PCs, an encrypted wireless LAN and Microsoft Corp.'s Live Communications Server 2003 to exchange handwritten notes, says IT manager Michael Carbone.

Pittsburgh-based Chip Ganassi Racing may have three cars in a race. IM allows the crews to coordinate the timing of pit stops, exchange engine-tuning strategies, estimate fuel mileage and share the drivers' radioed comments. For example, a pit crew may adjust the tire pressure and then get driver feedback on whether it's helping. "It's better than radio, because it's difficult to find a radio channel," says Mark Paxton, an R&D engineer for Chip Ganassi. Plus, radio chatter is hard to hear through the background noise of the racetrack, and IM eliminates the need for runners to relay messages to other pit locations.

Why aren't other racing teams using IM at the track? Carbone and Paxton say they're aren't sure, but maybe the other teams aren't willing to make the upfront IT investment or lack the culture of innovation.

R&D Engineer Mark Paxton uses a tablet PC and instant messaging at the racetrack.

The most useful parts of recent business and IT management books.

The book: Simply Better: Winning and Keeping Customers by Delivering What Matters Most, by Patrick Barwise and Sean Meehan (Harvard Business School Press, 2004).

For the past decade, gurus have said the way to win and keep customers is to think "outside the box" and offer unique products that set you apart from the competition. But the authors of this back-to-basics book say that's hogwash; the key is to ask customers what really matters and then deliver it reliably. For example, customers at a gas station want to refuel at a reasonable cost, get in and out fast and have a clean bathroom—not necessarily a great cappuccino.

Technology can play a role in delivering the simply better service. U.K. grocery chain Tesco PLC has succeeded in the online grocery business (where Webvan failed) by focusing on how to make it easier for Lynne Pullam—a busy mother of three who was Tesco's no-nonsense Internet consultant—to shop for groceries. Now Tesco.com accounts for about 10% of all online retail commerce in the U.K.