Last and final blog

After a semester abroad in Switzerland (Bern) it is time for me to say goodbye to this wonderful country. Before that, I will write my final blog to you fellows out there. Due to my teacher in the course IMA1 he wanted me to write the final blog in English. Therefore this blog is made with a special thought for you Mr. Bucher so now you don’t need to Google translate my blog posts anymore ;) My last blog will be a short summary of topics we have had in the lectures.

The topics we have had in the class have been new for me to learn about. All the topics have been very interested to learn about especially because I did not know about the content within the topics.

Web 2.0 is a concept that we hear or use everyday but do we actually know what the word means? For me I would immediately say that it has something with technology to do or actually just the Internet in a wider sense. But when having this topic in the lesson it actually appeared for me that my first impression actually was not right. When we talk about Web 2.0 we talk about the social media tools within the Internet. To state some of them it is Facebook, Youtube, Twitter and many many more à this is Web 2.0. According to Amazon.com's CEO Jeff Bezos he has defined the following statement about what Web 2.0 really is:

Web 2.0 is about making the Internet useful for computers. According to me the important thing is that Web 2.0 is not only about making the Internet useful for computers, but for the actual users of the Internet and thus computers. Therefore it can be concluded that Web 2.0 actually can be seen as a system within the computers that let the Internet work more smooth and easier for the normal user to utilize. After the lesson I actually use the term Web 2.0 more in my other courses as the topic is related to all the modules that I take at Berner Fachhochschule.

Staging has for me been the best and most instructive topic in this module. When first hearing the word staging it appeared for me like acting on a stage or in a movie. It was first after the class that I understood what staging actually means. Staging is about how you present yourself or actually how you want to let other perceive you. The way you dress, smell, behave all these different aspect within yourself counts when it comes to staging. But staging is not only that, because the environment that you are in can also be counted as staging. For example when you see an advertisement about a product the things around the products also counts when it comes to staging which could be everything. It is for companies very important when it comes to staging because they need to focus on whom their target group is and stage in the way the target group would prefer. After learning about staging it is really funny to go around the streets and see how people are “doing their thing” because their thing is actually their staging process. But also for myself now before doing something, I actually think before “acting” when I want to say or do something, so the topic actually took hold of me – but in a good way, because before I did not think before doing something and what people will react on it, now I take a second time to think about the things I want to do and say and how I can do it in a more suitable way so that the ones I communicate to understand me and what I want to express.

When it comes to staging we can also stage “online”. The word "online" says itself; it is to be presented on a social network and perform through it. Companies use the online staging to be seen and "recognized" by their target group as it is what they are looking after when they stager. The online staging is to perform through social media tools to reach out with the message you have to the target group. Staging goes back to the Web 2.0 – Online staging can be done in many different ways, especially because there are countless of opportunities within the Web 2.0 such as MySpace, Twitter, Linkdln, Facebook and a lot of other networking sites where you can blog and share opinions and attitudes.

Customer relationship management has not been hard for me to understand like that, because I new very little actually about the concept of this topic before having the class. In general this topic is about how company manage their relationship within their customers and which resources they use to manage it in the profitable way. With all these fancy technological equipment and system that we have today it is easier for companies to collect information from the customers and thereafter they can put the most important customers in a “group” together and then the less important. With computer drivers (not systems) a company collects all the information customers they give about a company or even so about their preferences. In other words you can also say that CRM is competitive strategies aimed at creating value for both customers and business based on an understanding of the client's individual needs and preferences. CRM is ran through the company's culture, its attitude to customers and employees, and the value creation is supported by a number of processes and systems, all aimed at ensuring that the necessary and sufficient knowledge of the customer relationship is present when and where needed. It can also be expressed as a business philosophy, which is strategically embedded and expressed through the culture of the company and supported by processes and measurements, which can be supported by IT tools. After having about this lesson it gives an impression to oneself about how companies handle customers and how they perceive me when I evaluate them.

Now I want to say thanks to the people who made my stay really worth full with really good experiences and fun. Also thanks for the Berner Fachhochschule for hosting me and to the teachers who gave me a lot of new knowledge that I hopefully will give to my Danish colleagues.  And of course to Mr. Bucher for teaching me and give me skills in how to create and use a blog. I hope you enjoyed reading my blog sometimes in Danish and sometimes in English – but this is how to be international!

Thanks for now – maybe you will find me blogging when I am back in Denmark about my studies there.

Worldwide message - Make peace not war !

FKE