Stickiness – Sandra 52

 

[For a quick guide go here: Quick guide.

For back story go here: Story so far at 30 Nov 2020 and more recent Sandra episodes especially this one.]

[Other back story through in-links.]

“We have decided,” said David, a phrase which usually raised an amount of concern for Sandra, “that we would like an app.”

“Right,” said Sandra.

“We’ve realised we could be sitting on a goldmine,” said David, pressing on. “The rise of social media, insta-wotsits so forth and we should be a part of that.”

“So why an app and not an insta-wotsits account?” asked Sandra.

“Aha!” said David. “Interaction. Engagement. Stickiness.”

Sandra was going to ask where he’d read that but decided against it.

“Is this for Epstein deliveries? Back office and client interface, yes? Something simple which guarantees everyone's received what they’re expecting when they’re expecting it?”

“No no no,” said David. “It’s a fan thing. We want it for lorry spotting. Spot-a-Lorry.”

If David were able to sense a double take over the phone, he would be sensing Sandra doing one right now.

“Come again?” she asked, deciding she was right not to do this via video.

“I know we could do something to do with delivering things to customers and everyone logging on to update their account,” said David, “but that’s a bit boring. And we’re a family firm, right? So we need to do something for the entire family. Especially the kids.”

“Spot-a-Lorry?”

“You know the I-Spy Books at all? Like that - but just with Epstein trucks.”

Sandra was trying to decide if she liked or hated the idea. It was certainly interesting and worth exploring and had a number of hooks she thought the press might like. But was this really a goldmine or another strange statue rendered in code? You give people amazing technology and this is what they use it for.

“It’s a simply enough thing to put together,” said Tamsin later that day. “Just a glorified tick box - unless you’re going to get all clever and try and link it the some GPS tracker system in each of the vehicles. You could use those to verify the identification of the truck. Link it up round the back so when they hit the found button you get actual verification automatically carried out.”

Sandra wondered whether the times Tamsin explained something and she didn’t get it were signs that they were on to a great thing or that she, Sandra, was no longer as clever as she thought she was. 

“We have other ideas,” stated David, shifting Sandra slightly closer to the edge of desperation. “Light Lorry Heavy Lorry - just compare the picture on your app to the real life lorry to see whether the wheels show it to be pulling a heavy load or coming back from drop off.

“Colour my Lorry,” went on David. “An augmented reality app where users can colour in the lorry in front of them using the camera function on their phone. They can colour the lorry any colour they fancy and take a photo of it.”

“What’s My Load - guess the...”

Sandra had switched off at this point. One idea for an app was fine. Two showed a degree of care in deciding which one to go with, spewing out a random list of possibilities was completely annoying. 

“The thing is these are all achievable,” said Tamsin. “We could even put them together on one app, but the app’ll be a bit niche. Have popular do you reckon their trucks area?”

“Not as popular as the company would be if it delivered more stuff on time,” said Sandra. “What the hell, let’s draw it up and see if it will fly. There must be some people out there who’d clog up their smart phone with this.”

David had had a very good day. He’d raised an idea at board level and the entire board had sat there and got excited about it. Really excited. Several directors had kids who were to some extent HGV fanatics. The proposed app was something they could really get their teeth into, having the dual benefit of showing their workplace and giving the kids something quiet to do. It was true they’d got a little bit carried away with what the app could do, but even if it achieved half or a quarter of the ideas put forward he, David, would be able to justify putting in for a pay rise.

“Of course,” he said to Sandra, “Kittens were mentioned, but only in passing.”

“Of course,” said Sandra. “Not sure that kittens and lorries mix.”

“Actually,” said David, “I’m wondering whether they do. We could do an interesting calendar for next year – kittens and trucks. Each month a new photo of a kitten and a truck. What do you think?”

If she was honest with herself, Sandra had stopped thinking.