better business blog

Tips and stories to add value to you and your organisation

The Phone Story

26 April 2020

Out of nowhere two apps collided on my mobile phone and crashed it, killing the phone as dead as a brick.

Four years of trusty service and done.

The problem with the sudden exit of my phone is that, of course, all my data went with it. Pictures lost, telephone numbers evaporated and conversations all terminated mid-flow.

And that wasn’t the worst part. Nope, that was trying to order a new phone without a phone. Explaining to the operator that I was calling from a landline cut no ice. I had to call using my SIM card to change the account details and process the order. No SIM, no change, no phone.

And absolutely no work around.

Well, a long story short here. I will skip me using a steel nail to prize the SIM out, the frantic search for it in the garage (after it had pinged off, on exit) and the struggle to refit it into a tiny, borrowed pebble phone. I will also skip the five hours of operator security clearing, muzak and being handed from person to person.

I will, however, mention the fact that a phone is an odd thing not to have. It is a lifeline to the outside world. We need contact with friends and family and our phone links us up and brings people closer to us.

Without it, the world felt a very different place.

The good news here is that, after a lot of chatting with nice call centre people, a new phone was despatched (after they had lost the first order) and finally all was good. The cloud rained down my data and after a quick shuffle of apps and logins I was good to go.

It did make me wonder how I would have fared if I hadn’t been persistent and resourceful (the SIM was really stuck in the old phone). If I wasn’t able to borrow another phone I would have been stuck.

We can take our technology for granted and not stop to think if we have any backup systems in place. Luckily I have a tablet and a landline, so wasn’t high and dry. Without these, I’d have been properly stuck.

What would you do if your phone suddenly died?

How would you contact your friends?

And, because this is a business blog…

What impact would this have on your business?

With the advent of apps our phones can do so much more than before, but this has caused a concentration of utility into one handy gadget. Great when it works and a potential disaster when it doesn’t.

I have to say that the call centre people were lovely. Their system wasn’t and they knew that, but they did their job with kindness.

So, this week we can all take a fresh look at the gadgets we rely on to keep us in business. We can take a moment to care about them, upgrade them, or make sure we have other options to fall back on, in case they suddenly become a dead brick.

As for me, I will be upgrading my existing phone on a more regular basis.

Have fun thinking about technology!

Keep well!

Next week: The Structure Of Time