Software Soapbox

My big business Idea of the week: Comments are closed. Thanks Spammers!

When Doc first started talking about VRM back in August, I posted a bit on the Google and ValPak deal and how that could spur customer-centric buying systems.  The post has had a lot of traffic since then, so much that some hard-working comment spammers have been sending me porn and viagra links once or twice daily.  Somehow they have figured out how to get past the TypePad captchas....So today I closed the comments there.  Anyone who wants to continue the conversation, please do so here....

Dining VRM - New ideas for going out!

Tomorrow, Doc Searls is hosting a VRM developer's meeting in Redwood City - wish I could be there!  I added my .02 in the privacy section, based on some stuff I work with here at IBM, but otherwise I am fully engaged elsewhere this week.....

Combined with VRM scenarios rolling around in the back of my head, the BusinessWeek Article in my last post gave me some ideas for changing the restaurant industry with VRM. 

First, I liked the idea of having a touchscreen to make orders.  A good waiter is great, but these days the good waiter population seems to be thinning....In general, waiters take your order, then type it in on a touchscreen - why can't the customer just do that?  Plus, you could advertise specials, suggest wine pairings, side dishes, etc, and generally make the kitchen much more interactive with the customers.

Next, I thought - why does this kiosk have to be limited to the tabletop?  Why not display it on a cellphone or PDA or even from home?

Then VRM comes into play - if you could have the menu and order at home, how about aggregating menus so that people could make choices based on today's menu and open tables before a customer arrives at the restaurant?  OpenTable.com has the table part (Doc, we really could have used this that night at CES!), but adding food review and ordering options would make it even better.

You could even custom-order meals based on menu items, plan events, etc.  This would definitely save the kitchen a lot of hassles in terms of what foods to order/prepare for the night.  Restaurants could also start serving more complex or slow-cooked meals that are hard to make at home and impossible to serve in today's establishments. 

Interesting stuff ahead.....