FUD Factor
I’ve finally discovered what FUD means. It wasn’t top of my list of things to do but as I was browsing my blog feeds one of the posts spelt it out for me.
F = Fear
U = Uncertainty
D = Doubt
I don’t like FUD, it’s something I hate being a prisoner of and I make sure that in my line of work I try and overcome it for those who I work with.
This is something I find a lot of customers (and resellers?) have with IT because it takes them outside of a comfort zone that is far easier to stay in.
On my penultimate presentation (Reading next week) in Woking today I met many businesses who had experienced problems with their technology and didn’t know how to fix it, didn’t know who to ask, didn’t know where to look, and when mixed in with a lack of know-how brings it up to a spicy broth of FUD.
I experience the FUD factor with things that take me outside of what I am typically used to i.e. taxes (bleurgh) and at the moment I’m heavily relying on my accountant to help me with this. I try and understand the basics so I know that I’m not being hoodwinked but I leave the rest to the experts. The same really applies for anything that we don’t want to invest the time in understanding; accounts, IT, politics, event organising (trust me!), hairdressing… random selection I know but you get the point.
However…
… it doesn’t do you any harm in learning a little bit about what you are paying for so you have some degree of control.
So, when it comes to IT and the applications, invest (it’s not a ’sacrifice’) the time to understand what you are spending your money on. For example, you can get bite sized chunks of training on Microsoft Office here, Microsoft Windows Mobile here, and Microsoft Licensing here. Any other sources of FREE training is welcomed if you submit it via the comments below.
Let’s fight the FUD. FUD is for losers and…
“Your business is a distinct reflection of who you are.” Michael Gerber
So don’t spread the FUD to your customers either!