La Piazza

Hi,

Let me share with you what a normal day in the office is like at Panda!

On the right,  two shots of the Panda Security’s Headquarters building in Bilbao, Spain. The office is right at the heart of the financial and commercial area of the city, which is a luxury, as everything is at hand.

Any normal day, people come to the office  between 8:30 and 9:30 a.m. At Panda, we have a variable job schedule, what is known as flexitime. This allows us to come early or to stay late depending on our needs.

It makes our own work-life balance much easier.

Once at work, the atmosphere is friendly yet very professional.

All through the day people have meetings. You can meet by a vending machine, while standing in a corner, a or in a really plush meeting room.

As a curiosity, all meeting rooms are named after famous viruses. 

Though Panda Headquarters is placed in a historic building in Bilbao’s main street, inside it is an open-concept building with almost no walls and no offices.

The very few walls we have are made of glass and people use them as whiteboards.

Training sessions are habitual and employees from all over the world attend courses periodically.

Check out this pic! It was taken this very morning and it features TechSupport guys from Sweden, Belgium, Germany, Portugal, France, UK, and more at a product course.

Because, that is right, we at Panda, are international!!

It’s nearly  time to go home, flexi-time, remember? So, I shall talk to you soon and hope I could transmit what a good place working at Panda can be! How about you? What is the atmosphere at your workplace?

In line with the award we just received for Best eCommerce Software company as the Best Customer Experience Awards 2012 in Spain, today I want to tell you about some of the key players who have made this possible, that is, my team.

They are the people working at Panda by assisting the first line of support and customer service. People who daily try not to let the customer notice he is having a bad day, people who empathize with the customer and put themselves on his shoes. A team of people who, after each call requests to be evaluated. They make the customer experience worth a ten or a zero. People that, although they are very different from each other, transmit the same feeling. Those people I want to tell you about!

In Panda we measure customer satisfaction through a system that combines several metrics. Today I want to focus on one of them, the NPS method. To begin with, I will explain what NPS consists of.

NPS stands for Net Promoter Score and is a methodology which helps understand and manage customer feedback and measure their degree of loyalty to a company, brand or service.

The NPS system is a simple way to get information through what is called “the ultimate question”:

Would you recommend this service to a friend or relative? (0 to 10)

It segments answers depending on the score, and only those customers who voted 9 or 10 are considered as promoters. As you can see, NPS is really picky, but for us the quality of service is above everything.

Currently, most companies complain about the effectiveness of conducting customer surveys. Mainly because the information we collect is irrelevant. That is because either the questions are not adequate, or most of the time, because they are not quantifiable. This is solved by applying NPS.

In Panda Support and Customer Service, the survey is included in all outgoing written communications, in the telephone survey system, after exiting the Support chat channels and it is also available for all users of the support site. In this way we have a complete picture of the customer satisfaction regarding the service received.

We believe that, by applying these rules, we will make our customers love us even more:

1. We want our customers to call us only ONCE. No more is needed to solve a problem or to clarify their doubts.
2. We want the experience to be as pleasant to the customer as to the technician, so they hang up the phone with a smile in their faces.
3. We do not want to complicate the life of the customer by sending him from form to form in turn driving him crazy. A single channel, whichever he chooses, will be enough.
4. We want our customers to tell us why they have not given us a 9 or a 10 vote and to do that, we need their collaboration.
5. Our objective is to get to the bottom of his query until it is resolved, not to finish the communication with the customer as soon as possible.

People forget names or places, but they never forget what someone or something made them feel like. That is why the emotional component is so important to manage customers. Companies like Apple, Zappos, Starbucks, Virgin or Harley-Davidson, generate good customer experience, and the reason why is because they make us feel really special.

And if I may brag a bit, let me say that I am not exaggerating when I say I have the best Support and Customer Service team in the industry. A team that currently has an NPS rate of 43%, 11 points ahead in the ranking of security companies within our sector (data from 2012).

This is a team committed to grow, to improve and to touch – even if a little bit – your hearts.

The Panda Security Support Blog, The Piazza, wants to thank you for your visits, views and comments all through the year and wishes you a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year 2013.

And remember, if during these special days you need to contact our technical experts, you can do so from the contact form available on the corporate Panda Security Support website.

If you prefer to use the networks, you will also find us in the Panda Technical Support Twitter account or in the Technical Support forum.

Happy Holiday!!!

What is Sexting?

According to Wikipedia Sexting is the act of sending sexually explicit messages or photographs, primarily between mobile phones.

All across the world boys and girls are using the built in cameras in their cell phones to take nude and semi-nude shots of themselves and sending them to boyfriends, friends, or classmates. Some only send the picture to a single person while others send it to dozens.

New research conducted by the University of Michigan has revealed that Sexting is now a common feature in young adult relationships today. It shows there is no psychological difference between sexters and non-sexters which contradict some reports in media stories that have claimed that sexters were anxious, depressed or had low-self-esteem. Sexting is now a normal dating ritual for teenagers and young adults.

Why can Sexting be dangerous?

Your mom probably warned you never to say anything you don’t want repeated. The same mentality holds true for Sexting. In the age of technology, things you want to keep private quickly can become available for public consumption. From text messages to photos to videos, nothing is safe. And once you put something out there, don’t even think about going back. Sexting seems like all fun and games until someone gets hurt… and that someone easily can be you, your partner or your family. It’s all too tempting to engage in sexual banter via text, instant message, email and other electronic communications. Maybe it’s with your partner, maybe it’s with someone else.

Why do youngsters Sext?

The motivation and act of sharing explicit personal photos is not new by any means. Sharing lewd photographs with other youth has been part of adolescent angst for many decades. But because of the widespread availability of mobile messaging and cell phone cameras, it has become very easy and very quick to forward explicit personal photos. Since 2008, sexting messages have become virally popular with tweens in North America and Europe.

The sexting problem lies in how easy it is to re-broadcast the photos, to the embarassment and shame of the originator. An innocuous experimental message sent to a cute boy or girl can quickly spin out of control, and the originator can become the laughing stock and shameful gossip dirt of the entire school. When a photo becomes viral online, it is virtually impossible to remove the damage and recall all the copies.

What can potentially happen next is:

• Harassment or cyberstalking: threats to share the images
• Outing: posting or sharing the images publicly
• Impersonation: pretending to be the person who created the image and posting or sharing it publicly, often with the suggestion that the person is interested in sexual contact.

And always remember that nearly a quarter of sexters have regretted pressing “send” …

Published by Ana Etxebarria

6.45 AM The alarm clock of my BB goes off. As every day, I turn it off, I stretch and as soon as I am able to open my eyes I look to check what’s new. Mhhhh! The App World icon tells me that there are 4 new updates. A new version of Foursquare, WhatsApp, Twitter and of BBM. What is special about these versions? Well, as far as I know, nothing much, but experience tells me that either I update them, or I will be bombarded by those annoying messages informing of the availability of a new version. So much to my regret, I start the update process. Of course, as usual, during the first update the BB freezes and there is no other way to revive it but by removing the battery. Once rebooted, I choose to live with the new version messages and before I starve to death, I decide to go get breakfast.

9.00 AM I arrive at the office. As I start my computer, I fetch some water, turn on the heater, check my agenda …, but just as I prepare to open my Outlook, an update message informing me that Acrobat Reader update is available appears on my screen. The truth is I do not know how many updates Acrobat releases, but my perception is that there is at least, one a week … So after the BB experience a while ago, I choose to upgrade later. I do not feel like it now. I am rebellious. But what is this new shield like icon at the bottom right of my screen? Should I click it?, it won’t be yet another update, will it? … Well, quite right, ladies and gentlemen, on this occasion it is Microsoft kindly letting me know of the availability of new automatic updates. This is wearing me out, really..

17.00 PM It has been days since I last synchronized my iPad. I will do it now that I seem to be a little calmer. I open iTunes, connect the USB, and what is the first thing I see on the screen? Bingo! A new version of iTunes available. Well, I do NOT want it, thank you very much!, Very kind of you! Enough is enough, what a day … And now whaaaat?, another screenshot?, This is not happening, arggggghhhhh !!!!! Now, this time, very politely, and totally free, I am offered a new version of the iPad software … I am not exaggerating one iota.

I give up, I throw in the towel. I cannot put up with it anymore … Let them do whatever they want. Go ahead, update the software! Do so daily if you wish! But please, I do not want to know about it. Do it silently. Do not ask for my permission. At the end of the day, if only at their persistence, they always win…

The moral of my post is the following: If today I had accepted all the kind offers of available updates for my gadgets, I would have upgraded 3 different machines, 7 software programs and an Operating System. There! Not to mention the 52 updates that according to the App Store are available …

Don’t you think that something that is very positive in theory, is becoming a torture and a nightmare for users? What do you think?

Published by Ana Etxebarria

It is clear that the number of applications for smartphones and tablets is almost infinite. There is pretty much an application for everything, and it is fair to say that some of the apps are that divine that they even try to simplify the difficult task of being a parent, helping us find and organize fun activities to keep our children entertained. Plus, many of them are also FREE, so what more could you ask for?

If we focus on the upbringing and education of our children, we also find countless options. There are applications that advise you on what you should and should not do from the moment you know you’re pregnant. Others help you find the name of your baby. Others suggest how to organize a birthday party for the youngest lot. Other apps can tell you where to find parks with swings. Other applications can even help you find your kids if you lose them in a mall before you even have the time to get hysterical. Other apps will suggest physical activities to strengthen their still feeble musculature. Other, other, other …. I could spend hours listing applications for parents and there would still be hundreds, thousands, millions to be discovered.

And, of course, among all these fancy stuff, there are also applications which are most questionable. For example, Tymoot. Pronounced like Time Out, it refers to those moments where your children are sent to their room “to reflect” about the latest deed committed. It is therefore an application that will help us manage the punishments to impose on our children. It is advertised as the “ultimate mobile discipline tool”, which actually sounds quite funny …

The way it works is simple. Enter the birthdates of your children and the app will give you the suggested duration of the punishment in accordance with the children’s age. A priori, this task should not be that complicated for us, as parents and as inexperienced Internet users, as to need a specific application. Everyone knows that the ideal is one minute for each year of the child. But the best is yet to come!

The section entitled “Wheel of Discipline” is advertised as “horrible and terrifying” and it does sound like a sort of medieval torture. It actually does not go that far. It is simply a wheel where punishments of the most varied type are drawn. For example, forcing one child to be present when his/her brother is given preferential treatment or make the child wear clothing of the opposite sex if the child has shown sexist behaviour …

It’s okay for parents to need support. Clearly the world has become so complex that we are extremely vulnerable, but this should not lead to anyone taking advantage of our weaknesses, our lack of time and our inexperience to sell nonsense that will distract us from our real obligations.

Do you feel too burdened by useless applications?, Do you dare to make your own ranking of silly applications? To break the ice, I will start:

Birth Buddy: a woman who is going to give birth is supposed to enter the frequency and duration of contractions …

Published by Leyre Velasco, January 2011

The saga continues.. After presenting the Support video on how to activate 2011 products, today we would like to show you the new TechSupport video on how to carry out the download process.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0aqc79NpN2M&w=425&h=344]

This video, just like the other Support videos, are accessible both from the Support website as well as from the YouTube.

Published by Iñaki Gorostiza,  January 2011

SEO is an attractive area of e-marketing, as soon as you start to get into it you realize that it requires very little theoretical technical knowledge, and that a little common sense will take you a long way.

In fact, this gives us a clue as to why there are so many self-proclaimed ‘gurus’ in this field.

I for one believe that a company can deal with SEO in-house, and that there is no need for external gurus to tell you how to ‘train’ your websites to jump through hoops for Google; trust in your own people, who know your market and your clients, and are more than capable of doing the job.

While it’s true that 80% of the positioning of a Web page is determined by factors such as domain authority and the popularity of back-links (off-page factors) the rest is down to the editor of Web content.

That’s right, I’m talking about you!

So here I would like to offer a series of ‘on-page’ tips. A few observations to remember when editing content for search engines:

• “He who does not think much of himself is much more esteemed than he imagines”. -Goethe
  As I said before, there is no one in the world that knows your company and clients better than you. If you learn from your clients by thinking like they do, you have achieved the most difficult part of your job.
• It is important to know how to write for search engines, but it is more important to know how to write for people.
• There is nothing more damaging for a website than the soulless contributions of a SEO technician who does not understand the above premise.
• The work of SEO technicians has two objectives:
  1. To position the Web page ABOVE the competition.
  2. To create an effective SNIPPET.
• Whether a user reaches your Web page or that of the competition depends therefore on VISIBILITY: appearing BEFORE and appearing BETTER!
• The title of a page is the main source of information for search engines.
• A good title can be enough to correctly position the page.
• A bad title can bring down any SEO strategy.
• Each page of your website should have its own unique and non-transferable title.
• Always display your brand in the title.
• Include the most important keywords in the title.
• And if you can achieve all the above in 65 characters or less, all the better.

I’ll continue in the next article! Until then…

============================================================================

Other articles published by Iñaki Gorostiza:

• An instant with Google Instant

• SEO & hackers, an odd couple

• Google Instant revolutionizes the SERP

You can contact Iñaki Gorostiza on his blog http://www.hellogoogle.com, where he publishes articles that help companies grow on Internet, and at http://twitter.com/hello_google.

Published by Blanca Carton, December 2010

Our aim when we created Panda’s support channel on YouTube last year was to post a series of video tutorials that helped you resolve your queries about your antivirus.

That’s why we have just posted the video How to install your 2011/2010/2009 antivirus product.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KhwMYCZaB0M&w=425&h=344]

What do you think about it? Was it helpful? Please post your comments!

Remember to subscribe to the Support channel to find out about the new videos!

Anyway, we’ll keep you posted from La Piazza as… This is just the beginning! : -)

Finally, let us remind you that you can find the answer to any queries you might have about your product in the articles posted on the Panda Security support website, or contact our expert technicians in the Tech Support forum.

Published by Iñaki Gorostiza, september 29,  2010

This follow-up to the piece An instant with Google Instant furthers the analysis of this issue.

The SERP has changed, or better still, the SERP now changes with every keystroke:

• The first page is now the key component of the search. Where before it was already unlikely that a user would go beyond the second or third page of results returned, Google Instant brings the relevance of the Top 10 results into even sharper focus.

• The visual content fully captures the user’s attention. The SERP becomes a kaleidoscope where Web maps, images and videos stand out against any text content.

• Google Instant minimizes bad searches due to spelling or grammatical errors, and this has a direct impact on those pages that feed off such mistakes.

• The space on the SERP dedicated to organic results is reduced in favor of suggestions. This can lead to a page where there is just one organic result for every eight sponsored links. Let’s take a look:

• Now more than ever, webmasters will have to draw Google users’ attention with the title and snippet (the brief text below the title describing the Web page).

• Interestingly, adult pages are ignored by Google Instant. Try searching, say, for “sex” and you’ll see that the search engine does nothing. Of course certain search terms may suffer collateral damage, careful if you’re looking for “Whorfian hypothesis” for example.

• The influence of the ‘long tail’ is questionable:
  • The long tail can be partially cannibalized by head terms, as before a long search term such as “Antivirus in Spanish compatible with Windows 7″ is entered, a ‘good enough’ result may be displayed.
  • It’s also true that simple searches, such as “Antivirus” will generate more specific suggestions such as “Free antivirus in Spanish”.

• Well known brands will benefit: after entering just one or two letters, don’t be surprised to see the name of a famous company.

It only takes an instant to forget a lifetime, but sometimes even a lifetime isn’t enough to forget an instant.

In a few months we will know exactly the impact that Google Instant has on the search trends of users, as well as on Search Marketing strategies. For the moment, we just have to make educated guesses.

While it’s true that Google Instant represents a significant step forward, it shouldn’t really alter the fundamentals of SEO/SMO, at least not to the extent that some fear. Sleep tight everyone.

==============================================================================

You can contact Iñaki Gorostiza on his blog http://www.hellogoogle.com, where he publishes articles that help companies grow on Internet, and at http://twitter.com/hello_google.