Entries tagged with disney - Channel 10

MSN UK Launches WALL•E Portal

sarahintampa — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 11:58:00 GMT

For fans of the Disney blockbuster, WALL•E, you have to go check out MSN UK’s new WALL•E portal. This site has a lot of downloads and other goodies for Windows Live, including Messenger Packs, Display Pictures, and Backgrounds for Windows Live Messenger as well as desktop wallpapers for your PC. You can also download an animated signature which you can use either in your email or as your forum signature. To get access to these free downloads, just visit the portal here: wall-e.msn.co.uk.

Twitter+Email+Flickr+Virtual Earth = Twisney.com!

sarahintampa — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 21:35:00 GMT

What do you get when you combine Disney World, Twitter, Flickr, and Microsoft's Virtual Earth? You get the awesome site Twisney.com! The site lets you send in email, IMs, text messages, or tweets in order to update the Virtual Earth map with your photos and news. When you send in your status update to Twisney.com, they match it to a location on the map by looking at the first few words of your message. You can use an abbreviation, a paraphrased name, or the location's full name as found on your map of Disney.

Examples:

btmr, on the front car of the train, let 'er rip!
thunder mountain, on the front car of the train, let 'er rip!
Big Thunder Mountain Railroad, on the front car of the train, let 'er rip!
thunder mountain rr, on the front car of the train, let 'er rip!

If you're emailing in your update from a mobile phone, just attach the picture to the email, and send it to these instructions. That way, all your photos will be available from one page: www.twisney.com/username, which you can then share with your family and friends.

You can keep tabs on other Twisney users from your mobile phone from the mobile version of the site: http://www.twisney.com/mobile/overview

All the photos sent in to Twisney are uploaded to the Twisney group on flickr. You can also see them on a map here.

If Disney Did Healthcare: Part 2

bcrounse — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 01:50:00 GMT

Last April I posted a piece on this Blog entitled "If Disney Did Healthcare". I commented that there was a lot the healthcare industry could learn from Disney about customer service, customer experience, and customer satisfaction. It was one of those posts that generated a number of comments. The following month, I posted a piece called "If Wal-Mart Did Healthcare" where I discussed some of the factors contributing to the rapid growth of the retail health clinic industry and its focus on customer relationship management, convenience, value, and price transparency.

Yesterday, I received an e-mail from Jake Poore, President of a consulting firm called Integrated Loyalty Systems. As soon as I read it, I just knew I had to share it with Channel 10 readers. So, here it is:

******************

Bill:

I enjoyed reading your April Blog regarding Disney and Healthcare, mainly because that is exactly what I chose to do in my life...translate Disney service and leadership principles into healthcare delivery of care. I went from the happiest place on earth to...well, healthcare (smile).

My career at Disney spanned nearly two decades and I created and managed the healthcare consulting team at the Disney Institute for 6 years, but it was obvious we were only allowed to be a benchmarking company and unable to help clients take it through fruition. Not anymore. For the past 6 years my team of ex-Disney and Southwest Airline execs have done just that. I invite you to visit my web site www.WeCreateLoyalty.com or call me so I can share many of the tools of how we are changing the face of healthcare one hospital at a time!

Kindest regards,

Jake

******************

So there you have it. Hospitals can now learn from Disney (and Southwest) on how to transform their industry to better serve patients. And yes, I know that healthcare with all its complexities, regulations, bizarre market dynamics, etc. is a very different business than theme parks or airlines. But then again, some of the most dynamic and successful healthcare organizations, including many that I have personally had an opportunity to advise, have revolutionized the way they do business by studying the best practices of other industries; Denver Health and Virginia Mason Medical Center being just two examples that come to mind.

And by the way, since contemporary information technology is such a vital component of the organizational transformation that is needed in the healthcare industry, I invite you to that conversation as well. We have an entire team of folks who would be delighted to tell you more.

Bill Crounse, MD Worldwide Health Director Microsoft Corporation

Tron and Discs of Tron Confirmed for Xbox Live Arcade

Laura — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 14:59:00 GMT

Since the early era of video games, "Tron" has been synonymous as both a landmark CGI film and the engaging arcade games inspired by that film. In honor of the 25th anniversary of "Tron," Disney Interactive Studios announced the classic arcade games Tron and Discs of Tron will be re-released this summer through Xbox LIVE®

I swung by the Disney Studios to check out the original and enhanced version first hand.

If Wal-Mart Did Healthcare.......

bcrounse — Wed, 02 May 2007 16:57:00 GMT

Last month, after delivering a keynote address in Orlando and spending a little time visiting Disney attractions, I wrote a piece that pondered what it might be like if Disney did healthcare. Last week I was in Washington, D.C., for the World Health Care Congress. The closing keynote was provided by Lee Scott, President and CEO of Wal-Mart Stores. In his keynote, Mr. Scott shared information about Wal-Mart's plans to open healthcare clinics in their stores. They already have more than 40 clinics operating in Wal-Mart stores. The clinics are primarily staffed by nurse practitioners who provide basic primary care services. Mr. Scott said Wal-Mart wants to partner with providers around the country to open perhaps 600 more clinics in the next couple of years. He sees a potential for more than 2000 clinics to one day be operating in Wal-Mart facilities.

In addition, Wal-Mart, Intel and other major employers have announced their intent to provide a transportable personal health record for employees. In fact, the retail health movement which includes organizations such as MinuteClinic and RedClinic, is very focused on using technology to improve care quality and safety as well as to enhance the "patient experience". Price transparency, a factor that is all but absent in services offered in traditional care facilities, has become a hallmark for the retail movement. Likewise, retail clinics go overboard when it comes to savvy marketing, customer relationship management, and patient convenience. And although organized medicine has taken some pot-shots at the clinics, patients seem to love them.

Where is all this going? I think the trend is generally healthy. People want affordable, convenient, high quality care. They are demanding more value for their healthcare dollar. They are looking for a healthcare industry that behaves more like other industries; one that is responsive to market forces and customer demands offering cycles of continuous quality improvement, improved productivity, and lower costs. As my colleague John Goodman of the National Center for Policy Analysis points out, healthcare would behave like other industries were it not for the perverse effects of traditional insurance programs on the supply side of the business. He writes;

Suppose we passed a law tomorrow prohibiting all insurance companies (including Medicare and Medicaid) from paying any medical bills less than $5,000. What would happen? The medical marketplace would transform almost overnight. Within a couple of months, there would be no such thing as a primary care physician (PCP) who did not post prices - at least for routine procedures. PCPs would offer telephone and email consultations. They would keep patient records electronically (just like lawyers and accountants). Overall, there would develop a teeming, bustling, entrepreneurial marketplace for primary care, diagnostic tests and most prescription drugs. Specialty markets would develop for the chronically ill, as doctors competed for their business instead of trying to avoid them. Patient education would become an emerging field, with providers offering to teach diabetics, asthmatics, etc. how to manage their own care. Internet drug sales would double, triple and quadruple, as brand drugs faced increasing competition from generic, therapeutic and over-the-counter substitutes. At the same time, overall health care spending would plummet.

What if Wal-Mart did healthcare? Yeah. What if?

Bill Crounse, MD Worldwide Health Director Microsoft Corporation

If Disney Did Healthcare......

bcrounse — Thu, 12 Apr 2007 17:04:00 GMT

I’m writing this from Orlando, Florida, where I just delivered the opening keynote for the American Association of Urgent Care Medicine annual conference and exhibition at the Walt Disney World Resort. As you might imagine, I come here frequently for such engagements as well as for Microsoft corporate conferences. It is one of the few places that can really handle large groups. On previous visits I’ve had the pleasure of taking the “back stage” tour of Walt Disney World. I’ve also spent a little time at the Disney Institute. Business people from all over the world come to Disney to learn the magic of running the Magic Kingdoms. In addition, whenever I visit Orlando I try to spend a little of my downtime visiting the Disney parks. On this trip, I took another look at Epcot and Disney’s MGM Studios. All this got me to thinking about what it would be like if Disney did healthcare. Here are a few of my observations:

If Disney did healthcare there would still be long lines and lots of waiting, but they would handle the lines so well that nobody would really mind. Furthermore, if you were really in a hurry you could always grab a Fast-Pass. Despite the long lines, the total experience would be so compelling that any wait would soon fade from memory.

If Disney did healthcare our hospitals and clinics would be impeccably clean, safe and extremely efficient despite the press of humanity seeking services there every day.

The doctors and nurses, and everyone else from janitor to clerk, would greet patients with a smile. Grumpiness wouldn’t be tolerated. All workers would understand that they were cast members playing the most important roles in their patients’ lives. They would always strive to put the customer first.

If Disney did healthcare they would know everything about me from the moment I entered their clinic or hospital until the time I went home and everywhere in between. All of this would be facilitated by the best technology money could buy. And you better believe that would include customer relationship management tools. And even though computers would be running virtually everything, most of that technology would be invisible except where it was meant to be seen. Nothing could threaten the special relationship between provider and patient.

If Disney did healthcare they would still charge of ton of money, but their customers would seldom if ever complain because the total experience always exceeded expectations.

Bottom line; If Disney did healthcare there would be nothing (or perhaps everything) Mickey Mouse about it.

Bill Crounse, MD Worldwide Health Director Microsoft Corporation

Disney-ABC President Anne Sweeney understands piracy, "serves a need..."

Jesse — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 17:13:00 GMT

We’ve all been witness to the disconnect between the people and their leadership, and nowhere is this divide more apparent than between Internet users and content providers. Digital music piracy, DRM-crippled television, and overpriced underwhelming motion pictures have left their marks on all of us. Through the years the media companies have dragged their heels, kicking and screaming towards new technology.

Yesterday during her keynote at MIPCOM, (the world’s audiovisual content market, dontchyaknow) co-chair of Disney Media Networks and President of the Disney-ABC Television Group Anne Sweeney proved that even media leaders can adapt:

“We understand now that piracy is a business model. It exists to serve a need in the market for consumers who want TV content on demand. Pirates compete the same way we do – through quality, price, and availability. We don’t like the model but we realize it’s competitive enough to make it a major competitor going forward.”

Wow. Does this sort of illuminating speak mean that we’re one step further away from incarcerating those of us who are fans of your content, just not of your distribution model? Sure this is but one step forward down a long road, but for now Ms. Sweeney, you are officially 10’s Magical Media Mistress!

(via paidcontent.org)