Screen Saver Software-- A Life saver

When my husband and I migrated to Australia, we thought we were entering into a beautiful dreamland. It took us just a month to realize that we had in fact entered into a land of nightmares," said Ramya.

I met Ramya in a Chinese restaurant in Sydney a few years ago. "What makes you feel so?" I asked her. "My husband is not good in English and he has limited communication skills. He finds it difficult to get a job. My educational qualifications are not recognized here. So, I could get only the job of part time customer support clerk in XYZ bank. We have a hand-to-mouth existence. I am in so great financial difficulty that I don’t have money to pay for even bus fare. Everyday I walk 10 Kms in bad weather!" Ramya said and wiped her eyes with her handkerchief.

"Are you not eligible for income support from the government?" I asked her. "A few years ago all migrants in financial difficulty received benefits and income support from the government without any problem. However, some migrants abused the system and now it is not as easy as it was then," Ramya replied. "It is human nature to treat concession as right," I said.

"We will be eligible for benefits only from next year. But, I don’t want to apply for income support. I feel ashamed of doing it. I don’t want to depend on others for my survival," Ramya said. "That is a magnificent attitude. This attitude will soon make you prosperous," I told her and asked her, "Wise men say that if you really lack something important, then life compensates the loss by giving another thing. Some blind men develop special faculties that are not available to people with good eyes. Your husband lacks good communication skills and he is poor in English. He can improve his English by attending self-improvement courses. But, it will take months and you need money to pay for it. Does he have any other skills?" "I don’t think he has got any skills. He wastes all his time surfing the Internet and tweaking our computer. Perhaps he is good in computer though he is not a professional," she replied.

I thought about it for a few moments and told her, "You are a customer representative in XYZ bank. You interact with customers regularly. You know what your customers want. You husband has good working knowledge in computer. Any bank would like to improve its business and its relationship with the customers. All customers, irrespective of their status would love to receive freebies. Now, can you think of any project based on the above facts?" Ramya’s response was instantaneous, "No."

"Most customers have computers at home or office. They want to show off their individuality by customizing the desktop of their systems. They download all types of images and screensavers to decorate their desktops. Your husband can create beautiful screensavers that give information about the products and services of your bank. You already know about the preferences and needs of your customers. You can help him. Your bank will give away the screensavers as freebies to its customers. For your bank, these screensavers will be business promotion tools. You can even create web-enabled screensavers so that whenever the bank changes its terms or products, the information will automatically updated on customers’ computers. Your bank will pay to your husband for the development of the screensavers," I explained the project to Ramya.

"Do you think this will work? What will I do if my bank turns down the proposal?" Ramya was pessimistic. "Have a positive attitude. If your employer does not like the project, then approach other banks, credit card companies, insurance providers and financial institutions. Leave no stone unturned until you succeed," I tried to make her feel confident. After discussing the project for a few more minutes, I left the restaurant.

Four months later I received an email from Ramya.: ‘Ken, I told about the project to my husband as soon as I reached home after our meeting. He was excited and immediately started his work on the project. He downloaded trial version of dozens of screensaver creation software and became an expert in 6 weeks. Then we wrote a project plan using Palo Alto’s Business Plan Pro software. When I submitted the project plan and sample screensaver to my boss and the management, an unexpected thing happened – they appointed me as a full time employee! They accepted our proposal and agreed to pay a good amount of money to my husband. We completed the project two days ago and my husband received a cheque from the bank yesterday. Please go to the link (here is link) and download our product. Thank you, - Ramya.’