David Bowen commentaries

In his regular columns for the Financial Times and ft.com, senior consultant David Bowen has pursued themes ranged from customer relationship management and career marketing to ‘ethical’ retailing and royal family sites. His collected Financial Times and ft.com columns from January 2001 onward are indexed by theme and available for viewing on this site.

You can access articles directly by selecting a link below.

  • What tools and gizmos can do Its interactive capabilities give the web a unique potential to help you do or learn about things – or attract visitors. Yet few businesses and public bodies really exploit the possibilities.
  • Why big sites are less than brilliant The people who run large web presences know their sites could be a whole lot better. So what’s stopping them doing something about it? asks David Bowen.
  • Why sound now merits a hearing Sound has been the poor relation of website features. But the case for giving it a more prominent role is increasingly compelling despite some efforts that should never have been allowed out of the scullery.
  • How travellers can now get to information on time Real-time information for travellers delivered in easily-accessed form has been a long time moving into the public realm. But now it may have found its medium.
  • What to be thankful that someone else did Here are some turkeys for Christmas: things to be grateful other people did on their websites (even if they’ve since corrected them).
  • How to un-supersize the big chains Will the web will destroy McDonald's, Starbucks and all the big chains? It won’t, but it might weaken their grip.
  • What’s to be gained from going public Wikis are a way of accumulating and refining content by committee, in this case a rather large one called the general public. Just the sort of thing private companies should be looking to float.
  • Where high tech companies' innovation fails them IT giants provide a strong service for customers, despite sometimes getting their countries muddled. But why do their sites all look the same?
  • Where football clubs need to raise their game Whether of the North American or European variety, football clubs are employing over-conservative and uniform tactics on the web.
  • How companies are warming to spinning the web An extract from the recently published 'Spinning the Web' explains how, after their early traumas, companies and other large organisations have discovered they can develop a fruitful relationship with the web.

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