Warning – Rant coming, I wrote this a while back and never posted it, enjoy or disregard totally, the choice is yours.

If your reading this and think “this guy doesn’t know what he’s on about” or “he’s an arrogant little shit”, then chances are your an out-of-touch old fart who just doesn’t get it. Gen Y is the future, we are growing up in a digital age, we understand the possibilities, we know what we want, and one way or the other we will get it. Our future will not be dictated by 20th century thinking, sales models, communications models etc, they’re all now out of date, you need to start thinking differently, and you need to start by understanding what I want and don’t want.

I want…

• flexibility of service providers, locking me in will only frustrate me and make me want to get away from your service, give me flexibility and I’ll reward you with loyalty, you as a service provider are not all things to me, I will use services from others for various reasons, get over it
• a choice. don’t assume I fit into a one size fits all product
• sometimes-synchronise communication methods, sometimes I’m online, sometimes I’m not, I don’t want to miss out on the conversation.
• to roam, I want access to my online world from wherever I am, I don’t care about the boundaries of your service, you handle the backend cross-charging stuff and let me go where I want to go.
• integration, your products and services CAN work with those of others, don’t build services from the ground up, use a common platform or standard and you will be rewarded with greater customer satisfaction

I don’t want…

• to be locked in, I don’t want 24 month contracts or even more restrictive pre-paid plans, as above, give me flexibility and I’ll give you loyalty 
• to be limited by slow thinking corporate bureaucrats, if you can’t keep up with the technology, then get out of my way. slowing me down with decades-old concepts does not help your business, technology continues to move ahead, and sales tactics must keep pace. I don’t want to hire a DVD and have it returned by 7pm the next day, I want to sit in my lounge at home and browse for what I want, then stream it in HD, I don’t want to wait for it to download, I don’t want it to be locked to a PC or your media player, I want to take it with me, I want to stop it and come back to it another day, I want it when I want it, not when you tell me it’s available for you to make a hole in my wallet, physical media is dead, online delivery is now expected, it’s time to shut down your money making disc machines and install your servers and fat pipes into my world, ready to deliver me my content.
• limits, I want to do things when I want, for as long as I can, not between the hours of 2am and 6am, and not until I hit your cap. I don’t get my power cut when I reach 1000Kw/h’s, why should my network utility company limit me to 50Gb?
• to be told I can’t do things, if there is a blocker then get it unblocked.  Don’t tell me your service is at capacity, I know you’re lying to me, I know you’re greedy and want more money, and I won’t be staying with your service. Tell me you’re expanding, tell me what new services your putting in, tell me what I will get without having to pay more

My world is the real world, swallow that red pill and join me. I live on the internet, it’s not just about web pages anymore, it’s about communications, it’s about media, it’s where I will find and use your service. I don’t want to go to a store or call a support desk in India, I don’t have time for that. I will see you online, and if you provide me with something of value I will in turn be your friend.