Expectations by Harcourt Tendhall
25 November 2022 { Science fiction }
‘Transform IT is a company specialising in transforming small businesses into successful players in any sphere. We use our advanced technical marketing to spot trends and collect data to guide companies to follow those trends, giving them a market advantage over their competitors. We also use our advanced technology to predict future trends and so ensure our clients remain one step ahead.’
‘As part of this presentation, we will use previous projects with successful companies to demonstrate and prove conclusively our success in various commercial fields.’
I sat through their presentation, and I have to say it was impressive. Statements by CEOs of their clients extolling their virtues and quoting substantial increases in turnover and success in opening up new markets. They look like just what we need to grow to the next level. However, everything has a price, and theirs is pretty steep. All very well if you succeed, but I have always understood that nothing in life is guaranteed, and particularly nothing in business.
What I must decide is whether we can afford this level of investment. I also need to understand what we actually get out of it. Also, are there other players in their field, bigger, smarter, better? A good presentation is fine, but I need to investigate far deeper to be certain it meets my expectations.
After my other directors have left the boardroom, I sit down with their CEO and their Sales Director. Mr Cheung hadn’t said much up to now, leaving his Sales Director, a young upcoming executive type called Chas, to do the talking and field the more obvious questions from my team. Similarly, I too have kept my powder dry.
‘Mr Simpson, I hope our presentation impressed you. We do not treat all our potential clients this way. Only those we think are going to substantially benefit from our offering and are ready to make that leap to the next level.’
‘You make it sound as though it was you who selected us rather than us selecting you, Mr Cheung.’
‘Forgive me, I did not wish to give you the impression we are driving this meeting. I merely wish you to know that we are impressed by how your company has grown so far. You must have many questions for us.’
‘Thank you. It seems you have done your homework. I do have some questions for you. Where would you start with this process?’
‘It is important to establish a strong working relationship right from the start. If you feel our service is the one for you, I would want you to visit our headquarters for a full, open inspection. Our policy of openness is essential if we are to trust each other completely, and it is essential that we do before we sign any contract.’
‘Understood, but that doesn’t answer my question.’
‘We need to analyse all the data you currently hold, including marketing and sales of every offering your company has made. Every success and every failure. It is important to understand whether it was that offering or the marketing that brought you success or not. By comparing your data with our analysis of the overall marketplace, together with social media, specialist press, bloggers and other influencers, we can establish more closely why you have been successful so far. We then need to know your projections for the next twelve months for both existing and new offerings.’
‘Now I see why you need to establish that trust. This could be like open-heart surgery for us.’
‘Indeed, Mr Simpson, but with no pain, I hope. However, it goes deeper than that. Before we begin positively influencing how you operate, we both need to be confident you can react to the increased sales. You must be able to capitalise on the inevitable success we will bring you, or we will both have failed. An open-book policy is the only way forward.’
‘Hmm. You make it seem like we are applying to you for a loan; you want to be confident of a return on your investment? Except it will be us who are investing in your services, not the other way round.’
‘We have invested many millions in developing our systems and infrastructure. Fees from all the contracts we have so far would not pay for one tenth of our investment. We have a long way to go before we can declare a financial success, even though every contract we have has been successful. I am not understating this when I say we must ensure all our partners can achieve their expectations, for only then are we guaranteed to secure our fees and step closer to our own financial success.’
‘I realise there are many past examples of success killing the company. That will not happen at Simpsons. Not only do we have the physical capacity for expansion, but our workforce ethics are so good we have a waiting list of people at all levels wanting to join our company. Our finances also have the capacity for expansion, or you would not be here; your fees are eye-wateringly expensive.’
He looks confused.
‘He means they make him cry, Mr Cheung,’ says Chas.
He smiles at me. A poor analogy, but he understands.
‘Who holds all the data?’
‘You do, Mr Simpson. We will provide duplicate blade servers for you to install in your premises or in a data centre of your choosing. The servers will come pre-loaded with our analytical marketing application. We will train your own people to programme them with the links to feed in your data, how to run the application and tailor the output criteria to best match your requirements. We will feed in the data we collect from the sources we mentioned earlier. This will be a one-way feed. The application will analyse all the data and provide the marketing projections you need to be one step ahead of the competition.’
‘How safe is our data?’
‘Entirely, as it remains under your total control. Having duplicate servers gives you a complete back-up in case of faults occurring. In fact, you could install the back-up server in an entirely different location if you wish. Many companies do that.’
‘Yes, I’m familiar with Disaster Recovery Policies. We have our own.’
‘I am pleased to hear that. It will give us peace of mind that both our hardware and software will be safe in your hands.’
‘What about your competitors in this field? How good are they and how do you intend to stay ahead of them?’
‘As far as we know, nobody else can yet offer the same service. This is because of our unique algorithms. No doubt someone will develop something similar in time. We are aware of talks between other marketing companies and IT specialists, but nobody can yet offer a system to rival ours.’
So far, he has been entirely confident in his replies to my questions. I’m no expert in body language, but I can usually spot a liar by the way they reply, their posture, and those giveaway ticks and tells. I’ve seen none of that yet. Even Chas has remained calm.
‘Who are your investors, Mr Cheung?’
A pause, he blinks twice. I watch him like a hawk now, but keep my open posture.
‘There are now many millionaires in China. They look to invest in new technology, recognising the need to advance quickly, before the cheap labour market, which created their fortunes, disappears. Everyone in China wants to be an entrepreneur, Mr Simpson. The current system cannot last forever, and they realise that technology can bring greater wealth to them. We have carefully selected our investor partners, ensuring no conflict of interest.’
Good recovery and an excellent answer, but I want more.
‘Is there any state interest in your company?’
That got a reaction, but again, he is quick to disguise it.
‘If you mean the Chinese Government, then no, there has been no interest from them. Nor are they investors in my company.’
‘Really? I would have thought that it would delight them if they could track trends, likes and dislikes in government policy. Surely, they must be watching closely.’
‘If they are, we are not aware of it. I very much doubt we could adapt our algorithms to provide such a function. I can assure you there has been no interest shown by the Chinese government. Some of our investors may be Chinese, but we are a British company and operate solely in the UK. Myself, my family, and all my directors live in London or the Home Counties.’
‘What about America?’
‘We have no American involvement, but I cannot lie to you. We will look to expand our operation into the USA, but not before we can declare total success in the UK. That will not happen for a few years, yet.’
He is good. So far, I can’t find anything to drive a wedge into, but he has aroused my suspicions. Looking at him, I think he knows it. Now might be the time to test how much they want our business.
‘I need to consider everything you have said today. The presentation, our discussion. I also want to take feedback from my team before I can make my decision. Thank you for coming in today, Mr Cheung, and you, Chas. It’s been a pleasure to meet you both and I appreciate your efforts in demonstrating how you can meet my expectations.’
I close my folder and stand. He remains seated.
‘What can I do to persuade you to consider us more seriously, Mr Simpson?’
‘We are considering you seriously, Mr Cheung.’
‘I think that if we leave now, we will not hear from you again, other than to say no.’
‘The energy market is a volatile place at the moment. It is important to try and stay one step ahead. It’s also important to carefully consider investments in order to invest wisely. We have a responsibility to our investors and our customers to use funds wisely. We also have a responsibility to the country as well. You will hear from us shortly. Thank you again.’
This time I hold out my hand, and he rises to shake it. It is at that moment I glimpse the end of a tattoo on his arm. His shirt cuff rode up as he reached to shake my hand; just a black claw, maybe of a dragon.
‘I hope we meet again soon.’
‘Let me show you out.’
* * *
I did a bit of Googling. In Chinese dragon mythology, a black dragon means powerful and not to be messed with. I don’t hold with such stuff, but he probably does. With the tells from his body language, that is enough for me to set my team to work.
My Security Director, Alan, has good connections in government security circles, so I tasked him with finding out all he can about Mr Cheung and Transform IT.
Although they mentioned no company names, Robin, my Commercial Director, recognised two of the CEOs in their presentation. I asked him to speak to each of them about their use of Transform IT and their video endorsements.
I also asked my Sales Director, Ian, to see if anyone he knows has ever met their Sales Director, Chas Smith. We might get some background information on him.
In the meantime, I’m having a chat with Dave, our IT Manager.
‘What did you think of their presentation?’
‘It seemed pretty impressive, but I could see where they patched sections together. Most people wouldn’t notice, but there were tiny glitches here and there.’
‘Where, exactly?’
‘Obviously, when they switched from one scene to another, but they tell you nothing. However, during two of those CEO videos, I saw tiny changes. At first, I thought it must have been me blinking, but it happened a second and a third time. I think they patched different bits together, maybe changing what the guys were saying, or the order in which they said it.’
‘That sounds a bit science fiction to me. I suppose if they did a few takes, they could cobble something together to make it sound a stronger recommendation, but you’d think that would be easy to spot.’
‘Not really. Did you see that drama on TV recently, Capture?’
‘Oh yeah, the thing about Deep Fakes and what they called Correction.’
‘Yes. Well, we can’t do that yet, but we do have video software for airbrushing and deleting images out of videos, what you might call Photoshop for video. They could have manipulated the videos to tell a different story from what was actually recorded.’
‘Do you think that’s what they did?’
‘Not impossible, and I suspect they spliced those videos in some way. If I had a copy, I’m sure I could confirm it.’
‘Thanks. No wonder they didn’t want to give us a copy.’
Two days later, I call Alan, Robin, Ian and Dave together for another chat.
‘Robin, did you track down those CEOs?’
‘Sure did. Both have used Transform IT for doing some minor work on integrating marketing data, but nothing as sophisticated as they’re trying to sell us. No servers provided, or data collection by them.’
‘What about their recommendations?’
‘When I described the pieces to camera we had seen, neither of them recognised those. They did say their video crew were very pernickety, insisting on multiple takes, asking the questions in different ways, even though the first one seemed fine.’
I glance at Dave, and he is grinning at me.
‘Ian, did you find out anything about chatty Chas?’
‘Oh, he seems to be okay. He was with a software company for ten years, before he was tempted away by some new kids on the block. Unfortunately, they only lasted six months before they folded and he found himself unemployed. That’s when Transform IT picked him up. He’s only been with them for two months.’
‘Okay, thanks, Ian. Alan, have you found out anything about our Mr Cheung?’
‘Yes. He has connections with the Chinese authorities. Hikvision is a company that makes video systems for the Chinese Government. He worked with them for twenty years and was the contract manager on that contract, but he left two years ago. My sources suspect the Chinese wanted him to work on a new surveillance programme.’
‘Thanks, Ian. Dave, can you tell us of your suspicions now?’
‘Yes, Boss. Robin, what you have said confirmed my suspicions. They have used video manipulation to patch together different sections of the interviews they did with those CEOs, giving us the impression they have successfully achieved what they are trying to sell to us. Not only that, it seems they have enhanced the recommendations to give a glowing report. They thought they had done that seamlessly, but I’ve got excellent knowledge of video creation. It was part of my role in my last job. It’s fortunate I spotted a couple of tiny glitches in the presentation. They did an excellent job of it, but it wasn’t quite perfect.’
‘Well, guys, it looks like we are the first big fish they’ve tried to land. It’s possible that by installing their server and integrating it into our IT infrastructure, they could, if it wasn’t for you, have extracted detailed data on our section of the domestic energy market. It wouldn’t take a genius to extrapolate that data across the whole UK energy market. Knowledge is power, and I’m sure if left unchecked, they will continue to pitch to our rivals. However, we have enough information to take this to our authorities and stop them in their tracks. Alan, let’s set up an early meeting with your contact at the Home Office.’
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