Sports matter! Sprend became the sponsor of the youngest football players of NK Istria 1961
The last few days have been colored by the happiness that appears in those most valuable situations, mutual cooperation, and support. We all remember a period in which we dreamed about what we would like to become. Sometimes opportunities are at our fingertips. But often, so that our wishes do not remain dreams, we need the support of others. Those who recognize our abilities, talents, and perseverance.
"It's so easy for a kid to join a gang, to do drugs... We should make it that easy to be involved in football and academics." - Snoop Dogg
We are happy to have become sponsors of the youngest players of the football club Istria. We sincerely wish girls and boys to continue following their dreams. That the energy we felt at their training is transferred to all fields of their lives. Thanks for the feeling, we are rooting for you!
Photo by Connor Coyne
Printing studios & their clients now enjoy the convenience of our new feature: “Don’t send. Receive!”
We are happy to announce a new collaboration with printing studios in Pula. When a printing studio uses the Sprend Pro service, it means that all its clients will automatically be able to use it completely free of charge. How? Because of our new feature "Don't send. Receive!". Clients automatically have an unlimited number of transfers, they can use encryption, which is very important when sending confidential data and the storage option for picking files is longer.
Our first partner is Print Studio Shop. They are located on the same street as the Sprend office in Pula. A large number of clients visit them every day and use their services. Sprend Pro service is now available to all of them. We would like to thank that despite the busy schedule, they found time for several meetings with us and recognized the quality of our service.
Groups and teams
Since childhood, the little man has been part of different groups. As it could be concluded that he succeeded, it is assessed whether he fit in among his peers. This continues through further education, so at some point, we begin to evaluate ourselves through the same. In order to really feel that we have succeeded, we need luck first of all. Encounters in which we leave our little world of peace and imagination and join someone, creating a team or group. Then we call it friendship, which can sometimes last for a short time, a long time, or at least mark us in a pleasant memory. Because together we were stronger, we learned from others, we grew and became adults. With our inner world influenced by our environment, we became the people we are today.
As such, adults, we find ourselves again in the middle of various groups. We also work and try to achieve the best. These new groups are called teams, and most often we do not choose them ourselves. Previously unknown individuals, connected by knowledge, try to achieve a common goal. How can they succeed in this?
Regarding that Patrick Lencioni says: "Great teams do not hold back with one another. They are unafraid to air their dirty laundry. They admit their mistakes, their weaknesses, and their concerns without fear of reprisal."
In addition, in one of his books, he lists five dysfunctions that a team must overcome in order to function successfully thereafter. It's about:
Absence of Trust
Fear of Conflict.
Lack of commitment
Avoidance of Accountability
Inattention to results
Each team faces a big task, to build trust, engage in constructive conflict, ensure commitment, ensure accountability and focus on results. Together with a great leader, joint success depends on each member. Will we achieve power or weakness?
Communication, tool, or weapon?
Words are one of man's most powerful tools. If we choose them carefully and know how to communicate well, we are already halfway to success. But it certainly happened to us that what we say is very clear to us, but not to the one to whom the words are addressed. So how could we be clearer, more precise? How do we even understand that we are misunderstood?
Photo by Hugo Jehanne
The 7 C's of Communication is a checklist that helps to improve professional communication skills and increase the chance that the message will be understood in exactly the same way as it was intended:
1. Clear - the goal is to be clearly understandable to the recipient. It would be good to focus on one thing at a time. If we express ourselves unclearly, we cause confusion and even more additional work in explaining it later.
2. Correct - the message and information should be correct. As much as possible, we should try to avoid or eliminate mistakes.
3. Complete - we should try to be complete because it helps the other party to work on the task more easily or make further decisions.
4. Concrete - not be vague or leave room for self-interpretation.
5. Concise - maintaining focus and getting to the point is always a positive thing. The wandering of our thoughts does not increase the recipient's interest but takes him away from the subject of discussion.
6. Considerate - in order to have effective communication, we must always take into account the interlocutor's circumstances, background, knowledge, mindset, and opinions.
7. Courteous - we always respect those we address and are not biased under any circumstances. The message should always be positive, showing respect to others.
With this in mind, it is certain that every member of the team can prosper. This short video describes everything:
We should always keep the 7 C’s in mind and above all, kindness and respect.
Sprend team in front of the lens of Tedi Korodi
Sprend team replaced one of the working days with a studio. We had a lot of fun creating professional photos in the studio of Tedi Korodi located in the Rojc community center.
Our company always presents itself to users through quality service, but we are aware that employees are the face of the company too. Now we are finally in the same format. Except for Karin Andersson, whom we are waiting for in Pula to say: cheese!
Don’t send. Receive!
We have released a new feature. From now, as a Pro user you cannot only send large files, you can also receive them. It means anyone can send you files up to 100 GB and encrypt them. The storage time is automatically increased to four weeks. Last but not least, the number of files is not limited to 10 files - you may receive up to 1000 files.
We have released a new feature. From now, as a Pro user you cannot only send large files, you can also receive them. It means anyone can send you files up to 100 GB and encrypt them. The storage time is automatically increased to four weeks. Last but not least, the number of files is not limited to 10 files - you may receive up to 1000 files.
There is no extra fee for this. It is included automatically in the Pro plan.
This is how it works. As soon as a sender enters your email address in the To field, the following Pro features get enabled:
The file size limit increases from 2GB to 100GB.
The number of files go from a maximum of 10 to 1000.
Encryption and password are enabled.
The storage time is automatically set to four weeks.
Here is a tip that is not included in the video. You can create a special link for those who want to send files to you. Click on the below link to have the recipient filled in and the the Pro featureas already enabled. Copy the link, change the email address, and send it via email.
https://sprend.com/?email=bernie@sprend.com
As always, happy sprending!
Vacationing in Croatia
Our team is back together. We are rested, full of ideas, and the will to continue realizing our plans. It is certain that annual vacations improve our health, reduce stress levels and burnout, improve sleep, create new memories through travel and socializing, and increase our mental and physical well-being, productivity, and creativity. There are many benefits and everyone knows the feeling when returning to work, that anything is possible.
Caroline Castrillon writes in Forbes: "Taking vacation time is critical to employee survival. That's because time off is integral to well-being, sustained productivity, and high performance." A vacation could save your life, she adds.
We share some photos from the Croatian vacation. Parts of Pula, Silba, Mrežnica, and Petrova Gora with the Monument to the Uprising of the People of Kordun and Banija is a World War II. Also, it is the only place in Croatia that was declared a "dark sky park" in 2019. More and more areas in the world are protected in this way from excessive light pollution.
One of the places perfect for a break and departure that prepares us for our return.
Sprend Meetup - our aims & games
Before the summer holidays, we held our first joint Sprend Meetup of this kind, taking as a guiding thought what Adrian Ruiz said: "There is a difference between a group of people accomplishing goals together. Teams are rare."
With the right plan and program, it wasn't difficult to get started. What initially moved us away from the usual, or from what we automatically expected, were team challenges. Tanja Evertsson is a person who leads a team of people very successfully, directly, but also with a lot of care. This time she had raw spaghetti, duct tape, and marshmallows in her hands. Something that the four developers in that same room were surely not expecting. She surprised us all. But just as she always manages to say the right thing at the right moment, she also turned this game or Spaghetti challenge into a real representation of the work process, achieving results and competition.
Divided into two teams, the task with a few rules was to build the highest tower possible. In this fun and tense process, you quickly realize that strategy in any task does not fall from the sky. As with all the efforts, your perfect plan, in theory, does not have to be equally perfect in practice. There are things we couldn't know in advance. But now we've learned. What we always consider most important at Sprend is how we treat each other along the way. Although one team lost, both gained a lot.
After this, we already achieved an open atmosphere and the strength to continue. By proposing new future ideas and adopting them, a picture of Sprend and the direction it could go in the future began to be created. We did not neglect our experiences in past jobs either, presenting them as instructive and with the aim of understanding each other. Open and regular communication is something that will save us from obstacles becoming problems, we concluded. Listening and hearing the other person can give us answers to questions that may arise in the future. In this way, possible solutions will not be so far away. As we always keep in mind the Sprend manifesto, which consists of tolerance, responsibility, fearlessness, pride, leadership, and respect.
When setting goals, we didn't skip "fika", a custom unknown to us in Croatia. Resetting with coffee and cakes, we managed to see even the future of Sprend in fifty years:
“More wanted than Normabel, Apaurin, Praxiten or Xanax.”
“The future is known, the past is unpredictable.”
The expectation from the beginning, that we would be successful in a busy day, turned into satisfaction. To be successful in business, you need to be successful in play too. The honest, benevolent and childlike one.
Phases of Team Development using Tuckman’s model
Each group creates its own dynamics. In 1965, Bruce Tuckman formed a model of psychological development of a group which is necessary and inevitable in order to develop, be able to face challenges, solve problems, search for solutions and create results in work. By understanding these stages, we can help our team reach stability and successful functioning more quickly.
The first phase, called Forming, is the initial phase where a group is formed by individuals who are still unsure of the way and direction in which they should act, and are looking for a leader who will provide them with answers, stability, and security. The group still learns about each other.
In the second phase of Storming, if the team does not see and feel that things are stabilizing, they start to rebel against such a way and discord may occur. They begin to question the way they are led and the mission of the team. When roles and responsibilities are not clearly defined, frustration can easily arise. They feel like not making the progress they believed they could make given their abilities. This is a stage that can become very dangerous if allowed to go on for too long. Team members lose motivation and question whether they are even in the right place for them.
Over time, the team enters the Norming phase. This means that they recognize each other's weaknesses as well as their strengths and begin to accept each other and respect the authority of a leader. The team develops cohesion and contributes to set differences aside.
In the Performing phase, the ability to effectively create as a team appears. Tasks are performed in an open atmosphere with trust. Together with hard work and structured processes, the team is likely to achieve its goals efficiently.
The last stage is Adjourning in which, most of the team's goals have been accomplished. The emphasis is on wrapping up final tasks and documenting the effort and results. The team recognizes change and provides an opportunity for acknowledgments. This stage can be difficult for those who have enjoyed the work and bonded with the team members.
Deidre Tofano made a great video on her YouTube channel Agile Leadership: "Learn about the five phases here, nerdily, by watching how the Fellowship of the Ring gets together."
We have reduced the price of a one-day service
Good news for all those who need the service to send large files occasionally, so they decide to become users for a day. The new daily price is 1,6 EUR + VAT.
We hope that this way we will create an even better connection with our users. Sprend team is guided by the idea that the step to becoming a user should be as short as possible. In addition, we wanted not to feel expensive, with a belief that this decision will bring a lot of good to our users. The advantage of a one-day subscription can be not only for those who send large files but also for users who want to be sure that their file has safely reached the recipient, in such a way that Sprend will automatically send them a notification when downloading.
May it serve you well!
Photo by Kristopher Roller
Young people in creating the best business spirit
The final part of our impressions from the recent “Let's Grow” conference belongs to primary and secondary school students and students from all over Istria that visited this event.
As well as their professors who have played an important role in encouraging the active participation of younger students. By bravely taking the initiative, they created a real atmosphere of cooperation. A spirit that is often difficult to create even for adults. Together they have proven and taught us that when it comes to sharing information and knowledge, there are no limits. The way they can be easily adapted and once we create a touch point, their minds and creativity take us in whole new directions. When you manage to talk to a nine-year-old about sending large files, it is certain that you have learned a lot there as well.
Those fun and witty moments are also best created by children. In the afternoon, we had the opportunity to hear a lecture by a very pleasant speaker and businessman, Mr. Leonardo Siladic from Mireo. It is a company specializing in top-of-the-line GPS navigation solutions. Today, Mireo's SpaceTime technology shifts the connected vehicle data analytics paradigm by allowing companies to monetize their vehicle sensor data. At one point, visibly excited and happy children, very young, began to enter the hall, sitting in the front rows. Nothing could distract them. They aroused the enthusiasm of the audience, but the next thought that came to mind: are they already interested in topics like this? After a few minutes, we realized the source of their enthusiasm, they thought that Mr. Siladić was Tik Toker.
Great energy continued in the Kids and corner workshop. The participants there were the Positron Center with its robots, drones, and 3D printers. Here’s a short description: "Center for Technological Development and STEM Education Pozitron was created as an initiative of several enthusiasts with the desire to provide the best possible education for children and youth in computer science, robotics, 3D printing, programming, and other activities in accordance with the objectives of the Positron Association. " Interesting VR studio Pula, Mate Blažina High School Labin with its Re-Book project, Gimnazija Pula with Virtual book and interesting STEMI with Hexapod: "perfect tool to introduce students to robotics. This customizable and programmable robot is singularly designed for education. By designing their own hexapod, students engage in the creative and demanding task of constructing their first robot. "
It was a lot of joy and good energy created by them, the young people. It led us too, so we boarded a wave of enthusiasm together. We are sure that we will meet in the future, soon even in changed roles. Let’s hope we find the children within ourselves again.
Cover photo: Giu Vicente
The story of Kristina, an HCI ergonomist from Paris
Our today's article is about Kristina Puškarić who currently works and lives in Paris. We are very happy that she visited the Conference “Let’s grow” in Pula and gave us the opportunity to get to know and connect. Kristina is a charismatic and very pleasant person, once a fellow citizen of Pula who, after graduating from high school, continued her education and life outside of Croatia. She studied in Milan and Paris, where she acquired her professional knowledge and works as an HCI Ergonomist today. For a wider audience UX designer / UX researcher: "When people work, search or buy something, they interact with their environment. My job is to adapt the environment to the people's activities. It doesn't matter what kind of environment is. But I'm specialized in IT interfaces. And that's why we call it Human-Computer Interaction (HCI)."
Kristina Puškarić Santini
In order to get a broader picture and understand what Kristina's work entails, we asked her to briefly tell us her story, which we share with you in its entirety:
“In the last 5 years in France, most HCI ergonomists have changed their name to UX researcher. The law of the market probably. But the business is always the same, that has never changed and the French have been really successful in that since the end of World War II. This is mostly visible in the car and aircraft industry.
I love my job very much and above all, I have been living in Paris for the last 22 years because of work and I discovered ergonomics in France. The big city offers plenty of interesting projects, from banking and creating specific business applications, to Disney and B2C applications. Sometimes I feel like a child in a chocolate shop, every project is attractive and there is a lot to offer. Recently, there is a great demand for seniors and lead UX profiles and this gives quite a bit of freedom of choice at the moment, which was not the case 10-15 years ago, for example.
I am currently working for a small agency "La combe du lion vert", about 60 people who are specialized in craft development and want to come to market with a UX offer. As a team leader, I have the task of hiring and educating new people and monitoring their projects with the client. Along the way, I am also a consultant with a client (banking) until the team grows.
My previous experience where I led a design team of 6 people (energy industry) helps me a lot and I withdrew part of that team to a new agency because they are ingenious. Of course, at "La combe du lion vert" there’s a great head hunter team that takes care of finding profiles and an even better commercial department that takes care of finding clients.
In recent years, I have also started working as an educator in specialized schools and colleges for UX design and that fulfills me because knowledge transfer is something that comes as a natural process at a certain age."
And this of course is not all, we could talk for so long, sail into new topics and learn a lot from each other. So we wished for that and arranged a new meeting with Kristina when she visits Pula again.
We believe that her versatility and expertise will inspire you, in case you would like to cooperate or to share your experience, feel free to contact Kristina.
The young professional and founder of Lanterna IT - Luka Liker
Luka Liker, founder of Lanterna IT
What we always hope for at every event such as the recent "Let's Grow" Conference, apart from a great organization and program, are the acquaintances we make for the future. Is there anything better than people trying to improve their business but also supporting others? One of these is Luka Liker, owner of the private web development company Lanterna IT.
Luka is a professional who instills confidence from the first moment, it is easy to communicate, and very quickly through conversation, you will realize that he has more talents. He is also involved in photography. He kindly shared a few with all of us, so you have a chance to see them below. Lives and works in Rijeka where he was educated, and we are happy that he gave us the opportunity to see pieces of his city through the lens. The way in which he is a discreet observer who saves places and events from oblivion, without interfering in the action and leaving them intact, gives us that magnificent and sublime feeling in observation.
Luka's photo of his hometown, Rijeka. "What I like is unconventional compositions, night photos, and photos with extended exposure."
When asked how he decided to open his own company, Luka answers:
"After graduating in logistics and management at the Faculty of Maritime Studies in Rijeka, looking for a job in the profession, I passed a course for web design. I realized that computer science is much more interesting to me than management, so I got a job in an IT company where I worked. I provided customer support services, solving hardware and software problems in the field, but also as a system administrator. I renewed my web programming skills and decided to try to start my own web design business. I realized that it is much easier to work with something you love and you find yourself in. I work every day on my competencies and improve my knowledge. "
In the end, we were interested in his expectations for the future. And we didn't expect any less interesting answer: "I don't have a goal in the future because that would mean reaching the end of the trip. I prefer to orient myself to a new horizon when I reach the previously seen one."
If you would like to cooperate with Luka or share experience and knowledge, get in touch with Lanterna IT, and expand your network of professionals with great potential.
The long-awaited "Let's Grow" ICT conference was held in Pula - expectations are exceeded
For the first time in Pula, the conference "Let's Grow" powered by ICT Istria, gathered 20 inspiring and professional lecturers as well as 25 exhibitors in the ICT sector last week. Sprend was one of them. Together with hundreds of young enthusiasts, we had a great time.
The House of the Croatian War Veterans, built during the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, was chosen for the conference. Once it was a palace called Marine Casino. Today, a space with magnificent corridors and halls that serve for various events and concerts. This is the first big event of its kind in our city after the measures were relaxed in a two-year period. Croatian Sprend was founded in the middle of that so the importance was even greater.
Istria has long been a strong tourist destination, but for several years now, companies from the ICT sector operating in the ICT Association have decided to further brand the quality of life in order to attract top professionals and companies. About our region, they say: “We believe Istria and ICT industry is a win-win combination for both professional and private life.”
Some of the interesting topics on the main stage of the event were: “The impact of ICT on life in Istria”, “How to make schools of the future”, “Artificial intelligence and prejudice”, “If you love what you do, work will be almost like a game”.
Numerous pupils and students were also present, in addition to lectures, they were particularly interested in workshops and project presentations. You could find robots, drones, 3D printers, virtual books, and a lot of enthusiasm there.
We look forward to the next event.
More about the ICT Association of Istria, its activities, and its members you can find here: https://ict-istra.hr/en
Sprend in scenes from everyday life
Sprend.com is a simple service for sending large files. Everything we all do in business is often recognized in nature in some other form. This time we found it with ants. We can learn a lot from them. What we strive for, they do naturally. It is certain that they did not have any marketing to interest us.
Check out the video clip: Sprend and scenes from everyday life
Sprend and scenes from everyday life
Living the city we work in: Community Center Rojc
In the series of texts "Living the city we work in" we will present the most interesting places in our town, as well as the people who inspire us. Pula and the entire Istrian peninsula are destinations that many people who are able to travel and work find pleasant to live in. We will try to describe why.
At the very beginning, we decided on the Community Center Rojc. The place, built during the Austro-Hungarian rule over Pula, as a naval school, in the future and with changes in various regimes, continued to serve a military purpose. The name of this place is after Karl Rudolf Rojc, a soldier from the Second World War. He died in battle in 1942 in defense of the partisan hospital with 23 comrades, and in 1951 he was proclaimed a national hero. He never visited Pula.
This "lost" space in the city center has escaped the fate of many similar public spaces, which have been turned into private spaces due to the commercial policy of public authorities.
Today it's a place where 106 civil society organizations in the fields of culture, sports, psychosocial care and health, children and youth, care for people with special needs, environmental protection, technical culture, national minorities, and other live and work activities. These diverse associations are a successful example of cooperation between city government and civil society organizations. The corridors of Rojc look like a large gallery because more than 4,000 m2 were painted by people of goodwill. The total area of the building is 16,739 m2.
There is no content that you can not find here, but perhaps it is enough to say that you will already hear the sounds of instruments and rehearsals as you approach the building. In the skate park across the parkin line, you can see roller skaters and other stunt lovers. For years, a group of them called Broskva has been active and especially interesting, consisting of veterans as they call themselves today and new talented hopes. Those guys are showing us every day that rollerblading is a lifestyle and not just a short phase. They are not stopped by fractures or injuries.
But in case you have a broken home appliance or a piece of furniture, there is also a Re-Gepetto repair shop here. Or you can just wander the hallways and choose something from the remaining hundred or so contents.
Photos made by Elvis Malagić and Vili Paoletić
What you can do without traveling, with one click is to hear what kind of music is listened to on the radio Rojc: http://radio.rojc.eu/radio-ledu-320mp3/.
Let's not forget the face of this place, Batman the cat.
Enjoy Pula.
Who needs our service?
Since 2004, a number of users have placed their trust in Sprend on the basis of quality and reliability. Without advertising, the service spoke for itself with what its only goal from the moment it was designed - to successfully find its way from sender to recipient.
Over time, the number of users grew. They are now part of the construction sector in the first place, education, lawyers, rental, authors, artists, brokers, health care, bookkeeping, IT sector, as well as municipalities and government agencies, among many others.
Sprend Pro customers in sectors and numbers
Our service can sometimes sound abstract. If we talk about data, files, and encryption, we can understand why. Often it's hard to imagine all the ways we’re connected with each other. But if we imagine that each of these data is one important piece that forms, for example, a business project that someone has been working on for months, a book on the way to publishing, a blueprint for construction to begin soon, songs performed at a school event or a confidential data that needs to be sent safely, things become more real.
This pie chart shows who are the users of our service, but in short, Sprenders are all those who want their data to reach their destination safely and successfully. Thank you for putting your trust and confidence in our company.
Photo by Charles Deluvio (Unsplash)
Prices and billing
“If you always do like the others do, like the competition, you'll have similar prices. Should we do it in the same way? Maybe the opposite way should be better. “ Arne Evertsson
We value our customers and their time, so our priority is always that the service is efficient, the website is user-friendly and readable to everyone. All information related to Sprend’s Plans & Prices is clearly stated on the website and can be easily accessed.
In addition to having a good product, we are aware that the service needs to be constantly improved. Our goal is to provide a service that customers love and trust. Stability is one of our advantages. Below you can read about our pricing philosophy from the angle of Arne Evertsson. What we can say right away is that his point of view differs from the usual.
Photo by Visual Stories Micheile (Unsplash)
In your opinion, is the price of the service one of the decisive factors in choosing the service?
If you're looking for a service like ours, you'll compare prices for sure. In that sense, it's a decisive factor. But will you gain a lot of customers by reducing prices, that's also a tough question. I'm just speculating about pricing. At one point we did increase our prices after a long time, but we're still lower than our competitors.
What were you guided by when setting prices?
It's good to have competitors because then you can set the price at the same level. They have probably tried it out, more than you have at the beginning. And you're trying to be a little bit lower.
You're always insisting on the quality of the service, improvement, but you don't talk much about prices. How is that?
There are probably millions of people better in pricing than I am. But if we could be more efficient than the competition in the sense that we could set lower prices, maybe we should. If you always do like the others do, like the competition, you'll have similar prices. Should we do it in the same way? Maybe the opposite way should be better.
Here's an example. I notice when service providers offer an Enterprise version, it’s usually charged more per user. Because of more features. They feel it's a better product so it should cost more or they have a feeling that companies will easily find money to spend on this kind of service. So they will make more money. I think we should do the complete opposite. The more people are in our Sprend Teams account, the discounts are higher. That's the direction we're going now. Trying to make it more simple for companies to use the service, instead of making it expensive. We'll make it cheaper.
Very often you're going in the opposite direction in leading a business. How so?
That's freaky business. Freakonomics. I'm presenting that.
When we’re talking about you, in the role of the user, you’re the only person I’ve ever heard saying that something should cost more. You’re willing to pay more. Why?
I'm just honest.
You're minimizing it now.
In the software world, it's good to be small.
What are your further plans about pricing?
It's connected with the thing we already mentioned, Team service. To let big companies only pay what they basically use. In that case, the price would not be fixed. To me, it seems you should pay a fair price. And we should come up with that.
You're giving an advantage to quality while trying to keep the same prices. Is that the direction you’ll continue with?
Yes, we have a lot of development and enhancement to do. There is so much to make our product better. That will make sure that more people will use our service, and that is our growth opportunity. It's like we don't have to play so much with the pricing, a better way is to increase quality. Adding features always makes more sense.
Photo on the cover page made by Damir Spanic (Unsplash)
New feature announcement: No more zipping when sending multiple files
Sprend is announcing a new feature that users are asking for - send multiple files at once, without zipping first. Try it for yourself, even for a Free account.
We are happy to present our new feature - sending multiple files at once. This was a feature at the top of our list of priorities and from now on if you want to send more files at once, zipping is no longer necessary. Our Pro users can send up to 1000 files at a time, while our Free users have up to 10 available.
We also went a step further. Although you used to be able to pause in the middle of sending before, the news is that now, even if you reload the page or shut down your computer, you don't lose the files you previously specified for sending. Check more about that in our video:
Why does this feature add value to our service? Since it has been sought after by many users, we are sure that from now on it will save your effort and time in daily tasks and work. By listening to the wishes and needs of our customers, we show that we value your loyalty. You deserve our constant progress and we can promise not to stop here. Since the Sprend team has grown, that means we are able to improve the service faster.
Congratulations to our developers who have worked diligently on this task for months. And on the fact that in many moments they tried to describe and explain what they are currently working on. Everyone who deals with programming knows how challenging it can be sometimes. But in order for nothing to be impossible, they always tried to describe the process even to those who cannot imagine the process of developing, through life comparisons and stories.
In this way, they enabled us all to become part of that story, and now is the time for the action to continue to take place off the cover, through all of you who will be using this service.
Photo on the cover page made by Nick Fewings
Sprend support center - contact informations
Sprend support center is available via email or phone call. If you experience some problem, let us know. Try it free for yourself.
Arne Evertsson saving the world
Sprend is a very simple service for sending large files. You can send your large files quickly and securely. In the case that an obstacle arises along the way, you have a question or you would like to share feedback, feel free to contact our customer service.
Choose the way you prefer, via email: support@sprend.com or by calling the number: +46 10 129 29 10. You will not communicate with the robot or have to send forms and wait for our answer, but you will directly contact one of the members of our customer support team. The most interviewed person in the company, Arne Evertsson answers questions on this topic.
For how long have you been providing customer service?
In the beginning, the first couple of years we had an open feedback page where the user could quickly add a comment. That was a kind of crude support page, but we had to shut it down when there were too many spam comments. About nine years ago we got an official support phone number, +46 10 129 29 10. Support by email has always been available.
How does customer service increase loyalty in your opinion?
You know when you're trying to call your telecom operator and it turns out, they don't have a phone number. A telecom company that you can’t call? Maybe it is time to switch to another company?!. Almost every company nowadays is making it as difficult as possible to contact them. If you call them you will end up in a queue and if you’re lucky there is a human at the end. And if you go to contact on the website, you will end up in some kind of information system where you're supposed to search for an answer that isn’t there. Very tellingly, when you get an email from a company, it's almost always sent from no-reply@company.com.
But why are they hard to get? Maybe they have too many calls because their service isn’t working well. So that's why we are able to give good customer service — simply because Sprends works most of the time. There're always opportunities to make it better. But in general, it works. And it makes it possible for us to be generous about having a phone and email support available. For anyone, whether you're a paying customer or your use of the free service, we give the same opportunity for everyone. If you're a Team account user, a customer of a single account or you don't have an account at all, you're free to get in contact with us. So, does it increase customer loyalty? I don't know. Our customers have to contact us to do that. Most users of Sprend do not contact us. So maybe we should make Sprend a little bit more difficult to use? :-D Then we would get more calls, more opportunities to talk to people.
Is it hard to understand your customer's needs and wants?
No, usually it's not. They know what features we are missing and we know what we need to add. One day we will catch up with all features that I know we need to add, and all problems we need to fix. That day we will start to listen more carefully to our users! I mean, we are certainly listening to what people are saying, but basically, I know what we have and what we need to add. It is obvious to me.
Are you trying to act on promises you made to our customers in a sense of the improvement of the service? Such as sending multiple files at a time for example.
Some people call up and say: "I selected a file, and then I selected another one. And I don't know what happened, but the first one disappeared". So, sometimes it does happen that people call because they are expecting to be able to send more than one file at a time. It's that they cannot even imagine that they're not able to do it. Multiple file support is the next big feature we will release.
What are the most common things people are asking?
It would be like the call I got a couple of minutes ago, about a file that is gone. The time expired. So the question I get often is: "Can you bring it back?". I have to say no to that question. Because we delete it almost immediately.
Basically, we are not Google Drive or OneDrive, not a storage facility. We are the messenger, the company that transports files. Otherwise, we would have to be quite a different service if we were to keep all the files for any amount of time. It would be good to be able to help people get to the files because it could be that they have lost the file. This is maybe their last resort. If we put some effort and thought into that problem we might be able to implement a solution that helps some of those people. So people can mark and choose. For four weeks maximum to save their content.
Are you handling complaints and returns easily?
Yeah, absolutely. If there is any chance that somebody is not happy with the service, we always offer a refund. It says that in general terms as well, I guess people don't read it. If you're not happy you get the money back. I mean, it doesn't matter if you use it for half a year and you're unhappy, you get a 50% refund. Whether you pay by invoice or by card, we will refund you as soon as possible. Who wants to pay for a service that they are not using or not happy with?
Are you ever going out of your way to help your customer?
Sometimes the recipient finds out that it is not impossible to open a file, because of not having the correct software on the computer or something like that. One could argue that Sprend has provided its service perfectly. But at the same time, we want to help people to use the file or read the file or watch it or whatever they do with it, to use it. Any other way, there would be no point in sending something. So of course, I'm trying to help people find the correct software for opening that file that they have received. If I can, if I know.
It's good to have these calls because it puts good ideas into my head on how we can solve more problems. I have a file, I want to send it to you because you need it. Sprend wants to make that possible, and all the way because otherwise, it would be of no use to either sender or recipient. The whole chain needs to work. What can we do to make it like that? That's an interesting topic. Interesting challenge.
Sometimes you describe Sprend as a boring service, but do you have interesting conversations with customers?
That reminds me of Elon Musk and his company that is drilling tunnels, and it's called The Boring Company. Maybe I should join them. Because we are two boring companies, we could learn from each other. But yes, I do have interesting conversations with our customers often.
Are you ever bored?
I guess it happens. But we need to be able to appreciate small things, isn't that what it’s all about?