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National IT Day campaign off to a bad start


This week, Dell has started gathering signatures to petition the Government of Canada to create a nationally recognized IT professionals day.

The company argues that because IT professionals are common across all industries and that other professions such as teachers and engineers have their nationally recognized day, a “National IT Day” should be a top priority. Dell is also being supported by Intel and are asking IT people to submit their most “heroic IT moments” for a chance to win a prize package of $20,000 worth of Dell and Intel products.

“The hardworking men and women, who keep our technology running smoothly – even when nothing else is – deserve the utmost recognition,” the company stated in a release.

As of this blog post, the petition has 128 signatures. It can be filled out online or via the paper-based petition forms I received.

Now I probably would have signed my name to the petition if Dell had simply let me know about this via e-mail. But as opposed to just sending over a virtual pitch like an IT professional might do, Dell choose to send me a heavy clipboard and a stack of blank petition forms.

It would be one think if I asked to help out and be part of the cause, but it’s quite another for Dell to assume that I want to volunteer my time to collect dozens of signatures. And that’s putting aside the waste of paper and money to send me these materials.

Here’s a lesson for Dell, and other IT vendors, that want to start their own “National IT Day” petitions: Take advantage of IT and just send me an e-mail (or tweet).

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