Ground Floor: I have some suggestions for the management of technology companies who are frustrated by disappointing sales of the products and services they offer. If your business is sound and your products are excellent then I think I know why they are not selling. Let me explain by way of a few examples.

I have recently had several conversations with assistants in various computer retailers in the UK and Ireland about a number of potential purchases.

I have been trying to buy a particular piece of software for editing digital photos. Not too complicated one might think, particularly given the growing popularity of this activity - see how Kodak's film-based business is suffering.

I felt pretty confident as I wandered into a PC World "superstore" in London; I even knew which piece of software I wanted, as I had seen it advertised on special offer by the store in question. The first conversation I had with an assistant ended with me suggesting to the individual that he didn't have the faintest idea what I was talking about. He happily agreed.

The second encounter with the experts got as far as an acknowledgement that the product existed but was not displayed anywhere in-store. My suggestion that they look to see if it was in stock was met with blank stares.

My follow-up request about placing an order for my elusive software was greeted with a look of pure fear. This was clearly something that they had never encountered before. I could go on, but you probably get the drift.

Online shopping experiences can be just as amazing. I recently emailed EPSON to inform them that a key feature one of their scanners doesn't work. Ten days later I got a reply, telling me that a key feature of one of their scanners doesn't work.

They suggested I "look out" for software patches that may emerge that might fix the problem. I went to the suggested website. And there it was again: "the scanner in question might not work properly". At least EPSON eventually replied.

I downloaded some software from Microsoft recently and, after many hours effort, the installation failed with the message that the software did not meet Microsoft's certification standards.

Odd, since it was a Microsoft product. They have yet to respond to my query.

I am becoming more and more sympathetic with those who detest the level of complexity in many of Microsoft's products and the instability, still, of many of their systems.

I faithfully obeyed Bill Gates suggestion that I download lots of updates that he deemed necessary for the XP operating system that came with my shiny new PC, less than a year ago.

After doing what I was told, which took hours, my email stopped working, with the enlightening (as always) error message "make sure the Cryptographic service is running on this computer". It took me many more hours to fix the problem.

Technology is supposed to make thinks simple. Microsoft seems determined to ignore this basic law. My next purchase is an Apple.

It strikes me that many technology companies imagine their customers to be like themselves. This is fine if they are selling to technology departments of large companies or to amateur enthusiasts who rarely get to see the light of day.

But the rest of us have to cope with attitudes that basically say take or leave this product. Don't expect any help if it doesn't work; don't expect us to make your life simple and please don't read the manual because, like quantum mechanics, only five people on the planet are expected to understand it.

Using the infra-red port on your mobile phone is simple. But nobody ever uses it because phone companies rarely explain, in words that mere mortals can understand, how to do it. A leading technology analyst recently told me that he has suggested to Nokia, only half-jokingly, that they still tell people that there is an infra-red port on their handsets, but don't bother to build one in as nobody will notice its absence. The message should have been clear but I am not sure that the company got it.

Every company on the planet describes itself as "customer- focused". Technology companies are in the vanguard of this rush to embrace you and me. But most of it is hot air. They are failing to deliver this key business objective.

In fact, these businesses seem to be getting further away from their customers. So there must be a business here in explaining to the management of these companies why they are not doing as well as they should. Somebody needs to sit down with these people and explain how to connect - in all senses of the word - with their customers.

Anybody who can genuinely become customer-focused, instead of merely adopting the slogan, will gain a huge competitive edge. Anybody who can explain to companies why it is necessary to do this will be stating the blindingly obvious but will make a fortune.

Sheila O'Flanagan is on leave